Anybody knowledgeable about natural gas - leaks, to be specific?

[Rorey]

This is way out there, as far as topics go, but this board has so many members with diverse backgrounds that I thought somebody might know the answer.

So here's the question: Is it logical to assume that multiple gas leaks could develop, or at least substantially worsen, in a matter of days? The house where this allegedly happened is 71 years old.

[we can do it]

1. Yes call gas company now. It is not safe there.

[Rorey]

7. This actually happened a few years ago.

Yes, I did call the gas company. The representative came out, found the leaks, and red-tagged the meter.

Here's the story. My now-ex-husband and I had rental properties. We ended the lease on a tenant who was a hoarder. She wasn't a dirty hoarder, necessarily, but had a lot of stuff. Like piles of clothes everywhere. The first couple of days, my then husband was there while a helper and I were cleaning out all of the stuff. Then he said he had another project to do and left me to do the work.

I had gone down into the basement and cleaned it out. There really wasn't much down there, but I did find a few long-dead mice.

After about a week I noticed a smell, which I assumed may have been a dead mouse that I missed. I searched and searched and found nothing. Then the smell started to get stronger until it was really getting to be overwhelming, and it occurred to me that it may have been gas. I had everyone get out and called the gas company.

The thing is, my now-ex-husband hated me with a vengeance. Am I way off base thinking he may have been trying to do something sinister?

I'll just add that in the final year he was living in the house, I slept with my bedroom door barricaded. (I meant in the final year he was living in OUR house, not the rental I was working on.)

[CloudWatcher]

20. Found the leaks ....

I think the evidence you need was in the nature of the leaks. I'm no expert, but I would have expected the gas inspectors could tell an intentional leak from ones due to aging pipes.

And I would hope they would have called the police if something suspicious was discovered.

[Rorey]

22. That makes sense, I guess

The guy from the gas company seemed to just want to get in and out quickly. It was very late afternoon when I called, so he was probably on call, as opposed to on his regular shift.

[Kitchari]

24. Trust your intuition

Do not let this man anywhere near you or those you love.

[Rorey]

27. None of my family will have anything to do with him

We were together for 25 years, married for 20. He never had children, and my kids treated him like a dad. I didn't try to influence their decisions, but they couldn't forgive the fact that he cheated. My sons also couldn't accept how he acted toward their sister.

There's a whole lot that I found out after the divorce. I wish people had told me things earlier. Turns out that he wasn't just mean, he's also sick in the head. Demented.

Oh, and he voted for OrangeLoser.

[we can do it]

25. Wow. I hope you're far from him now.

[Rorey]

29. He still lives in the same town

I haven't run into him in about six months, and some of that has to do with the fact that he isn't physically capable of getting out too much anymore. And then there's the pandemic.

But if I ever see him, I'll just ignore him or walk the other way.

[hlthe2b]

2. Yup, whether one or multiple, if you SUSPECT a gas leak, CALL the Gas CO Immediately

[Rorey]

9. It's the MULTIPLE aspect of it, and the fact that it got way worse VERY quickly

Also, when I called my husband to tell him that the gas company was coming, he seemed very weird. I vocalized that it was lucky that the house didn't blow up when the tenant was there.

He just acted very weird, given the situation.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Open the windows, don't turn on any electrical items, get out of the house and call the gas company!

[Rorey]

15. Fortunately we were working with the doors wide open.

That's probably what saved us.

I'm sure I'm never going to know if this was a case of attempted murder, but I kinda think I was lucky to get out of that marriage alive.

[Shermann]

4. Really doesn't sound like you are asking the right questions

The right questions are 1) is there a leak? and 2) is anyone in danger?

[DonaldsRump]

5. Agreed, call the gas company NOW and tell them you are sure there are leaks

They will be there instantly and will check everything out.

