dagblog - Comments for "What Just Happened in Northeast Massachusetts [UPDATED]"

Yeah. What I understand is

Doctor Cleveland — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:20:15 +0000

In reply to Comment at NYT from a person

Yeah. What I understand is that there should always be two regulators between the main line (which moves gas at a much higher pressure than would be safe for any home) and the customer. Why there weren't, or why the backup regulators failed, is one of the questions.

But the leaks aren't just in houses. The pipes that run along streets have ruptured. More and more leaks are being discovered.

The gas infrastucture is very old in this area. Like, in some places a century old. We're talking about untreated iron pipes that were put in the ground before World War II. Columbia Gas was working on upgrading parts of the network when the disaster started.

But when they put that amount of high-pressure gas through that creaky old system, they almost certainly wrecked the whole network. You have to assume every pipe and every joint has been compromised. Every single foot of that network is going to have to be replaced.

Yeah, I watched that video

Doctor Cleveland — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:09:38 +0000

In reply to BuzzFeed...

Yeah, I watched that video clip. Rivera has serious points to make.

You'll also notice that *all* the local and state politicians are upset with Columbia Gas. Rivera, Baker, and Warren are three very different politicians and they are all clearly unhappy. So is the mayor of Boston, who isn't much like any of the other three.

Columbia Gas just keeps screwing up.

Comment at NYT from a person

NCD — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 14:59:10 +0000

In reply to BuzzFeed...

Comment at NYT from a person who appeared to be familiar with Boston gas distribution infrastructure, said the disaster area customers did not have individual pressure regulators for their gas service.

Gas pressure was "reduced from the high pressure of regional distribution networks on a neighborhood basis", one regulator for many, many homes, apartments and businesses.

A home/business individual pressure regulator is on an L shaped shunt off the incoming line before the gas meter. It looks like two pie pans screwed together. I suppose if the pressure spikes dangerously, the pressure regulator kicks open, and blows off the high pressure gas outside the house. The risk moves to outside the house, where the gas will have better chances of dilution, not in the house where it can build up and explode when an electric switch spark can set it off.

Individual pressure regulators for all customers has the advantage that if incoming line pressure spikes dangerously in a neighborhood of say 1000 customers, even if 10% of the pressure regulators don't work, 900 will, and the line pressure cannot rise above the preset safety level for anyone on the line, a 'failsafe" measure.

BuzzFeed...

oldenGoldenDecoy — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 13:59:26 +0000

In reply to What Just Happened in Northeast Massachusetts [UPDATED]

BuzzFeed...

A Gas Company Is Being Slammed Over It's Response To A Deadly Series Of Explosions In Massachusetts

Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera slammed Columbia Gas, the area’s utility company, as “the least informed and the last to act.” He also said that after telling officials to evacuate the area and turn off the electricity, Columbia Gas has only offered “obfuscation.”

“We have tried to no avail to give Columbia Gas the space and traction, the time to effect a coherent plan,” Rivera said at a Friday afternoon news conference. He added that as fires raged Thursday, “they wasted last night” because “they did not want to foot the bill for them to be here.”

Officials have said the explosions were related to a pressure problem, but Rivera said Columbia Gas had yet to answer questions about exactly what went wrong, saying, “there’s no 100% knowledge of what the total pressure was that was on those lines.”

“They are hiding from the problem,” Rivera added.

Officials have said the explosions were related to a pressure problem, but Rivera said Columbia Gas had yet to answer questions about exactly what went wrong, saying, “there’s no 100% knowledge of what the total pressure was that was on those lines.”

“They are hiding from the problem,” Rivera added.

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~OGD~

That’s a good tip, NCD.

Doctor Cleveland — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 12:38:25 +0000

In reply to Shocking, never heard of

That’s a good tip, NCD. Thanks.

Shocking, never heard of

NCD — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 05:17:55 +0000

In reply to What Just Happened in Northeast Massachusetts [UPDATED]

Shocking, never heard of anything like this.

Everyone with gas should know how to turn it off outside by the meter.

A 12 inch or similar size adjustable 'crescent' wrench is needed.

When the valve is vertical 'I' it is on or open, when horizontal '--' it is off. Cut off valve is on or open here:

See this page for how to cut off your gas in an emergency.