Well there's your problem. (preview.redd.it)

submitted 2 days ago by happybadger@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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Why yes, that is a natural gas line running to the furnace and water heater: https://www.reddit.com/r/electricians/comments/1fpo26t/not_something_you_see_everyday_evidently_this/

Not something you see everyday. Evidently this image has gone a bit viral, but this is a friend of mines house. She hit me up wondering if I knew what might cause it. The flex was pulling about 175 amps and was at 1200 degrees. There's to be a whole news story on it and everything.

Mother of god, dare I say this post..... blew up. There are a lot of questions and there is no way I can get to everyone. Basically, during a storm a tree fell on the incoming lines and it caused some fucked up high voltage things and created a new ground.

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[-] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 1 points 25 minutes ago

I hear the riff...

[-] Zoift@hexbear.net 49 points 2 days ago

It may not be power efficient, but that water is definitely heated.

[-] miz@hexbear.net 35 points 2 days ago

step 1. turn off the main breaker to the house

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 29 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

according to that reddit post, during a storm power line fell on gas meter, energizing gas line. now, that means that current flows bypassing meter and breakers entirely, going to ground via gas line, glowing flex, then water pipes and/or neutral. normal breakers won't trip, because neutral does not have breakers. GFCI should trip, but it does nothing to stop gas pipe from glowing because current that heats it doesn't flow through there. to unfuck this particular situation you'd need to trip breaker at substation, or disconnect power line going to that area

gas line could be shut off in principle, but it'll be energized, so it's not an option

[-] miz@hexbear.net 20 points 2 days ago

yikes. worse than I thought

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 2 days ago

yeah that's on the more catastrophic end of scale, nothing can be done at that residential address

[-] dat_math@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

why is the US grid so feeble that leakages of this size (and surely a whole neighborhood's gas network getting heated to these temperatures is detectable, right?) aren't automatically disabled by the power company's computers or some other controllers in the network?

[-] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 11 points 2 days ago

They would have to have a lot of switches and network wires connecting them and systems to monitor them. Even then, I doubt this draw would be enough to signal to them that it's a problem. Probably not drawing more than a stove on the cleaning cycle, far below a level that would say, "This area is drawing too much power".

[-] spectre@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago

The post say s it was 175A which is substantial but still not enough to notice at a neighborhood level of they were monitoring there.

[-] dat_math@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I see, so less many US house's capacities in total current leakage? This post makes me so grateful I don't have a gas connection in my building

edit: was that total current leaked in the whole neighborhood or just the one house?

[-] spectre@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago

From the post it implies that 175A was going into the house (but bypassing the meter so it couldn't be caught there)

So yeah it would be like ~+1 maxed out house running like 10 space heaters

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 days ago

you don't need a lot of computers there, it all can even work without communication with power company. on medium voltage (15kV) lines, that would be reclosers every few kilometers, and these do trip when short to ground (>0.5A) is detected. but no one does that on low voltage, because potential for damage is much less. the difference between euro and american grids is that americans have medium voltage line going down every single street, and because of low voltages and high power draw conductors would have to be of monstrous size otherwise. i understand that GFCIs are rather uncommon out there, and these aren't usually installed in substations either. there are also lots of smaller transformers in american grid and that would make costs of putting all that protection circuitry even higher (in my home village there was 1 15/0.4kV substation per some 250 people, or 80ish houses. americans can have one transformer per one house) gas line could be plastic, so it would be isolating and so it'd be limited to that one house

[-] chickentendrils@hexbear.net 12 points 2 days ago

If I didn't want the house to burn down for the insurance, I'd probably go shoot the power line down. Finally a use for BMG.

