[mulligan]

To kelsie52: There is no inner wall. Furring strips are applied to concrete block(5/8" thick), and drywall is screwed to them. Not enough room for gas pipes. Not sure about frame construction, but there may be a code issue

[Kelsie52]

Thanks Mulligan --
Didnt know that about the furring strips ...Still seems a little odd to me about the Attic because I know that would never fly here ..

I would just find a safer way to run it if it were up to me ...but if thats the code ! so be it
I am sure they have discussed this before .. It only alarmed me due to the Lightning strike issue. I would want to leave any fuel for a fire out of the reach of something I cant control.

As I said before --wont stop me from buying a home there hopefully when I return in February ...

Wish i was there now ---fall is here will get cold soon

[faithfulfrank]

I am by no means an expert here, especially on Florida construction. I'm but a humble guest who owns a home just south of you all. My Florida home is 15 years old, and wood frame, not CBC construction. It is in The Plantation, and it is all electric.

I have designed and built my own home up here in NY, and have run black pipe gas lines many times. Flex pipe is newer, and we see it more and more. My fire experience has all been in NY as a Professional firefighter for over 18 years. In terms of fire and gas lines, one needs to remember that even with black iron pipe in homes, the connection to gas dryers and gas stoves is flexible pipe.....so no home is completely black iron pipe.

Now, I have no experience to know if there is a special concern with flex pipe in an attic as it pertains to a attic fire caused by lightning. The comment that firefighters just stood by because they were concerned with the gas line "blowtorch" does not make sense to me. I would assume that you have a gas meter next to your home, and that unless the home was fully involved, that gas meter would have been assessable. If so, any fire dept would have just turned it off. That would have turned off the gas throughout the home and any gas in the lines would have quickly been burned off.

Now if there is some reason that a gas line could not be turned off, then yes, we let it burn off, so as to not let the raw gas travel. This is especially true with Propane, which is heavier than air, whereas Natural Gas is lighter than air. We would still aggressively attack the rest of the fire though, hopefully minimizing the home's damage.

There is a point though that if a fire is so widespread that nothing could be saved, the fire dept would switch to a defensive posture, protecting the other homes close to the burning home.

So, I'm sorry I could not be more helpful. I do know that while the home is being constructed and everything is exposed, it would not cost that much more at all to use all black iron pipe. It is much more costly to replace it after the attic area is enclosed.

The other point I was making is that homes now, with truss construction instead of rafters, etc, are almost disposable. Trusses are just short pieces of 2x4's held together with cheap steel gussets that come apart within minutes of a fire. Most times the roof is too far compromised to be saved even before any fire dept even gets there, if there is any fire in the attic area. That is why firefighters have a saying, "Don't trust a truss". We do not ventilate a roof if it is truss construction and fire in in the attic.

Just my opinion, but if I were building a new home today, it would have a residential sprinkler system. The cost is reasonable, and your insurance premiums are lower if you have it. They are safe, not ugly anymore, and it is proven they save homes with hardly ANY damage. If every home was sprinklered, I'd almost be out of a job.

I apologize for the long post.

Frank

[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by chuckinca

It was reported earlier on one of the posts that the fire dept stood around watching the house on fire because they were concerned about safety around the gas lines.

.

No. They realized the house could not be saved and they got out of the house to save their lives. The gas was already turned off.

[faithfulfrank]

Originally Posted by zcaveman

No. They realized the house could not be saved and they got out of the house to save their lives. The gas was already turned off.

I'm sure that is the case. They switched to a defensive posture, protecting the homes that I'm sure are close to the burning home. We call this protecting the exposures. No fire dept I've ever seen would have just stood around. A fire scene sometimes looks chaotic but is really quite organized if you know their S.O.P.

For the record, I was in no way criticizing their efforts or methods.

Frank

[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by zcaveman

No. They realized the house could not be saved and they got out of the house to save their lives. The gas was already turned off.

See 8/12/09 posts on Lightning strike on Sable Chase:

Lightening Strike!
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Wow! Yes we were coming down canal and saw some smoke and when we approached, we could see the house on fire. Flames coming out of the roof, but as we came around we could see the ceiling was already coming down inside.

What I don't understand, and maybe someone can explain, is there was at least 6 firetrucks and no one appeared be be in a hurry to do anything!!! Now, I'm sure they have their reasons, but I was wondering why they didn't appear to be jumping into action???

From what I know is that the woman that lives there is out of the country in Argentina. So, thank God, no one was inside (no pets either) and no one was hurt.

But, those flames were dangerously close to the neighbors on both sides. I would have been a nervous wreck! It's just awful.

When we were coming home from dinner, the smoke was still billowing and we did then see firemen with the hoses.

It's very scary. We saw a couple of lightening hits in the field across from us also.
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Laughter and Light, Chelsea




mac9
Senior Member


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The gas line in the attic blew. The firemen could do nothing until the gas was turned off.


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[llaran]

the gas pipes we have are CSST pipes, simular to the one that connects the dryers. one of our friends recently had a gas bill for $70, called TECO and they sent a man out; there was a leak, but he couldn't fix it, they had to call a plumber. there was a class acton suit about the CSST pipe. Google CSST gas pipe

[johnfarr]

I checked my friend's pipe installation and it is indeed galvanized pipe, installed by a reputable plumber.