This is what happens when you don't dial before you dig...they never found the guy.
Hey Bob......I think I found an old well. You got a light......
Choco,
That's one serious gas blast (I gather it was gas). Is there a story that goes with it?
i was a word of mouth handman for a bit, mostly old pensioners who always wanted little odd jobs done that would only take a couple of hours and would pay cash... was all going swimmingly until one day i was building raised garden beds for this old dear so she could still garden with out having to bend down too much.
i hit a gas main
its a rather quiet neighborhood round here, full of old biddies
you know how excited tiny school kids get when the firetruck turns up at school...
thats nothing compared to the circus that went on when the firetruck turned up to save the day when i hit this gas main..
every pensioner in walking frame distance came to watch
two years later i still get, aren't you that guy who hit the gas main at ernas' house...?
i swear i thought they'd have all died out by now
Thought this sounded suss as there was no posthole digger to be seen.
And now for the real story
Published: December 15, 2008
The analysis of Williams Gas Company’s pipeline showed that the thinning wasn’t fully captured by the tools used to examine the pipes in service, said John Batchelder, a pipeline integrity expert with the company.
“In the life of this pipeline, the coating became compromised,” he said. “The rocks in this ditch make it very difficult to protect this area.”
The in-line inspection tool, run on the pipeline earlier this year, showed that the pipe, as it crossed Virginia 26 just north of the town, showed some corrosion, but not enough to mark it for immediate repair. Its neighboring two pipelines had repairs in the same area recently.
“The initial results did not identify the corrosion as being as deep as it was,” Batchelder said. “This area has a unique signature of corrosion. It stretched the limits of the technology. We will take the learning we get from this and we will apply it throughout the industry.”
The new information into the cause of the explosion came days after the company applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to reinstate the line.
Larry Hjalmarson, vice president of operations, said if Williams’ application to run gas again in that line is approved, the company will start flowing gas at 640 pounds per square inch — 20 percent less than its capacity of 800 psi. It will run at that pressure through the winter before the company returns to PHMSA for approval to increase it to 800 psi.
Last month, Williams brought the A line back into full service and hopes to increase the pressure on the C line next spring.
About 2,500 feet of the B line’s pipe has been replaced since it exploded, said Rob Shoaf, pipeline integrity team leader with Williams. About 65 miles of pipe were inspected and some 49 sites along that span were excavated. The pipe was pressure tested with water earlier this month at 1,000 psi, the standard for new pipelines, Shoaf said.
“We feel very confident that this pipeline is safe and ready to return to service,” Shoaf said.
Hjalmarson said the earliest that Williams will receive approval to reinstate the B line will be Friday.
That pipeline failed just before 8 a.m. on Sept. 14. The natural gas it released blew into a fireball that scorched an area 1,125 feet in diameter, leveled two homes and injured five people, according to preliminary findings in the federal investigation. Some 100 homes were damaged in the blast, according to Hjalmarson.
OMG Doc, surely you don't miss that job?
OMG Doc, surely you don't miss that job?
you reckon thats a big hole/bang?
look at this one!