[Binkie The Clown]

6. The ONLY thing you need to know: Leave the house. Call the gas company. nt

[Rorey]

11. I kinda wanted to know if my ex may have been trying to kill me.

I may be way off base, and it really won't have any affect on my life anymore because he's out of it. It's just a scary thought.

[LSFL]

13. I drive all day listening to true crime podcasts.

He was definitely trying to kill you

[Rorey]

14. His reaction was just downright eerie.

I mean, I was shaken about the fact that the house could very well have blown up. He seemed unconcerned. There was no, "Oh thank God you're safe!" or anything to that effect.

Besides me being there, I had my daughter and her son - my grandson - helping me, and my ex hated my daughter too.

I found out a lot of secrets about him after we were divorced. And I've known him to be prone to violence.

[LSFL]

21. I am so glad you got away from him

Monsters are everywhere. My mother had a tendency to pick abusive men. It culminated when I was 13 years old. Her current boyfriend was threatening to kill my mom and sister with a shotgun. I think he was serious about it.
I shot him 3 times. He lived. He left. My mom holds it against me. My sister says I am her hero. I did what I thought I had to do to protect us. Oddly, the decision was easier when I was 13 than it would be today..

Sorry to dump this on you Rorey. I don't talk much about this, but I occasionally share it with people who who have been through similar horrors because they can look past what I did and maybe understand why I did it.
I am so glad you got away. You take care and be safe.

[Rorey]

23. Sounds like you did the right thing

He threatened to shoot you, so you HAD to take that seriously.

My ex seemed like this hero in the beginning. Things gradually changed, and then got way worse. I'm thankful every day that I'm out, and karma got him pretty good after our divorce. He had a major health issue and will suffer consequences for the rest of his life.

[Chainfire]

33. Let the ex know that he is more likely to get away with shooting you. ;)

Gas explosions bring out the best in the Fire Marshall. They will find out what happened and why, and it is amazing how well that they do it. When you leak is found, you will get an explanation of why it was leaking.

Usually gas leaks are the results of moving something, a pilot light being extinguished, or an appliance just left partially on. (I have to be careful in my house to keep from bumping up against my oven valves and turning one on) Please, do not ignore a gas smell for three days, or even for three minutes. If you don't get a fast enough response from your gas company, or it is after hours, call the fire dept. or the police. When they come out, get them to show you how to turn off the gas to your house. Better being without hot water until your plumber/fitter can come fix your leak, then making a trip in a hearse.

[Chainfire]

8. When you see the news footage of homes and businesses blowing up

it is almost always because someone ignored the smell of gas.

[Rorey]

10. That house blowing up would have solved a couple of problems for my ex-husband

He would have collected my life insurance, and he would have gotten rid of a house that was becoming a real pain in the butt. And no more me to deal with, and no division of property. He's a very greedy person.

[Chainfire]

28. Well, think about your neighbors. ;)

Those explosions don't know where the property line is.

After reading you comment, I wonder if your ex owns a pipe wrench?

[Rorey]

30. Oh yeah, he owns several

He's a tool hoarder. He's got everything, and he knows how to use them. Guns too.

One time, early in our marriage, I went to bed and found that there was a 357 magnum under my pillow. MY pillow!!! And he always kept it loaded. We had some big arguments over that. I asked him what if one of the grandkids had found it, and he responded that they weren't supposed to be in our bedroom. That was true, but it didn't mean that it didn't happen. I finally hid it.

I suppose, in retrospect, that he was going through some sort of paranoia at the time. He had probably done something and was worried about retribution. Like I said, I found out a LOT after the divorce. I was very ignorant of things, and naive.

[Rorey]

31. And yes, it was endangering the neighbors too.

And the houses are pretty close together in that area.

[Totally Tunsie]

34. You need to change your beneficiary!!

[Rorey]

36. I did that as soon as I found out he was cheating

Of course he still would have been entitled to some of it if I died when we were still married. We've been divorced now for over a year and he doesn't stand to benefit from anything by killing me at this point. I don't interact with him anymore.

