Posted on 01/23/2012 7:51:46 AM PST by chopperman
Yep, if your house was filled with gas, a minute spark from the doorbell button or mechanism could set it off. Just a standard policy practice.
Ye gads, chopper — what a way to start your week! Had you reported a possible leak, or is this standard procedure? Where in the country do you live?
Yes. In the event of a gas leak, the contact switches that energize the doorbell and its circuits CAN arc enough to act as a source of ignition.
If you report a gas leak they’ll tell you to leave your house immediately and NOT to switch any lights on or off for the same reason.
Perhaps excessive, but not unscientific or unreasonable.
(former volunteer firefighter)
What about when you get the bill?
If your house was so full of gas that a doorbell would set off an explosion, I doubt you’d have been conscious enough to answer a knock at the door.
OT, six of the most beautiful Canadian geese just landed outside my window. I’d say that’s a nice start for the week.
Probably a liability thing.
Its OK for you to accidentally blow your house up but if they do it they don’t want to get sued.
Turn off the lights in your room and unplug a plug that is drawing current - you'll probably see a spark right when contact is broken. It is possible to make non-arcing connectors and switches, but it isn't worth the money unless you are installing them in an area where explosions are a real danger.
What's up with that?
Great, now we get jihadist meter readers.
Not true. The lower explosive limit for natural gas (methane) is only 5.1% at ~68 degrees, a common thermostat setting. Methane is NON-toxic at those levels and that is also nowhere near a suffocating % of the atmosphere.
Natural gas is tainted with a mercaptan (the sulfur/skunk/cabbage smell) so you can detect a gas leak, AND CALL THE GAS COMPANY.
The trouble is the mercaptan tends to populate the smell receptors in your nose, and after a while, you can’t tell the leak has gotten worse/ more concentrated.
Without being an alarmist, when you smell gas (the mercaptan) CALL THE GAS COMPANY. They really don’t mind.
We knew a young man who was renting a condo in Las Vegas, while attending UNLV. He entered the condo and flipped on the light switch and the whole place blew up.
There were no gas appliances in his condo, but other condos did have gas. The leak was in the wall.
If you had made a trouble call it makes sense. My stepson’s grandfather who worked for a gas company as a troubleshooter was killed on a call such as that.
Sounds about right to me.
Moreover, I was once told (by a fireman or gas worker — don't remember which) that when the gas concentration gets extremely high, the danger of an explosion is lower than with a moderate concentration, because with so much gas there may not be enough oxygen in the house to allow combustion. He said that for this reason, it can be very dangerous to open the windows to let the house “air out” — unless the procedure is done by professionals who know exactly what steps are required.
In other words, if you think your house has a gas leak, don't operate any kind of electrical switch, don't leave any windows or doors open, and get out right away.
Yep. upper explosive limit is about 16%.
Call the gas company. Touch nothing. Get out. Get away.
Western PA
Two words- liability lawyers. They tell you in your business, control the controllables. And they can’t control the possibility your home has a gas leak (for which you have called them, say) and they ring an electrical ding dong door bell and THEY cause the spark in the bell unit?===BOOM. Cause- the repairman in joint liability with the gas supplier.
This is standard ops, now. And maybe because this happened somewheres. And I think they can’t hire smokers at all for this job.
I can see the mailman standing at the still standing front door with all around it in smoldering ruins. Then he rings the bell again.
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