While I sympathize with those who lost their lives and property I feel I have to ask the question. Would you build a house on top of a gas line? Or underground oil pipeline for that matter? I wouldn't.

That's like those folks living in Malibu who build their homes on stilts.

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Did the homeowners even know they were living on top of a huge gas line? Do people on here know where the gas lines run in their neighborhood?

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Literally on top? In my area, most underground utility lines have deed easements that preclude putting as much as a birdbath on top of them.

There was a Texaco fuel depot in Fairfax, VA that developed an underground leak years ago. The leak spread underneath a fairly expensive development and I think Texaco had to buy all of those people's houses from them. The gasoline was coming up out of the ground in places and getting in the ground water over a fairly large area. It was a big mess!
In that case the people living there had no way of knowing when they bought their houses that there would be a problem like that. I would think that building on top of anything like gas or oil pipelines, under or over electrical transmission lines, etc. would be pretty carefully scrutinized before permits were issued.

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Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
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and big posts with signs that say:

WARNING!
UNDERGROUND GAS LINE
CALL BEFORE DIGGING

etc
etc
on them...

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Funny coincidence, but last week the local gas company came to the zoning board for approval to rebuild a pressure step down station. They said it was in conjunction with replacing an existing gas line along a county road in my town. The new line will be 18 inches in diameter, replacing one 12 inches in diameter. The existing and replacement line will be in the county right of way. The station will reduce 250 psi to 125 for further branching and residential delivery. According to them, no interruption in service and no health or safety risk. (this was just before the CA 'splosion.)
250 psi gas flame out an 18" opening would send up a nice flame I'm supposing.

Knowingly, not on your life.


Or living on the San Andreas fault line. Tick, tick, tick, tick,................

There is a lady here in town that had a mobile home on top of a gas line and it exploded with her in the house, she suffered bad burns, she settled for $500,000 and bought a new house and a bunch of stupid stuff and lost it all, now she lives in a mobile home in a different part of town. some people are just too stupid to have money like myself.

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It could be dangerous - true - but just think if you could find a way of rigging up your own free supply pipe? I have been told that this sort of thing happens quite a lot in India - well to be specific and correct I heard that about electricity supplies - but I GUESS it COULD also be true for gas!

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I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

probably a little more dangerous to tap into a natural gas pipeline than an electrical service, (at least for me, have electrical experience, no gas experience) but I'm sure there are people who would gladly tackle either, with no regard for their own safety.

Now if I could find a nice diesel line somewhere, I'd only need a gallon or so per day....

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https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

Now that indeed would be handy.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Call the gas company to come and mark where the pipeline is located on or near your property...you might not be on top of one, but an explosion like in San Brunos can do a fair amount of damage without being too far from your property...

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Before you buy a house it is easy to see if a pipeline is nearby. Just drive around and look for the line markers. By law they are required at every street and fence crossing.

Also, no one can build right on top of a line since no pipeline company will let them. Lines are usually inspected twice a week by a low flying aircraft, and if the pilot spots an 'intrusion' he calls the pipeline operator, who is sometimes still called a 'Dispatcher', and reports it. A line operator is then dispatched to inform the landowner that they are not allowed by the terms of their deed to build anything over the line. Driveways are sometimes exempt, but they cannot be made from concrete. Only asphalt or gravel.

But you can build very close... I have seen houses built with-in four feet of the line. Not the edge of the right-of-way but the line itself.

The lines were normally put into the ground many years ago when the land was way out in the country since getting a right-of-way through a town has always been tough and getting an easement from a farmer has always been easy. Urban sprawl has caused homes to be built as close to the lines as is legally possible.

I am glad I don't own a home near a line as I am sure they are going to be hard to sell until people forget about this disaster.

A lady with PG&E said at a recent meeting that the location of gas lines was classified for security reasons.

Someone in the audience yelled a profanity (said the newspaper) upon hearing that.

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