(AP) — Officials say one man is dead and another seriously burned in a fire that erupted after a backhoe hit a propane gas line in McDuffie County.

1. Propane Tank Explosion
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3. Propane Explosion Today

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Gas burner operating defects & noises:

Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG) tanks are commonly found in the wildland-urban interface and present hazards to firefighters in that environment. LPG tanks may be found in a number of other environments such as motor homes, travel trailers, grills, camp stoves, lanterns, etc. Directly attacking LPG tank fires is a structural fire task involving hazardous materials and should only be attempted. Agriculture is a major backbone in the region. It's why JMRC piloted with the Village to give free mental health services to producers in need.

Here we provide descriptions and photographs of unsafe gas piping, indications of unsafe or improperly operating gas appliances, gas meters, and other gas installation defects are provided.

We discuss how to diagnose and how to report defects found in oil or gas piping inspections. We include inspection report language examples for gas heating appliance flame & noise problems & hazards.

This article includes example home inspection or gas appliance inspection report language for reporting defects in gas piping & burner operation at heaters, ranges, ovens, water heaters or similar LP, propane, or natural-gas fired appliances.

We also provide a MASTER INDEX to this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need.

Gas Flame & Noise Defects

How to Identify & Report Other Defects in LP or Natural Gas Appliances by Examining the Gas Burner Flame or Burner Noises

Gas Burner & Flame Color Interpretation

[Click to enlarge any image]

Our gas flame colour illustration at page top illustrates a questionable irregular gas flame at the burner of a gas-fired heating furnace.

Looking into three burner ports of this heater we see three very different burner flames, suggesting perhaps a debris-blocked burner tube or improperly-adjusted air shutters, or (less likely) a partly-blocked gas metering orifice.

Above we see the gas flame in a Cal-o-Rex Dur-A-Glas LP gas fired water heater installed in Pozos, Guanajuato. This water heater (geyser) was made in 1999 so we're looking at a water heater gas burner after sixteen years of use.

The photo offers a view of a damaged gas burner flame dispersing cone and also of the passage of gas combustion products up through the center flue of this calorifier. The flame colours are normal, mostly blue with yellow tips.

Our gas flame colour illustration shown above, adapted from Bosch (2014), shows how you might distinguish among the properties of the following:

• Unhealthy, mostly-yellow gas burner flames (top, check the gas regulator and air mix) that can occur on either LP (or propane) or natural gas burners.
  Also see GAS REGULATOR NOISES as problems with gas-air mixture can cause noise at the appliance regulator as well as defective gas flame or too-low gas flame.

• Healthy yellow tips on outer cones of otherwise blue flames (center) characteristic of LP or propane gas burner flames such as is illustrated in the photograph shown above
• Healthy soft blue flames of a natural gas burner shown below (the small gap in flame tips at the 12-o-clock position in the photo marks the location of the igniter - and is not a defect.

What the Bosch drawing and our photos above do not show are other gas burner flame defects such as noises, flame lifting off of the burner, flame jumping excessively, flame uneven, or blocked at some orifices by debris or spills or lastly and particularly dangerous, the presence of soot - an indication of a serious even fatal carbon monoxide hazard.

Above we see a normal LP gas flame at the burner of a gas stove installed in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Also see GAS FLAME COLOR CHECK for more examples of gas flame color checks and the relationship between air mix and gas flame.

Other Example Gas Burner Inspection Points & Reporting Language

*** Safety Recommendation: gas grill we suggest keeping the gas turned off at the rubber hose connection below the rear deck as leaks could be very dangerous.

The use of rubber tubing rather than iron piping is unsafe and may not be permitted for this installation, and we suggest you review this question with your local fire inspector. Usually this is not a significant expense if correction is needed. This item should be addressed promptly.

Gas Appliance Flame Observations: Caution: examining the burner when this appliance was operating we noted that the flame was floating above the burner ports.

You should check with your utility company or heating appliance service person. Possible causes include high gas pressure, clogged flue, inadequate air supply, excessive or very cold drafts.

Gas Appliance Flame Observations & Reporting checklist: [Example heating system inspection report text is below]

Caution
At the ___ appliance, the gas burner flame was [example gas flame defects]

___ burning at the gas metering orifice

___ lifting off of the flame from the burner, possibly gas pressure too high - photo above - often accompanied by a rushing or roaring noise.

___ popping noise when turned off and on - see GAS BURNER POPPING NOISES

Propane Tank Explosion

___ gas burner roaring noise and un-stable flame, flame too big, unusually high, noisy flame, possibly burner cap askew or gas pressure too high or both.

___ gas flame spilling out of the burner area

___ gas burner flame yellow and lazy [inadequate gas pressure or inadequate combustion air],

indicating a possible malfunction of this equipment.

Watch out: Any of these LP gas , propane, or natural gas burner conditions is potentially very dangerous and needs prompt attention. You should have your utility company or service person check the appliance immediately.

Immediate LP or natural gas safety hazards: if there is evidence of an LP or natural gas leak at a building, gas odors, for example, you should:

• Do not do anything that is likely to cause a gas explosion, such as lighting a match, operating an electrical switch, or even using a telephone in the building
• Leave the building immediately
• Notify other building occupants of the safety concern
• Contact the local gas company and/or fire department

Watch out: General safety warning: improper installation and even improper inspection and testing methods involving natural or 'LP' gas can involve dangerous conditions and risk fire or explosion.

If you smell gas you should leave the building immediately and should do so without doing anything that could create a spark such as operating a light switch or telephone. From a safe location, call your gas company's emergency line and/or your fire department.

Watch out: soot observed on or around an LP or or natural gas burner can be a sign of extreme danger. Normally gas fired appliances run rather clean and with no soot deposition.

But if there is a combustion air problem a system can soot up and even completely clog a flue with soot very quickly - in minutes or hours. The risk is potentially fatal carbon monoxide poisoning of building occupants.

The text provided here is a working draft and may be incomplete or inaccurate.

Contact us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.

NOTICE: while example report language is provided here, reproduction of this or any of our web pages or their contents at other websites or in printed documents for sale is prohibited.

What should a gas furnace or boiler gas burner flame look like?

When properly adjusted the gas burner for a 100,000 BTU gas furnace or gas boiler, will have a flame about 1' or so high.The top of the gas flame will roll slightly 90 deg across and be blue in color.

If the gas pressure is too high you will notice the tips of the flame much higher, pointed and orange in color.The orange gas flame color usually means there is too much gas for the air mix input.[Dust, debris, or other problems in the gas/air mix ratio, such as a misadjusted or blocked air intake at a gas

More about gas flame color and diagnostic suggestions is

at BLUE vs YELLOW COMBUSTION FLAMES and

More about the relationship between flame colour when burning oil or gas fuel is

at COMPLETE COMBUSTION, STOICHIOMETRIC

Propane Explosion Video

What does the presence of rust or debris mean when found on a gas burner?

Excessive rusting every year usually accompanies these problems of improper gas pressure, inadequate combustion air, or wet conditions.

If you vacuum a lot of rust one year and it is back the next, then there is a problem that needs to be diagnosed and corrected.

Watch out: Rust can damage a heat exchanger, cause a hole, and make the heater unsafe.

Rust can also indicate general moisture conditions that could be causing other damage to or safety problems with the heater, including flue or chimney safety hazards.

Looking for rust on a gas heater's burner is a simple, quick visual check anyone can do to see if there is cause for alarm.

If rust is recurrent as we describe, further inspection is needed, and the gas pressure regulator should be checked as well.

Some of the residential gas furnaces or gas fired boilers show the correct flame patterns in their Installation and Operation Manuals.

Thanks to Charles or Mike Trumbature for suggesting this comment:

Propane Explosion Today

I see mostly Rheem furnaces in homes 20 - 30 years old. Rheem(TM) must have cornered the market at that time here in the Houston Texas area.

I've seen several homes in various areas with the same identical furnaces. I replaced a thermocouple on a relatively new unit once and noticed the 'tame' flame pattern compared to my raging bonfire in my own furnace which was an older unit.

