Backhoe hits Gas Main

[BHarrison]

If you haven't seen it on the news yet, a backhoe hit a gas main in Chicago putting 3 guys in critical condition.
The flames looked to be about 30 feet high. I can only imagine how large the inital blast was.
The weather looked to be very cold, and wet. What a mess.

 

[s1120]

And I thought I had a bad day.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Is this what you are talking about? I hope they will be ok.

 

[BHarrison]

Yup. Amazing aint it.

 

[bgott]

I pulled a large gas line out of the ground with my box blade a couple of months ago. Someone had tore down a commercial building and instead of having Entex pull the line they just poured a sack of concrete around the valve. I was hammering the block of concrete pretty good and when it finally broke the valve broke, too. It sounds like a jet engine taking off behind you. I've had cars run over gas meters on my rental properties so I knew what happened immediately, the guy behind me that was guiding me like to have had a coronary. I don't really like to think about the sparks struck from that scraper chattering across rough concrete. Then there was the time, when I was driving a wrecker, that I snatched a car on it's side out of a ditch and a four inch gas main came with it. I've been kind of lucky with gas mains.

 

[Thomas]

So much for Dig Safe Program.
Hope the workers are okay..yikes.

 

[Egon]

That High pitched whine can realy get the adrenaline pumping as well as enabling one to set new records the 100 meter sprint. Heard it a few times in my previous work place and its not fun.

Egon

 

[MDNick]

You also want to be careful with the gas mains and a diesel. Diesels will suck the gas right through the air filter and run REAL good for a while. You don't want to wait around to drive the tractor away, but if possible point it in a general direction, and if geared, leave it in gear, and RUN. If you don't have time for all that, run first, re-build engine later./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Egon]

They should have a positive air shut off.

Egon

 

[bky]

reminds me of the time i trenched through a 2" gas line feeding a mc donalds. boy were they mad.
the job supertendent told me there wasnt anything in the ground and to have at it so i did.
i bad part i didnt even know that i had hit it. i was just beboping along when a few ppl on the job sight came running out and yelled shut off the ditchwitch.
by that time i was already 50-60 feet from where i had hit it. and it does make a nice noise.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Dig safe is only good if the people mark the lines properly. We have had numerous occasions where we are told there are no lines where we will be working and low and behold guess what we find. My grandfather was working around fiber optic lines and MCI had their guy come to the job site and he stayed there every minute till the job was done to make sure no one hit the fiber optics, something about it being expensive I think./w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif We have cut thru 500 amp power cables buried below concrete, riped out sewer lines and colapsed the lid on a septic tank after the owner assured us the tank was not there. Most people don't mark their lines too good and these things happen, the gas company has gotten better with their little beeping tool but they still make mistakes. Live and learn.

 

[Bird]

About 25 years ago, I had a swimming pool installed in the back yard. The phone company sent a man out to mark the phone lines (and they even laid a temporary line because they knew the existing line would be dug up). I thought it seemed like peculiar routing for the phone line, but the guy said he was sure. Then the contractor came and marked the electric line. Neither I nor the guy who was going to do the digging thought the kid marked it right, so I called and talked to his supervisor who assured me the electric line was marked right. Sure enough, first bucket load with the backhoe pulled up the electric line, sparks flew, and the operator abandoned his backhoe in a hurry. And then when the phone line was dug up, it knocked out my next door neighbor's phone service because his line also ran through my yard./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif It was quite an experience. The only thing marked right was the natural gas pipe, and perhaps that was only because I didn't call the gas company/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. I had been there when it was originally installed and knew exactly where it was myself./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Don't you love it when utility companies say "Trust us, we know what we are doing." It is usually followed a few hours later by a "OH CRAP."

 

[RickM]

I don't know if this story made national headlines or not. It happend a few weeks ago. Charles Machine Works (makers of DitchWitch) got into a 22" interstate pipeline running 600 psi near their Perry, Ok plant. I can't fathom how that could happen but it did. It is fortunate there was only one death. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if the gas had ignited. Here is a link to the local story. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=655889>http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=655889</A>. Very tragic indeed.

 

[frank_f15]

ROBERT: JUST CURIOUS ! DID U TAKE THAT PIC WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA OFF YOUR TV.SET?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

STOP YELLING!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif No, it was posted on a different board by another member who lives outside of the city.

 

[jhburke]

My cable tv co kept having trouble with their above ground line. They decided to bury it. Had all the sewer, water, and telephone lines marked. Had a special unit to come in and bore the line in. Neibhor had trouble with water backing up in his tub. He had a roto rooter company come to root out his line. They could only go so far and it was blocked. He rented a special camera and found a pink tube bisecting his sewer line. By the way the tube the cable was buried in was pink. He called the cable co and they said couldn't be theirs not their responsibility. I told him simply dig down and cut out the section of sewer line also to cut the pink tube on both sides of his sewer line. Repair his sewer line and refill his hole.
Then when cable co come looking for the break in their line show them the section of his sewer line and tell them it couldn't be theirs because they said it wasn't theirs previously.

 

[Egon]

Rick:

There are times after a gas line rupture area has been cleared it is best to ignite the leak. This way a large gas cloud cannot form while the line depressures. It is exspecially important when a gas heavier than air is released.

Egon