OT: What changes to the air does natural gas cause?

[Perrybucsdad]

How many in one square mile of your house have been harmed by natural gas, NONE.

Actually, three houses down from our old house, the home disintegrated because of a natural gas leak. Luckily, only the family pets were killed as everyone was at work/school when it blew up.

As for my house, we suffered a number of broken windows from debris and what I would presume to be the shock wave of the blast.

[chunkyfrog]

On one occasion, my hubby and I were the only people to notice the gas smell.
Turns out the leak was just starting--had we waited until the smokers and their family members had noticed--boom!
Smoking really messes up your sense of smell.

[DaveLP]

A few months ago my wife and I began to notice a very faint smell like gas. We called the HVAC people, since our CO detector was showing 4. They showed up and found a cracked PVC connector that recirculates plenum gases back through the burner a second time before venting to the outside (so much for high efficiency). The crack had separated and allowed some noxious gases to enter the air intake. At one point, we had a reading of 4 on the CO detector. Once we opened the doors, aired out the house, and the furnace was fixed, the CO detector has remained at 0 for months after that.

It did alert us and the manual says that readings under 45 or so may be transient, but deserve a checkout.

[BlackSpinner]

Small natural gas leaks like pilot lights don't pose much of a problem, big ones do. Be sure to worry about water in your pipes, people can drown from water. Nothing it 100% foolproof to a fool, we face danger from everything we use in our lives,it's part of life. You need to match the threat to the result. Jim

How many in one square mile of your house have been harmed by natural gas, NONE.

A couple of years ago a warehouse blew up and whole apartment building burnt down downtown. Nobody hurt because the warehouse blew first and they got everyone out. The explosion blew open the main and there was a multi story flame shooting up over the city.

[Goofproof]

A few months ago my wife and I began to notice a very faint smell like gas. We called the HVAC people, since our CO detector was showing 4. They showed up and found a cracked PVC connector that recirculates plenum gases back through the burner a second time before venting to the outside (so much for high efficiency). The crack had separated and allowed some noxious gases to enter the air intake. At one point, we had a reading of 4 on the CO detector. Once we opened the doors, aired out the house, and the furnace was fixed, the CO detector has remained at 0 for months after that.

It did alert us and the manual says that readings under 45 or so may be transient, but deserve a checkout.

The leak you describe isn't a natural gas leak, it's a burned gas leak (Exhaust) A CO1 and CO2 hazard. Other than a few pilots lights being out, the only gas leak I had was in my backyard, I put the dog outside and the smell was really strong. It turns out, I had cleaned the pilotstat on my gas furnice and adjusted it, it has a safty built in to shut off the gas valve when the pilot goes out and it cools. It failed to safety shut down and was dumping gas into the furnace. Natural Gas is lighter that air so it went up and out into yard. If it had lit it would have been bad. All I had to do was shut the gas off, wait, then repair the safety switch. That was one time I didn't get the "Goofproof" Rating, but again that's why I'm Goofproof, I learned from the error. Jim

[Goofproof]

GoofProof, darlin', you are giving bum advice. If gas can be smelled the gas company should be notified so that they can come check for a leak. Simple as that. Just plain ole common sense.

What I do is find the leak and correct it, it's all about the size of the leak, a pilot light is a small leak, natural gas is lighter than air and rises, bigger leaks require different solutions. If you don't know how things work the safe way is have someone that does fix them, ie the gas company ect. If you smell natural gas in strong amounts, don't turn on anything electric, leave the home, call from a home nearby. All homeowners should know how to cut the electric power, water service and gas service off in a emergency. But only do what you are comfortable doing, the money you save taking care of things yourself, won't help if you let something kill you because you don't know how to do things. Jim

[Alshain]

I work in Natural Gas and GoofProof is right. Small (by small I mean really tiny) natural gas leaks like a pilot light won't cause significant problems unless the room is poorly ventilated (no a/c vents or anything). When it is noticed however, it should not be allowed to continue. The gas should be shut off and sufficient time for dissipation should be given before re lighting. If you smell significant gas, you should definitely get out, but a small waft near an out pilot shouldn't be an issue.

Even the mass quantities of gas that I work with (I'm in production, not delivery) in a well ventilated area, the API RP500 recommends that unclassified devices (devices that have not been proven to not be capable of causing an explosion) may be outside of 36" radius of a vent, and we are talking about hundreds of thousands of standard cubic feet of unrefined gas.

[Goofproof]

Propane, however offers a different problem, it's heavier than air, and will stay in the house, and even go to lower levels, waiting until a source of ignition sets it off. It is more dangerous indoors than natural gas. Jim

[albertodegama]

"Acid rain" is a broad term used to describe several ways that acids fall out of the atmosphere. A more precise term is acid deposition, which has two parts: wet and dry.

Wet deposition refers to acidic rain, fog, and snow. As this acidic water flows over and through the ground, it affects a variety of plants and animals. The strength of the effects depend on many factors, including how acidic the water is, the chemistry and buffering capacity of the soils involved, and the types of fish, trees, and other living things that rely on the water.

Dry deposition refers to acidic gases and particles. About half of the acidity in the atmosphere falls back to earth through dry deposition. The wind blows these acidic particles and gases onto buildings, cars, homes, and trees. Dry deposited gases and particles can also be washed from trees and other surfaces by rainstorms. When that happens, the runoff water adds those acids to the acid rain, making the combination more acidic than the falling rain alone.

Prevailing winds blow the compounds that cause both wet and dry acid deposition across state and national borders, and sometimes over hundreds of miles. Scientists discovered, and have confirmed, that sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are the primary causes of acid rain. In the US, About 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOx comes from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal.