Indy neighborhood gas explosion: 3 charged

[BaldLoonie]

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50270052/n.../#.UNS5VFewUzQ

[jdblack]

I can't watch it from my phone, but is this the one from last month?

Sent from my ERIS using Tapatalk 2

[toocoolforschool]

I can't believe the greed of some people. They deserve what they get.

[air1]

"...an examination of the gas meter at the house found that there was a large volume of gas entering into the home six to nine hours prior to the explosion."

How did they know that? Was it a electric meter?

[toocoolforschool]

Probably from the last reading they came up with a mathmatical equation, but I could be talking out of the side of my neck.

[gravity]

Un #$%@# Believable. I can't believe the things people have in their minds. I wish the 2 Leonards died and the neighbors happened to hit up the casino.

[BaldLoonie]

Good point, how would they know unless the meter had just been read?

yes jd, this happened last month. Pretty quick things got pointing to man caused and pointing toward the occupants.

[jdblack]

Yeah that's crazy. That's the fire I was thinking off.

[firecontrol]

Do the remote reading gas meters that are interconnected with the electric meter make real time (or at least maybe hourly) measurements possible? I have this set-up on my house. There is a wire that runs from the gas meter to the electric meter.

It used to be the person from the utility would just have to drive by the house and the information would download into a unit in the truck. Now it seems they've installed a lot of 2 way radio repeaters mounted on their own poles (wooden power poles) all over the area that I understand allows these readings to be taken without anyone driving around.

[coolwhip]

Meters are electronic now...no need for meter readers anymore. They can monitor you right from the utility company.

[ga-hvac-tech]

Seems when times are tuff... folks think they are gonna rip off the ins co... Guess they did not think it out well enough...

Personally, glad they were caught!

[sweat hog]

Sounds like they where almost stupid enough to get caught beforehand. I wish that would have happenend.

[ga-hvac-tech]

Sounds like they where almost stupid enough to get caught beforehand. I wish that would have happenend.

Yeah, before doing $millions of damage and killing innocent folks who were just there. Glad they were charged with that also.

[junkhound]

approx 4 million btu per ton of tnt

approx 1000 btu per cu ft, so 4000 cu ft of NG per ton tnt

about 9-1/2 cu ft of air per cu ft NG, right?

so, 42,000 cu ft of house for a ton of TNT for NG blast (aka air-fuel bomb)

Say big house, 8 ft ceiling, 4000 sq ft house including basement, etc = 32/42 approx 3/4 Ton of TNT equivalent.

at 50 ft away, about 8 psi overpressure or wind speed like a Fujita F4 tornado ripping thru the neighborhood which is what the damage indicated.

To actually plan for the level of damage seen and to acheive the stochiometric mix at ignition would imply an intelligence way above what the perps obviously are lacking .. stupidity is no defense for murder, esp when evil intended.... concur with charging sentiments of previous posters

[ch4man]

approx 4 million btu per ton of tnt

approx 1000 btu per cu ft, so 4000 cu ft of NG per ton tnt

about 9-1/2 cu ft of air per cu ft NG, right?

so, 42,000 cu ft of house for a ton of TNT for NG blast (aka air-fuel bomb)

Say big house, 8 ft ceiling, 4000 sq ft house including basement, etc = 32/42 approx 3/4 Ton of TNT equivalent.

at 50 ft away, about 8 psi overpressure or wind speed like a Fujita F4 tornado ripping thru the neighborhood which is what the damage indicated.

To actually plan for the level of damage seen and to acheive the stochiometric mix at ignition would imply an intelligence way above what the perps obviously are lacking .. stupidity is no defense for murder, esp when evil intended.... concur with charging sentiments of previous posters

great post, i too was tring to do the math. i cant speak for tnt equivelent but having a background as a "gas guy" i seen many vidios and the results of houses purposfully blown up and the data these tests reveil.

its harder than youd think to reach a level between LEL and UEL in a house esp one that large.

the creeps that did this were either very smart or very lucky.....

from the reports it sounds like the 2lb regulator was removed and bypassed and a valve in the gas fireplace missing. so gas at 2 psi through probably 1/2 or 5/8" copper for 7-8 hours to bring a 3 story 4000 sq ft house with minimal air changes to between 5-15% gas.
before thr microwave was set to start the ignition source.

someone did a lot of research.....

i hope they fry.

[hvacvegas]

Hang um high.

[jdblack]

This is local for me. possibly a gas leak at the furnace in the attic.

http://www2.wspa.com/news/2013/jan/0...r-5277653/?v=2

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

[chaard]

The idiots changed the digital tstat to a mechanical tstat that can generate a spark.
Stupid. Why not just program the stat to call for heat at a certain time. The ignition of the furnace would ignite the gas filled house.

[motoguy128]

The idiots changed the digital tstat to a mechanical tstat that can generate a spark.
Stupid. Why not just program the stat to call for heat at a certain time. The ignition of the furnace would ignite the gas filled house.

Because that's not what they've seen in the movies or read on the internet. Could have been a sealed combusiton furnace too. None of my gas appliances communicate wit hthe air inside the home unless, on 2 of them, you were to leave the service door off sicne the combustion air is a free draw from inside the cabinet.