How expolsive is sewer gas???

[fastfredracing]

I think I almost blew myself up yesterday, I was moving around in an unlighted room in a basement, and I was using my lighter to see ( left my flashlight in the truck) . I noticed a large pipe that was disconnected, and as I moved my lighter closer to look, I could see a vapor cloud of sewer gas flowing out of the open end of the pipe. Had I been closer, I may have been in trouble.
We had a pipe clog last week, and the plumber must have forgot to re-connect this pipe after he was done jetting out the pipes. The whole house had a foul smell, and the tenants were not happy campers.

[Danny_Ocean]

Not explosive at the home level, unless some weird set of circumstances exists.

Now, feed me some cheddar cheese, a bottle of Guiness and some black beans...I'll blow your house completely off the foundation!

[Noah930]

Anyone got that YouTube video handy where some guy tries to light a fart on fire and insteads sets his nads ablaze?

[Joe Bob]

It's mostly methane....some have H2S in it...a deadly mix as well as explosive....

[J P Stein]

Originally Posted by mikez

It's mostly methane....some have H2S in it...a deadly mix as well as explosive....

What Mikey said.
Bout 20+ years back, here in Clark county, a fella on a dairy farm went into their cow manure sump....don't remember why ....then passed out. Before it was over 3family members were dead in that sump with one survivor. No fire.....

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by J P Stein

What Mikey said.
Bout 20+ years back, here in Clark county, a fella on a dairy farm went into their cow manure sump....don't remember why ....then passed out. Before it was over 3family members were dead in that sump with one survivor. No fire.....

Hmm...yes, I stand corrected. Most residential sewer systems I'm familiar with DO IN FACT have cow manure sumps installed.

My bad...very explosive!

[red-beard]

It's mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide. There is also sulfur compounds and methane gasses. Under the right circumstance it can burn and possibly explode.

[bell]

Sounds like a ****ty situation either way you smelt it

[azasadny]

Not especially explosive under normal circumstances and concentrations, but it's not healthy to breathe...

[RWebb]

there should be a trap to protect agaqinst exactly this problem

get your flashlight & investigate further - you may just need to run some water down the pipe and fill the trap - will need to do it 1x to 4x times per year

[Hugh R]

Need a trap. It IS explosive, but more importantly, you can get a high enough concentration to displace the oxygen in a small space, and black out and die. You won't even know you're blacking out.

[ben parrish]

I pretty sure that fastfred had the "vent" loose. All systems have a vent so drains don't gurgle and the gases can escape. It vents to the roof where it can escape unnoticed.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Back in my blue collar days I frequently had to snake sewer mains. At the time I smoked. I'm still here.

As Hugh said, they can be deadly when the gas is concentrated. I heard a number of stories involving people going down sewer manholes and never coming back out.

[Schumi]

All I can think about is the scene in Christmas Vacation where Eddy is emptying the chemical toilet down the storm drain....

MERRY CHRISTMAS! SH***ER WAS FULL!

[john70t]

Gas from Sewage Waste Runs City Power Plant
"The apparatus for producing gas from sewage consists of two sludge digestion tanks in which the sewage is allowed to ferment. The gases given off are composed of from 25 to 75 per cent of methane, or marsh gas."

[dtw]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Need a trap. It IS explosive, but more importantly, you can get a high enough concentration to displace the oxygen in a small space, and black out and die. You won't even know you're blacking out.

Yep, extremely scary schit. I was in a closed, long room purging a 75 gallon C02 tank when I realized my field of vision was getting smaller. It is just like the Terminator movies where Arnie gets 'killed' and his vision is a decreasing-radius circle until it blinks out.

Barely made it out - and was very lucky I even caught on to what was going on. As soon as I got real air, I was fine.

Obviously after that, the procedure for purging the tank changed quite a bit...

[Joe Bob]

Originally Posted by azasadny

Not especially explosive under normal circumstances and concentrations, but it's not healthy to breathe...

OK...think of farts...think of a confined space....think of an open flame.....nuff said.....

[red-beard]

Sewer gasses are not the same concentration as digester gasses. Even so, digesters produce a lot of CO2, usually much more than the methane.

Most people who are not killed in a sewer from poisoning, but from smothering, i.e. a lack of oxygen. When I was a field engineer, we had to do a lot of confined space work, and be rated for confined spaces. +1 on what Dale said.

Methane has a fairly narrow flammability range, by volume 5%-15%. Any concentration higher or lower won't ignite and propagate. You can have a higher concentration burn in the presence of air, where the interface reaches the above range.

[Speedo959]

[QUOTE=dtw;4999757]Yep, extremely scary schit. I was in a closed, long room purging a 75 gallon C02 tank when I realized my field of vision was getting smaller. It is just like the Terminator movies where Arnie gets 'killed' and his vision is a decreasing-radius circle until it blinks out.

Barely made it out - and was very lucky I even caught on to what was going on. As soon as I got real air, I was fine.

QUOTE]

And I always thought it was a exhaust leak.....I need to start cracking the window.

[924slover]

depends on if it's mexican night or not