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

that sounds pretty dangerous and i'm not sure if it would even work, because for it to work it requires line to get shorted somewhere else with better ground resistance, tripping breaker at substation. if it fails, you have now high step voltage on the ground and not just near water pipes underground. or it requires line to be cut, and to be sure you'd need to hit all 4 (euro) or 3 (american) wires or insulators. or you could try to pull out fuses at substation, (with insulated tools, on low voltage side) at least for these that i've seen it's possible (like this one https://www.sonepar.fr/catalog/fr-FR/products/05584019458). if fuses are bolted on tho, shit outta luck. (no idea what americans are using)

e: the more i read about american electrical code, the more horrified i get. you can get mains voltages of 120v phase-neutral, 208v phase-neutral, 208v interphase, 230v interphase, 240v interphase, 240v phase-neutral, 277v phase-neutral, perhaps 416v phase-neutral, 480v interphase, or perhaps 480v phase-neutral. of which 277v and 480v are for business customers only? (and 347v, 600v in canada)

this can only be a result of plug manufacturers conspiracy

High-leg delta (also known as wild-leg, stinger leg, bastard leg, high-leg, orange-leg, red-leg, dog-leg delta) is a type of electrical service connection for three-phase electric power installations. It is used when both single and three-phase power is desired to be supplied from a three phase transformer (or transformer bank)

if you want to supply both three-phase and single-phase, supply three-phase as symmetric three-phase + neutral and supply single-phase as phase-to-neutral. it's simple, it's sane, it's standardized, and it's efficient in copper. that way nobody needs 200A circuits, 7kV transmission line running down every damn street and substation every 5 houses because all high power loads are three-phase, that also means no large imbalances in load happen

it looks like end result of decades of penny pinching managerialism with zero planning for any standardization

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago

... pretty dangerous... better ground resistance, ...on the ground and... underground... ,... hit all 4 (euro) or 3 (american) substation,... shit outta luck.

Hamas has opened a new front.

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Jeez, sounds like a Roland Emmerich movie.

"Get me the president!"

[-] Hexboare@hexbear.net 15 points 2 days ago

Wrong, step 1 is take a photo obviously!

[-] citrussy_capybara@hexbear.net 27 points 2 days ago

get-out

[-] Tychoxii@hexbear.net 20 points 2 days ago

shake hands with danger

[-] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 1 points 1 hour ago

Safety third

[-] Naal@hexbear.net 23 points 2 days ago

that's speed glow, it makes the electricity go faster

[-] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 26 points 2 days ago

not-good

[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 2 days ago

See, if it was all good, it should be glowing green

[-] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago

I typically buy LEDs but neon lights are fine too I guess.

[-] SoyViking@hexbear.net 22 points 2 days ago

It is not supposed to look like that.

[-] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 23 points 2 days ago

jesus-christ

[-] GlueBear@hexbear.net 16 points 2 days ago

Christ all fucking mighty I would be out the house so fast

[-] joaomarrom@hexbear.net 21 points 2 days ago

sweet mother of jesus that's insane lol how does that cable not just melt instantly?

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 21 points 2 days ago

I'm surprised the paper in a plastic bag, plywood floor, and cable casing aren't melting. It's starting to combust the warning labels but the floor should be on several kinds of fire.

[-] Acute_Engles@hexbear.net 17 points 2 days ago

Heat transfer is kind of like electricity transfer. It'll always travel the path of least resistance. It's the principle of the trick where you hold a lighter up to a super thin plastic water bottle or a balloon with water, the plastic won't melt until the water gets hot.

[-] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 20 points 2 days ago

Yeah well, if it stays that hot then sooner or later it'll sort itself out.

[-] brainw0rms@hexbear.net 15 points 2 days ago

wake up babe new bussin LED strip just dropped

[-] bunnygirl@hexbear.net 2 points 2 days ago

uhm actually this is an incandescent light nerd

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago

what the fuck

[-] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago

Well fuck.

[-] adultswim_antifa@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago

scared

[-] anarcho_blinkenist@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago

I think even more interesting than the natural gas line being superheated to such a degree is that SOMEONE DECIDED TO GET THEIR PHONE AND TAKE A PICTURE INSTEAD OF INSTANTLY FLEEING AS FAST AND FAR AS THEY CAN like wtf get the fuck out