At 11:30 today we had the interesting problem of a punctured main incoming 14" gas main!!!!!!!! Seems to have just rusted through, plumbers went to check the origins of the smell and stuck a hand clean thrugh the side of the pipe!!!

My first site evacuation!!! Transco are here now and it seems to be getting interesting!

Reminds me Gas detector needs calibration.

There were certainly some headless chicken impressions and concerned faces this morning here! We are the biggest natural gas user in the East Midlands so when our main factory supply pipe gets holed, the balloon seems to go up very rapidly!!

hee hee - well at least your having a fun day out of the office

errrm, how are you using the computer if you've got a ruptured gas main ? electrickery and gas don't mix very well.....

Thats a lot of gas cant beat regular site maintenance/checkups... (someone going to be in trouble?)

David

PS anyone got a match

Go out for a walk round and have a smoke.

Interesting point Mike, but simple answer.

Gas is now turned off at the main supply house and we have returned to the offices. We have no gas now though so no furnaces which creates a few problems as a steel plant!!

We are a "no smoking" plant anyway but that has now been made a "NO SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" plant!!

easy day here,went to work,loaded van,went to cafe,had brecky,get to site,unload van,wait for breaker to arrive,breaker arrives at 1-15,concert started at 1pm,load van, go home

Easy day everyday bit early start morrow on call friday 2 friday

How big was the roll of DENSO tape to fix that!


On a more serious note it may have rusted from the inside out, hence nobody would spot it.

[Edited on 18/5/05 by MkIndy7]

Big lump of Plumber's Mait certainly!

Monday morning was interesting for me too!!


http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/viatron/vpost?id=448177

Doh, that looks nasty that fire!

The update here is that Transco are as much use as a chocolate fireguard. They came, looked worried and went again very quickly after telling us that they can't legally work on private gas mains of that size. (The pipe is actually 18", not 14"

It's being dug out now and a specialist contractor is coming to remove the pipe bend and fabricate a new one (you can't get them off the shelf!!!) and fit it asap.

Looks like no production for the next few days..................quite a costly bit of corrosion!!!!!

hope it leaked on thier side of the meter and not yours
Just a thought from the thrifty scots

No, ours unfortunately!! That's the main reason that they wouldn't touch it!!

Pardon me for askin' like, but didn't anybody hear the leak, or is that how it was first discovered? Our gas comes to the pressure reducing station(Transo compound) at 50 barg, reduced to 23 barg for us, so we'd probably hear a leak (I hope).
Old joke: What steps would you take on discovery of a gas leak on site?
Answer: F****n' big ones!!!!

A combination of sound and smell uncovered it!

It had been known about for a little while (2 days) but was not thought severe enough to warrant evacuation. It was only when during "examination" of the leak that the hole was greatly enlarged and we evacuated!

The gas pressure is only 30" wg on that supply pipe.