Firefighter killed in explosion in Virginia
A massive explosion levelled a home, killing one firefighter and injuring several others in Virginia.
Electrical Question
- Thread starter Vettenut
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CCF = Good people , Great advice ( Corvette or not ) and tons of laughs
Thanks to everyone here for all the thoughts on this topic .... Mr 1st Vette ... I'd hire you
Thanks to everyone here for all the thoughts on this topic .... Mr 1st Vette ... I'd hire you
Well thank you that’s flattering but I’m very happily retired , lol . Just happy to be able to help. Anytime.
I have a wood stove as well but I cut trees for firewood. Have only had the wood stove for a little over a year so slowly getting wood figured out. Started with standing dead pine as it's readily available and already dry but have been cutting tamarack (larch) and birch since September because they burn a lot cleaner and slower than pine and put out more BTU's, but they are all green and need to be split and dried for most of the year before I can burn them. Also have lots of dry poplar but it's not a great heating wood. By next winter I will have amassed enough tamarack and birch that the pine will mostly go by the wayside. In the winter we almost never use the furnace as the wood keeps the house toasty warm. This winter we have had to cut back on fires as it gets too damn warm in the weather we've had.
I would burn regular firewood but it’s a lot of work as you know and to get to the prescribed area to cut it is about 120 k each way although after last summer there will be a heck of a lot available and no doubt closer . If you want to buy it they are charging $450 to $500 a “cord “ , quite often a pickup box full so pallets it is. I have really good access to all I need usually and can fit about 17 or 18 in the back of my truck. Have it down to a science after 25 years. I’ll go through about 250 over the winter so maybe 15 trips hauling them home but they are all in town so no big deal.
I found when I did burn cordwood that once you get the stove hot mixing dry with split damp wood will burn pretty well. I hear you about getting too warm, one we go above-20 you have to be careful not to drive yourself out of the house. Nice thing about free heat though is just open a window or door for a bit and cool things down and get fresh air at the same time. I love wood heat. Nothing like it and I would still burn it even if I got free oil . As a bonus it’s also good exercise.
Some of you may be interested, after watching the clip of the 14/2 shorted, reminds me of an experiment I did years ago. The heat element of a Weller 150 watt soldering gun (transformer style) is very close in size to a piece of #12 copper. I tightened a bare 4" long loop of 12 on the secondary ends, and placed a clamp on ammeter in the loop. Initial current is ~ 350 amps, hot current ~ 250 amps.
We used to take a piece of 2x4 and drive 2 three inch nails through it almost the distance apart that a hotdog is long . Connect the hot from a 15 amp circuit to one nail and the neutral to the other nail and stick on the hotdog . Turn on the breaker and voila, lunch . Electricity is facinating . Amazing how something you most often can’t see can do so many incredible things. And we have Nicola Tesla to thank for the majority of them. True genius.
I was in intermediate electrical apprentice classes, where the teacher showed us how to suspend a hot dog with 2 alligator clips. 230v does it very fast.
Not as fast as 4160 v , lol . But that will cook you just as quickly.
@Rruuff Day careful burning softwoods as the creosote buildup in the flew can be dangerous.
yup. Been there done that. The standing dead pine is extremely dry so not quite as bad but I'm pretty religious in sweeping the chimney. The pine is the worst. Tamarack is a very clean and hot burning wood. Actually they all have creosote. Even the birch. I sweep the chimney twice a season now. Once I go totally tamarack and birch, that will cut down to once a season. Big key to keep the buildup minimal that I found out is to not load up a stove without a decent sustainable fire and a good coal base as smoldering wood is a creosote culprit. But thanks for the tip.
Don't know about the propane that caused this one but Nat gas comes into the house at 1/4 psi. Maybe if people go into their basement or the furnace room once in a while, they would smell a leak long before enough gas built up to cause an explosion. I agree. Gas can be dangerous but I'm betting underlying issues that never get publicized are the main cause of massive explosions. Much like my post office story. The postman had been smelling gas for several days and didn't bother to check it out or call the gas company. Natural gas has an additive in it so you can smell it quite easily. When you call and tell the supplier you smell gas, they are on your doorstep in minutes.See these almost every day.Firefighter killed in explosion in Virginia
A massive explosion levelled a home, killing one firefighter and injuring several others in Virginia.www.ctvnews.ca
I believe that they put mercaptan in propane so you can smell it. pretty sure you can get detector alarms as well but it’s still scary . To smell it of course someone has to be there. Cordwood won’t blow up.
Unless a cow has been sitting on itI believe that they put mercaptan in propane so you can smell it. pretty sure you can get detector alarms as well but it’s still scary . To smell it of course someone has to be there. Cordwood won’t blow up.
I once smelled gas (mercaptan) while exiting from a door in our our industrial unit., Oakville, Ontario. 11 pm.
There was a typical regulator, meter, and several pipe connections, all outside, 15 feet away. As I got closer, the smell got stronger.
I called 911, and 2 fire trucks were there in under 10 minutes. They had a local gas contractor on speed dial, who came out and tightened 1 pipe union.
There was a typical regulator, meter, and several pipe connections, all outside, 15 feet away. As I got closer, the smell got stronger.
I called 911, and 2 fire trucks were there in under 10 minutes. They had a local gas contractor on speed dial, who came out and tightened 1 pipe union.
Yup. They don't piss around with gas leaks...
Been on too many of those calls for gas. It is not only propane or natural gas. Gas leaks are way more common than people realize. Seven or eight years ago, our department missed an explosion by a couple of minutes that may have taken out a few of us. Found the acetylene cylinder a few hundred metres away.
