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I don’t get your point, we all know that natural gas can explode if confined and ignited.

But natural gas does not puddle, it wants to dissipate, you keep talking about it as though it is propane, natural gas will seek an escape, propane wants to stay in place if it can.

But natural gas does not puddle, it wants to dissipate, you keep talking about it as though it is propane, natural gas will seek an escape, propane wants to stay in place if it can.

Molecular weight of methane around 16, air around 29, propane around 44. For the most part true.

I worked as a fireman for the emergency crew of a natural gas company, and for the most part the leaking methane would sit and haunt if there wasn't a wind, or if it was somewhat confined.

Trenches and bell holes took out their share of engineers and welders. A dangerous mix of air and gas stayed in place if it was being replenished by the leak... I saw yard leaks take down houses, but have also watched welders cap leaks in live lines without mishap. I think 6-15% was the threshold. With a blowing leak, the % was higher than the combustion mix.

I got to watch from the side of the trenches with the nozzle of a huge CO₂ extinguisher in one hand, and the rescue line strung down in the trench around the welder's waist in the other. The bigger worry was him passing out from lack of O₂.

Assume the worse when dealing with such. Don't look so much at probabilities as much as possibilities in fire safety. Sometimes you'll smell the NG before it hits explosive levels in a structure sometimes you won't. When you do you still can not judge how much the concentration is inside. But It can also still be at a dangerous accumulation level below you even in your own home and you not smell it. The people in Knoxville had just smelled a trace of NG a few days earlier.

Personally after smelling it I would react prevention and response wise on a worse case scenario basis. It will dissipate normally under ideal conditions. So will Carbon Monoxide too if allowed. Wood smoke also wants to rise and dissipate under Normal Conditions. Watch it as a front moves through though how it hangs close to the ground.

Normal Conditions are usually not what kill you though. It's just like when a low pressure system comes through you have to take extra precautions with using gas powered generators and vehicles etc around structures.

BTW I was also a fire fighter at one point. That training saved my life one night in a way not many would even think about. I had a kerosene heater going in my storage shed. It wasn't insulated and I left the door well cracked. The door likely by wind closed. I had been sitting down and felt a little light headed. I looked over at the wick and it was going dim. I dove for the door at that point. I knew it meant lack of oxygen by how the wick was acting. That was because I used to test for explosives and survival O2 levels with what was called a mining flame saftey lamp. Not something I had expected to happen but it did.

Don't know about puddling and such, but have seen three houses blown by natural gas leaks. Opened up like cardboard boxes.

On time, at Ft Hood, in a previous life, I went to light the stove in the kitchen, and found myself sitting on the lawn outside, on top of the kitchen screen door, with the stove door in my lap.

Dissapatin' is nice, bit sometimes not suffcient or quick enough to light em up when sparks are introduced.