“The Fire Marshal’s Office can confirm that it is aware that the homeowners at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive were having hot water tank issues.”
They must have been some big issues!
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If the thermostat on the water heater goes bad and the TPR valve fails the explosive power of a water heater is approximately one stick of TNT for every 10 gallons of water. If my memory is still working I think water expands 1600 times when converted to steam.
One would hope to get clocked in the head rather than to be coated from head to toe with superheated water in the process of energetically becoming steam.
What a terrible and preventable tragedy if it is a failed TPR. It may more than likely have been a gas leak though and when that hits that magic 7% ratio to air, it’s taking the house with it.
Randy, I guess my question would be, if a overly pressurized tank exploded, would it not be more of a projectile as opposed to an inflammatory device that exploded to the extent of leveling the house in a ball of fire?
There had to be something else going on with a gas issue too, possibly unrelated to the WH?
IMO this was no water heater explosion, too much fire at the time of the event. I think it was a NG explosion, either that or someone was building a bomb.
IMO if it was a WH it would have shot like a missle as it did in the show Myth Busters.
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Natural gas will not burn unless the mixture is within a flammable range of roughly 5 to 15% gas in air ; the most efficient or ideal mixture is about 10% gas. A combustible mixture of natural gas in air will not ignite until its temperature is raised to the minimum ignition temperature, which is 1150°F.
“The Fire Marshal’s Office can confirm that it is aware that the homeowners at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive were having hot water tank issues.”
It will burn at 5 to 15, it starts getting really froggy at 7%.
Looks like a mob hit straight out of the movies but with real tragedy.
Well the gas line was ripped out of the WH when it took off. Here is an electric water heater explosion in Phoenix. Different result.
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Gotta love these articles (NOT) that don’t include basic information. Was the water heater gas fired or not? What were the issues that the Fire Marshall knew about but the article doesn’t share?
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