On my older gas furnace I was constantly cleaning out rust every year. That's when I checked the gas pressure at the gas regulator/valve and found it too high. My friend's heat exchanger still looked new, mine was a bucket of rust.

Readers should also

see WATER HEATER NOISE DIAGNOSIS, CURE

Cause & Cure for Popping Noises at Gas Burners

This discussion has moved to

Watch out: these LP gas , propane, or natural gas burner conditions are potentially very dangerous and needs prompt attention. You should turn off the fuel supply to any gas appliance expected of leaking - to reduce the risk of a catastrophic gas explosin.

Gas Burner Manuals

• CARLIN EZGAS PRO™ Gas Burner INSTRUCTION MANUAL [PDF] Carlin Combustion Technology, Inc., 126 Bailey Road, North Haven, CT 06473 USA Phone: (203) 680-9401 Email: info@carlincombustion.com, retrieved 2017/12/31
• MANUALS & PARTS GUIDES - HVAC - home - Master Index to All Brand Names & A-E HVAC manuals, wiring diagrams, installation and repair guides

...

Continue reading at GAS BURNER POPPING NOISES or select a topic from closely-related articles below, or see our complete INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES below.

Or see GAS BURNER FLAME NOISE & DEFECT FAQs - questions & answers posted originally at this article

Or see these

Gas Burner Troubleshooting Articles

• GAS REGULATOR NOISES - buzzing, humming, and other noises at gas appliance regulators

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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to GAS APPLIANCES, PIPING, CONTROLS

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Technical Reviewers & References

• Bosch, 'Gas Cooktops Installation Manual, NGM Gas Cooktops (NGM30, NGM50, NGM 56, NGM80, NGM86, NGMP65)', (2013), Bosch, 1901 Main St., Suite 600, Irvine CA 92614, Tel: 800-944-2904, Website: www.bosch-home.com
• Bosch, 'LP Gas Conversion Kit Installation Manual , NGM Gas Cooktops (NGM30, NGM50, NGM 56, NGM80, NGM86, NGMP65)', (2014), Bosch, 1901 Main St., Suite 600, Irvine CA 92614, Tel: 800-944-2904, Website: www.bosch-home.com
• Bosch, 'Gas Cooktops Use and Care Manual, NGM5055, NGM8055, NGM8065, NGMPO55, NGM5655, NGM8655, NGM8665, NGMP655', (11/13), Bosch, 1901 Main St., Suite 600, Irvine CA 92614, Tel: 800-944-2904, Website: www.bosch-home.com
• U.S. Energy Information Administration - eia.doe.gov/
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - epa.gov/solar/energy-and-you/affect/natural-gas.html
• At Natural Gas.Org www.naturalgas.org/environment/naturalgas.asp#emission you’ll find a table of combustion products
• At geocities.com/rainforest/6847/report1.html is an interesting and detailed though not “neutral” report on the components and contaminants in the combustion of natural gas. You’ll see a long long list of emissions products, but look again – most of the contaminant levels listed are in the picograms.
• apvgn.pt/documentacao/iangv_rep_part1.pdf lists the components in natural gas exhaust from vehicles
• The Need Project, Manassas, VA: need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/NGasS.pdf
• Kroschwitz, Jacqueline I., and Mary Howe-Grant (eds.). 'Gas, Natural.' In Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. 4th ed., vol. 12. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1993.
• Tussing, Arlon R., & Bob Tippee. The Natural Gas Industry: Evolution, Structure, and Economics. 2nd ed. Tulsa, OK: PennWell Publishing, 1995.

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
• Carbon Monoxide Gas Toxicity, exposure limits, poisoning symptoms, and inspecting buildings for CO hazards
• HOT WATER HEATERS - a detailed guide to all types of hot water sources, problems, inspection, repair
• SEWER GAS ODORS in COLD / WET WEATHER - Septic Odors or Sewage Odor Diagnosis & Repair Guide for diagnosing and eliminating cold weather sewer gas odors
• Water Pressure Loss - Diagnosis how to determine why water pressure has been lost or why there is no water at all in a building
• ...

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