Another thing I did right away was to give medical power of attorney to one of my sons. I really didn't trust him to act in my best interest if I had become incapacitated.

I thought I was having another mini stroke when we were at the end of the marriage. The look on his face as I was laying in the ER was quite disturbing. He clearly wanted me to die.

[Turbineguy]

12. Do not flip light switches.

leave them as they are. You can get an arc in either off or on change.

Get the gas company in for an emergency check.

[RockRaven]

16. First, like everyone said, call the gas company if there is any suspicion of a leak. But to answer

your question specifically... Yes it is certainly possible for a house to develop multiple leaks simultaneously.

For example, just to pick one way, if the gas line gets over-pressurized then it could a) leak in response to this high pressure from spots which are normally non-leaking during times of normal pressures or b) the high pressure could damage the pipes/connections to create new leaks which will go on to continue leaking at even normal pressures.

In my area, the small gas line coming in from the street gets stepped down (further) in pressure at the gas meter just before it enters the house. So the problem could be caused by a neighborhood-wide issue with the gas company's mains and laterals and their management, or a house-specific issue caused by the meter not functioning properly.

And that's just considering one of the many possible causes.

Be very cautious, call the gas company and get them to come out and find the leak(s).

[Rorey]

18. Thank you!

I still have my suspicions about my then husband, and he knew enough about things like gas lines to pull off something like that.

It just seemed to escalate so quickly. It went from non-existent to noticeable to overwhelming, over the course of about three days.

[gibraltar72]

17. Old black iron lines corrode.

Not inconceivable one could fail in more than one place. I had one that brought gas in to house that corroded through and had multiple leaks.

[Rorey]

19. Okay, thanks, maybe I can buy that that's what happened

As I said above, his reaction was just so weird, and I had gotten to a point where I was afraid to go to sleep at night unless my door was barricaded. My ex is a greedy man, and there was money involved.

I probably just had my imagination working overtime.

[Chainfire]

35. For heavens sake, change you insurance beneficiary. Make sure he knows it.

[Rorey]

37. Did that

And I let him know it right away. He wasn't happy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. It's worth knowing that the odor you smell

when you smell gas leaking, is something that's added, as natural gas all by itself is odorless.

In this country an odor started being added after a natural gas explosion in a school in Texas on March 18, 1937, which killed over 400 students.

[Rorey]

32. That's really sad

A lot of horrible things happened back in those times.

[Delarage]

38. One time the gas company called me

And left a message on my phone on a Friday afternoon at like 3:30, saying they were calling about a gas leak on my property. I did not see the message until after they closed...I called at 5:00 p.m. and it said the office was closed until Monday morning 😲. I did not smell anything and I have CO detectors .... I called Monday morning and they said the leak is somewhere between the line from the street and my house.... outside of my house.....they sent a crew a couple days later and dug up the big section of my driveway, fixed whatever it was, and patched it. Would have been awfully nice of them to mention that I was not at imminent risk of having my house explode when they left that message.

[Rorey]

39. I bet that was an uncomfortable weekend!

Years ago I got a letter on a Friday telling me my mammogram was abnormal. Naturally I had myself convinced I had cancer. Turned out to be nothing, but it sure would have been nice to get a full message instead of just enough info to scare me.

[Kali]

40. yes

old corroded pipe can develop multiple leaks - possibly a thin spot that just gives up. we had a line that was so bad the gas bill was about 5 times normal. it was outdoors quite a way from the house, underground and nobody ever really smelled anything. or on the rare occasion assumed it was from the meter - we have a private tap off a 16 inch line and I think there is some kind of pressure release valve there that occasionally stinks.

long story but bottom line, yes that old pipe can go bad eventually. if your was loose fittings, that might be caused by humans but if it was holes in the pipe, more likely it was just crumbling.

[Rorey]

41. I'm pretty sure all that was done to fix the leaks was tightening the joints

I know it didn't take all that long, and I remember that my husband had one guy with him doing the repair.

