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So.. a house just exploded in Toronto

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Wow. I feel like that concentration of gas to produce that huge of an explosion must have been intentional. Would probably be hard not to notice the leak.
 
I was scared of gas furnaces in homes for many years. I didn't like the idea of having a flame and something explosive heating the house. I still prefer electric, but gas is cheaper. I got over it. Just like that fear I had about running out of gas. I would freak out and tell my dad to put more in the tank. A family stranded on the road is a nightmare when you're a kid.

I still don't like hot water heaters.

I hope everything works out for the people living there.
 
I remember back in 1996 in Puerto Rico the Humberto Vidal explosion, I was in High School at the time almost a mile away and we felt the entire room shake. It was horrifying.
 
How do you avoid/prevent something like this? Scares the crap out of me. If there were any sign of a leak someone would have noticed, right? How does this happen?
 
Valnen said:
Holy fuck. It really seems like gas isn't a safe source of energy.
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There are around 60-65 million homes in the US that utilize gas in one way or another. It's pretty damn reliable. The problem is that when there's an issue, it can escalate, VERY quickly.
 
djplaeskool said:
There are around 60-65 million homes in the US that utilize gas in one way or another. It's pretty damn reliable. The problem is that when there's an issue, it can escalate, VERY quickly.
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This seems like a problem with seemingly how many people it's killing lately.
 
If you folks look up various gas explosions when it comes to homes you would see the effects are fairly similar. Esp the part of said structure being non-existent after in the real bad ones. Gas leaks and such is no joke. Living in a country that also uses gas for many things has me always switching off valves when not in uses and whatnots when it is possible. Also have a detector that picks up any potential leaks which helps.

Blast would have come from a specific location in the home also, where the majority of the chemicals would have been stored. This most def looks more to be gas related seeing how the damage / spread matches other gas related explosions in the past.
 
Abstruse Moose said:
Is it normal for a gas leak explosion to not burn anything?
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Real simple explanation is with leaking gas it fills a large area and when that is ignited all areas with said gas in it goes boom. Which is why you have things blown out in every which direction. All of the "fuel" for the explosion gets used up in that instant it is ignited.

Things that are liquid based such as gasoline or oil in a container for example will explode and burn after. Though those are more set in the specific areas of concentration rather than being able to fill up a whole area unless done so on purpose.

Actually looking at this is not exactly the best explanation but you should get the general idea hopefully.
 
crazy how something there one second is gone the next, something most people wouldn't even expect that could cause this much damage. They were probably just enjoying the day, and then boom, they and the house are wiped. are these gas lines common in America?
 
5c16jwr.gif


Woah, that is crazy.
 
It's really scary that pipes full of extremely flammable gas are running under our homes. there was an explosion recently a block away from me, thankfully (and miraculously) nobody was killed. This is so sad.
 
Archer said:
Gas leak (who farted?) or meth lab.
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Actually most "meth lab" type of explosions / fires generally leave remains of the structure behind. Reasoning behind that is either those inside of them fucked something up and chemicals ignited or they purposefully used an accelerant in an attempt to torch any evidence. If you do something dumb like just using natural gas the only thing you wind up doing is potentially spreading evidence everywhere from the blast. Rather than actually destroying it by incineration.

Ace Harding said:
It's really scary that pipes full of extremely flammable gas are running under our homes. there was an explosion recently a block away from me, thankfully (and miraculously) nobody was killed. This is so sad.
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Its either bad luck, poor maintenance / parts usage or carelessness that is what causes these issues. Considering how many use natural gas and how few incidents there are its about as scary as the chances of you crossing the street and getting hit by a car. Or more like your car suddenly explodes into a fireball.

The loss of life is indeed tragic, but this is by no means something that is commonplace.

In Japan there has been more deaths by gas leaking rather than shit going boom for example. The largest incident that we have had was back in 1970 for example.

On the flip side then you have maniacs that do things like this

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/justice/indiana-home-explosion/
 
The collateral damage is pretty bad, the house next door is clearly lopsided and is probably no good.

Wonder what insurance coverage on this is.
 
AlphaTwo00 said:
The collateral damage is pretty bad, the house next door is clearly lopsided and is probably no good.

Wonder what insurance coverage on this is.
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Actually am surprised it is not worse if you look at the homes on the left side are in far better shape than the one on the right.

mkeAeVH.jpg
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Though considering the close proximity of the home on the right its no wonder why it got messed up good.
*Refer to the aerial shot to see what I mean.
 
and just the other day i was worrying about sinkholes.

i guess ill add this to the list of shit that can kill anyone at anytime.

:[
 
This is what the area looked like before.
keQ02lX.jpg
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After
mkeAeVH.jpg
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WesternHeretic said:
I think this is the 2nd time I've read something like this happening on GAF. Wasn't their one a year or two again in Indiana? Where the pictures made it look like a damn war zone.

Edit: Yep found it.
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That one was deliberate is what the investigation found out.

An investigation led by local and federal authorities, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, revealed suspicious behavior and circumstances surrounding the explosion. In particular, various elements of the gas line at Shirley's home may have been tampered with before the blast, including a missing step-down regulator, which reduces gas pressure entering the home, and a missing on/off valve to the residence's gas fireplace.

"The absence of the valve and regulator would explain how such a large volume of gas would be released into the home," Curry told CNN.

In addition, the digital thermostat at Shirley's home had been replaced by a slide-switch thermostat that "will produce a spark when the thermostat reaches a specified temperature," the probable cause affidavit says. However, it appears that the thermostat did not contribute to the explosion; instead, it appears to have been started by the microwave in the kitchen, which was a model that could be programmed to start 24 hours in advance.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/justice/indiana-home-explosion/
 
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