Ah, some welding

Started on some long delayed projects yesterday. The weather is getting nice enough to go outside. A little shaky, but like riding a bike, it comes back quickly. I can actually still weld uphill. Got some pipes mounted to put up some of my big honking flood lights. Three more to go, and it will be like daytime out there.

Ahh. Getting started on a ream of honeydos. Double spaced, though, so it's not THAT bad.

SP 175 is STILL being cranky. Looks like it gets to go to Vegas.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B
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My Weldpak 100 made me a little cash just the other day . Welded a new jack to the front of a neighbor's trailer . After I finished , he asked me for some cards , he runs a landscaping business and is often asked if he knows someone who can build a gate frame . Steel tube frame with boards screwed on , won't sag like a 2x4 framed one will .

Reply to
Snag

Here is what I think must have happened to produce the gas explosion. I don't have enough evidence to suport this, except that no other scenario makes sense. We know that there were both gas and water pipes down there. After the explosion. the crater filled with water from the broken pipe. It's possible the water pipe was leaking before the explosion, creating an underground crater, which would have eventually led to a cave in, if the explosion had not occurred first. We know these things occur frequently. Now lets assume there was a gas leak in the pipe within that crater, causing it to fill with a combustible mix. Now all we need is an ignition source to complete the disaster. This could have come from a car exhaust or even a discarded cigarette, igniting the explosive mixture leaking up to the surface.

You can't explain that explosion by a ruptured pipe. That might produce a big flame, but not a crater-producing explosion.

Some of the news media attributed the water in the crater to runoff from the fire hoses. That seems implausible, since we know there was a water main down there.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

That part of the country moves from time to time. e.g. Leo's concept - a water leached out hole under the pipe. Lets say rusting the pipe and not supporting the pipe. A minor slip in the gravel around the pipes from ground movement - into the crater or earth quake / fault slip - might cause a spark that igniting the gas leaking, (people reported gas smells to the gas company) into an explosion. The later from volume in the underground cave created by water leaching.

Mart> Here is what I think must have happened to produce the gas explosion. I

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

One of the lead ins I saw over and over again was:

"Half century old pipeline fails."

A lot of shit can happen in half a century. We even have shifting and leaking problems at that age. Some of you worse than others, but ................... '-)

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

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Reply to
Steve B

You'll probably never know the details but certainly older pipelines had far less sophisticated corrosion control treatments/systems the modern lines. The last pipeline I built - about 15 years ago had a two part painted insulation, tested for leakage before welding. Welded areas treated before burying, cathodes every 500 M, or so, and test point to check for electrolytic corrosion at the same interval, and with this, the planned life of the pipeline was "minimum 10 years".

But.... The field is still producing plenty of gas and the plant we erected is still working and gas is still being shipped through that pipeline and probably will be until it leaks so bad that they don't dare drive down the right of way. Hard to convince people to close the valve on all that lovely money :-)

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb (jdslocombatgmail)

Reply to
J. D. Slocomb

BINGO!! Your last sentence says it all. Greed has almost always been the ultimate cause of dramatic failure. "All for want of a horseshoe nail" comes to mind. No one wants to admit that they were the ferrier that saved a penny on nails that day.

Reply to
TinLizziedl

Greed is almost a universal emotion. Companies like it but so do individuals. Just tell a welder that you are cutting his salary 10% today because that's how many repairs he had yesterday :-)

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb (jdslocombatgmail)

Reply to
J. D. Slocomb

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