The guy from the gas company showed me on his hand-held detector thing where some of the leaks were. I thought it was so weird that they all seemed to start leaking at the same time, and that it was so odd how quickly the smell intensified. I didn't smell it at all, and then I noticed it, and then it was intense......all in the space of just a couple of days. Also, the fact that he suddenly didn't have time to work on that particular house.

I'm never going to know the truth, and that's probably just as well. If I have that twinge of suspicion, it'll keep me from thinking I can have contact with my husband without getting sucked back into that hell again. My daughter shares the suspicion. She didn't trust that I'd be safe with him around when things started getting ugly.

There was an instance a lot years earlier when he wanted me to cancel a short trip out of town, but I wouldn't. At the last minute he said he should do some sort of maintenance or repair on my car before I went out of town. Well, the car, which had been running fine, started overheating not all that far away from home.

Looking in the rearview mirror of life, there were a lot of instances that just weren't right. I should have trusted my intuition years earlier. It took actually catching him cheating to finally get to me. Even then, when I asked him "why", his answer was that he didn't think he'd get caught. That answer pretty much told me everything.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

44. If it was that quick and easy to fix, can you ask the repair person what was wrong?

I smelled gas in my basement, had a plumber coming in for another reason, so asked him to look at it. It turned out it was an old brass valve that I shut off every spring and opened in the fall, to heat an enclosed back porch with its own heater.

Plumber explained that the valve was a type that should be rarely turned, and had a nut that was to be loosened before turning on or off, then tightened to re-seal the valve. I had just been turning it without loosening the nut, so I wore the valve down. Plumber just tightened the nut and no more leak. I had him replace the valve with a type of ball valve that can be turned on or off every year without wearing out.

But, try to track down whoever fixed the leaks, ask them what they did, and how the leaks might have developed. It may not be nefarious. Maybe the former tenants used the gas lines to hang plants or clothes (another bad idea).

[Rorey]

45. There's nobody to ask

My husband (then) had one of his workers help him tighten up all the joints. He paid his workers dirt wages and treated them like dirt, so I'm sure that guy is long gone.

I don't know what the procedure is to remove the red tag from the gas meter. Maybe the gas company checked it the repairs, or maybe my ex-husband had a buddy in that business sign off on it. He has quite a few connections in the trades, and he was sorely lacking in the morals department.

When we bought the house it already had a tenant in it, and this happened about two years after we bought it. She was physically incapable of going down into the basement. It's a long, weird story, but I doubt she was down there.

I realize now, with the information from posters here, that it's possible that it was just a wear and tear situation. It was the way my husband acted when I told him about the leaks that raises suspicion. It also still seems weird to me that the pipes could develop so many leaks at the joints in such a short period of time. There was no odor one day, and then just a few days later the odor had gotten extreme. Maybe it's my paranoia about how sinister my ex-husband could be, but I can just imagine him going over there after I was done for the day and loosening the joints, and then when it didn't work, loosening them a bit more.

I was just reminded of the whole situation about a week ago, and I started thinking about it. At the time of the incident, I was so busy, and so many other things were going on, that I didn't have much time to think about it.

At this point, he has nothing to gain from my demise, so I think I'm safe. At that time, he stood to lose half of our assets, which were almost entirely funded by money I had inherited, plus my life insurance.

I do appreciate the expertise posters have shared with me.

[LuckyCharms]

42. Future reference for those reading this:

If you smell gas in your home, and it is not immediately apparent that you simply left a burner on or something...

Walk out of your house immediately.

Do not touch light switches. Do not make any carpet static with your feet, just get out.

Make any neighbors that are close to you do the same thing.

Then call the gas company emergency line.

Do not wait.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

43. Old pipes, a pressure spike from the gas company could stress the pipes.

Once the leaks start, they could just keep expanding in old rusty pipes.

Pressure spikes happen. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/massachusetts-explosions-fire-gas/570361/