virginia house explosion?

www.wusa9.com

Firefighter killed in Sterling house explosion identified

According to Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, the firefighter who died at the scene was 45-year-old Trevor Brown with the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company.
www.wusa9.com www.wusa9.com


Apparently, it was an underground propane tank? I didn't know that was a thing. :confused:

A couple of injuries, one deceased firefighter :hot:
 
Am I the only one who perceives a drastic uptick in the frequency of these houses popping like helium balloons?

It’s been like one ever 6-8 weeks it seems like over the last year or so posted here.
 
WTF? said:
Am I the only one who perceives a drastic uptick in the frequency of these houses popping like helium balloons?

It’s been like one ever 6-8 weeks it seems like over the last year or so posted here.
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I drill water wells and work on well pump pressure systems. Every once in a while we'll hit a streak of failed motor control boxes or failed motors themselves, shorted windings and low shaft heights.
Coincidences do happen.
 
Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
Apparently, it was an underground propane tank? I didn't know that was a thing. :confused:
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Researched a bit... 500 gallon propane tank. Pix to share-
teaserbox_12998676.jpeg
 
M92PV4U said:
Has or had?

One night I was sleeping in my chair and woke up. I started smelling something funny but I couldn't exactly think think of what it was. I started looking around the kitchen and it seemed like the smell was coming from some pasta sauce that was sitting on the stove, I checked inside of the oven and the smell didn't seem to be stronger in there. As I was lifting my head up I noticed that the burner under the sauce pan was on but not lit
:homer:.
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“Distribution” lines that goes to most homes and businesses have odorant in them.
“Transmission” lines that carry gas across the country do not have odorant.
 
IGT said:
“Distribution” lines that goes to most homes and businesses have odorant in them.
“Transmission” lines that carry gas across the country do not have odorant.
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I missed the Transmission part:homer:
 
I've heard of them being buried, I've never seen it though. I imagine the reason has something to do with the temperature vs gas flowing, although it looks like -44°F is the point that propane stays a liquid.
 
M92PV4U said:
I've heard of them being buried, I've never seen it though. I imagine the reason has something to do with the temperature vs gas flowing, although it looks like -44°F is the point that propane stays a liquid.
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I just assume it's for aesthetics, but I would think any neighborhood or 'development' near a reasonable sized city would have buried lines, and not tanks.

Even my neighborhood - in a town of 3K people - has buried lines.
 
Pt_Ranger_v8 said:
I just assume it's for aesthetics, but I would think any neighborhood or 'development' near a reasonable sized city would have buried lines, and not tanks.

Even my neighborhood - in a town of 3K people - has buried lines.
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It's optional here and much more expensive. You pretty much have to lease your tanks here and they'll charge you for the install and then you get to pay for them to come dig it up if you cancel your service.
 
CarterKraft said:
Around here for the last 4 years the big city's have been replacing the gas line with poly pipe. They are using the little directional boring machines to do it and only excavating at the house/curb and any splices or tees.
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Same around here except they trench it in. If anyone can come up with a good use for that pipe I can have lots of it. :laughing:
 
bdkw1 said:
****, I want one. I'm tired of looking at the tank in my back yard.

Here they are purchase only, no leasing. Last I checked a 500g was around 2700$ for the tank. Install varied.
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$3100 here the last time I checked. The tank itself was only $1,200 or so.
 
When they ran gas lines in my town, I told my neighbor it smelled like **** coming from his yard. Supposedly he asked them about it but nothing came of it until a year or so later he told me that his sewer line had been damaged and he was trying to get the gas company to fix it. It only stunk when it first happened. Glad they didn't run it near my houses sewerline. He had a Biden Harris sign is his yard the other day so **** him anyway.:laughing:

My sister lives in Leesburg which I just looked up and it is the county seat of Loudon County and when I talked to her yesterday she didn't bring it up so not a big deal to her apparently.
 
Propane will not vent up into atmosphere , it is 1 1/2 x heavier than air . It will pool in a low spot . Propane is a liquid , the tank can only be filled to 80% , as you lower pressure ( use ) the 20 % of vapors the liquid boils off to replace the vapor space . When contained in a pressure vessel normal propane liquid pressure is near 100 psi at 60* . Liquid has a gravity of 1/2 of water , so the liquid will float on water and boil off to a vapor . It boils off at -44* F .

Strange stuff , but it heats very well , 2500 BTU per cubic ft , Nat Gas is 1000 BTU per Cu ft as delivered to your home .
 
Those buried tanks always have me wondering. Propane boiling off sucks in heat from the atmosphere. Which is why in cold areas, you always have horizontal tanks. Not only are they easy to build large, they also have a large surface area, so it’s easier for them to pull in heat to boil off. In the tropics you often see smaller vertical tanks, since they always have enough ambient temperature and a low enough propane demand to keep from frosting the tank up.


Anyway, so the buried tanks. They’re obviously in a warmer environment in the ground than in the air during the winter. But it’s not that much surface area to pull heat out of the ground to boil off. So, does the being up against 60 degree or whatever earth keep them from ever trying to frost up? Or do you get massive localized earth cooling that has a hard time reheating and it’s still possible to frost one up?
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Those buried tanks always have me wondering. Propane boiling off sucks in heat from the atmosphere. Which is why in cold areas, you always have horizontal tanks. Not only are they easy to build large, they also have a large surface area, so it’s easier for them to pull in heat to boil off. In the tropics you often see smaller vertical tanks, since they always have enough ambient temperature and a low enough propane demand to keep from frosting the tank up.
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I always assumed most of that was just economics and transportability. Most of those countries, they transport to fill the tanks vs. filling them on site so they tend to be smaller, which usually means vertical.

Here, I think 120 gallon and smaller are vertical (maybe 250?) and anything over is horizontal. Underground is optional and purely for aesthetics. I would assume in the colder areas that if you get the tank buried below the frost line, it's going to stay at a relatively constant temperature and probably be warmer than if it were above ground. You do occassionaly hear about regulators freezing over in the really cold climates, but that's usually from an over-filled tank without enough vapor space.
 
KarlVP said:
Another house self deleted. Damn.

I like that the report says ammunition was inside. Uh, how much? Was it shape charges for missiles?
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Damn. Natural gas leaked in to home through the fountation and filled up enough before getting ignited by the pilot light on the water heater or furnace. That's my bet based on news clip.
 
Rerock said:
Damn. Natural gas leaked in to home through the fountation and filled up enough before getting ignited by the pilot light on the water heater or furnace. That's my bet based on news clip.
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Must have been propane. Natgas (methane) floats up, by a lot.

Not that it can't still happen but it's much harder to do than slowly filling a poorly ventilated covered hole in the ground with propane.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Must have been propane. Natgas (methane) floats up, by a lot.

Not that it can't still happen but it's much harder to do than slowly filling a poorly ventilated covered hole in the ground with propane.
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Yeah, who knows but guess we'll find out once the investigation is done.

Regardless, of all the obscure ways to die that's some pretty 'Final Destination' **** right there...
 
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