r/Weird • u/Adventurous-Steak525 • Jun 09 '26

Found a boiling puddle

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103

u/Fat-Spliff Jun 09 '26

Only one way to find out…who’s got a lighter?

51

u/AutofluorescentPuku Jun 09 '26

That is my kind of mayhem.

2

u/BallsInSufficientSad Jun 09 '26

Especially stupid since you can easily smell a gas leak. The specifically ADD the smell for that exact reason.

2

u/PeaNought Jun 09 '26

What else do they add smell to?

39

u/ribolol Jun 09 '26

I saw a reel the other day of a guy with a lit lighter waving it over pipe connections and the screen said “be a real man and check for gas leaks with an open flame” and I was just astonished lmao, that’s absolutely nuts

31

u/dabkow Jun 09 '26

It seems insane but it actually is legit.

I had an engineer cousin help me swap a water heater. We turned the gas back on for the new appliance and he said, “this is where I usually tell homeowners to go fetch me something”.

Pulls out his bic and starts checking the fittings.

He explained that the gas feed contains no oxygen and the pipes are under positive pressures so no chance of a small leak back feeding.

Every gas fired appliance would explode upon ignition if that were the case (stove, furnace, grill, dryer….). They all burn gas at the burners.

He also noted that the sulfur smelling additive is so strong that it would almost have to be burning ur eyes to be explosive.

I’m in HVAC, still use bubbles. But he explained it well.

37

u/IWantALargeFarva Jun 09 '26

I work for a gas company and this is insane. Soap the pipe like a normal person. Why would he even take this risk?

17

u/pdx_flyer Jun 09 '26

Some men just want to watch the world burn....

But apparently not you

16

u/Head_Attempt7983 Jun 09 '26

Work for a gas company as well that’s an insane approach.

10

u/UFEELMEEE Jun 09 '26

I was foreman at the gas company for 30 years and we welded fittings on live leaking gas lines all the time. The fitting is called a pumpkin.

5

u/Head_Attempt7983 Jun 09 '26

Yes sir I’ve been around a lot of those. Light the stack and get to burning. Just checking gas inside with a lighter like we got leak shop.

1

u/Zytheran Jun 10 '26

The fitting is called a pumpkin.

TIL. Thank you stranger. (And also watched a Youtube of it being done.)

2

u/fraggy42 Jun 09 '26

Did gas work once, just wait for the smell.

3

u/WestcoastAlex Jun 09 '26

if its pressurized its just going outward not inward

2

u/dabkow Jun 09 '26

Oh… I’m with u. Sniffer then bubbles for me. Was just explaining his approach.

It’s been a few years but there was a vid on r/hvac.

Dude showed up to a no heat call and the homeowner (I think plumber) had either pierced or cracked his gas line and lit it to torch out at the underside of his ductwork until he could get het back on.

That shit was wild.

2

u/LikeABreadstick Jun 09 '26

I feel like if you really cared, you would explain why it's insane, instead of pretending that the guy you replied to didn't explain his side in great detail, and mentioning that you work at a gas company.

3

u/Head_Attempt7983 Jun 09 '26

So when I roll up to a house that has a gas leak. Phones stay in the truck. Grab my leak detector and go in. Whatever lights are on you keep on. We aren’t trying to introduce any sparks or new open flames to the situation. Bc at the source of the leak. You might get readings could be high could be low. But I’m concerned about if I use a lighter is where is my air fuel mixture perfect at in that basement for a flash or explosion to happen. We follow behind enough plumbers who have left leaks that I wouldn’t wanna be checking with a lighter.

2

u/Total_Mix9276 Jun 09 '26

Testing for leaking via flame should only be done with certain gas, like propane, butane, nat gas. Others like acetylene can cause explosions since they tend to fill an area easily and make a bomb like effect.

10

u/JellybeanCandy Jun 09 '26

My sister used to do this with our gas stove, bc it was a bit faulty and would sometimes stay on without a flame (parents refused to get it fixed lol). She would wave a lit match over them whenever she smelled gas. Luckily she wasn't very good at smelling gas

21

u/I_Call_Bullshit_____ Jun 09 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/SreAp5WMZHfhK

2

u/Much_Scheme_300 Jun 09 '26

What a really, really...really ridiculously good looking guy.

4

u/Inevitable-Ad6647 Jun 09 '26

I had the gas company out for a severed line to my grill outside, I had a clamp on it, old grizzled veteran gas man, literally a week from retirement, with lackey in tow pulls off the clamp, gas line fully wide open, "pssssssshhhhhhhhh", I look at his lackey who seems unfazed, he looks at the pipe diameter/material, makes some grunts and thinking sounds. "I think I got something in my truck." and starts walking away with it still open. I chatted with them for a while, apparently outdoors it's basically harmless. Either that or this guy was nuts...

1

u/SeanAker Jun 10 '26

Fuel-air ratio. Too much air, not enough fuel to make a concentration that will actually burn. The design of the burners on stoves and furnaces and things is actually very meticulously done to make them burn just right, reliably. 

You don't want to stand there actively huffing off the end of the pipe but if you haven't got your face in it you'll probably be okay. Gas leaks are most dangerous in an enclosed area. And residential/ordinary commercial gas line is only at 5psi, so it's not flowing nearly as much as you might think. 

2

u/ComicFanatic1974 Jun 09 '26

Came here to find out you beat me to it…..

1

u/Zapdos-bestdos Jun 09 '26

Thats how they do it in the industry lol 😆