In this episode, Adam shares an amazing and terrifying tale of a house blowing up because of a clogged regulator vent.
Narrator: It's time once again for the Crackman podcast, hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. I'm Darren Kincaid, and I'm here with the crack Daddy himself, Adam Tracy. Adam has 20 years of experience in the construction industry, and as a civil engineer, is A1 Foundation's resident engineer on staff solving a plethora of unique foundation problems every day. This podcast provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair and preventive maintenance tips for owners and businesses. A1 Foundation's valuable insight will help avert the disaster of a flooded basement, health problems due to water infiltration, and protect your biggest investment, your home. The topic of today's podcast: How did winter weather blow up a house in Taunton, Massachusetts?
Narrator: So, Adam, this sounds like a tale of terror for this young family. What happened there?
Adam: Yeah, it was a really sad event that occurred about a week ago now, or maybe even a little bit longer. We had a podcast not too long ago talking about digging out some of the foundation when you have snowpack around the house. A lot of that snowpack can go up and under the siding and cause issues with rot or the sill plate, and it can also create all sorts of problems around the bulkheads.
We’ve talked about some preventive maintenance tips to provide clearance around these areas so you’re not dealing with these problems. Everyone worries about ice dams, but there’s also some risk down below when you have water, snow, and ice accumulating against the foundation.
This was probably one issue I should have known about, but it just wasn’t something that was present in my mind. A lot of the houses in Massachusetts use natural gas, and those homes typically have regulators and meters on the outside of the house. In fact, a number of years back there was a major issue with houses that had meters on the inside, leading to massive explosions in homes around the Chelmsford and North Andover areas.
In this case, it appears that snow and ice accumulating around the exterior meter caused the problem. I really wanted to bring this to people’s attention, especially for avid subscribers of the Crackman podcast. This is more of a general home safety tip rather than something specifically water-related.
What we would recommend is making sure the exterior gas meter is completely exposed and not covered in snow or ice. After reading through the story and understanding what happened, my kids and I went outside and dug a path around ours because we had about 20 inches of snow surrounding it.
What appears to have happened is that there’s a regulator vent on the side of these gas meters. When the meter becomes totally enclosed and cased in ice, it has no way to offload gas pressure spikes coming from the main line. It seems that’s what happened in this particular home — the regulator froze, gas pressure bypassed the regulator assembly, entered the house, and caused a large fire and explosion.
Thankfully, it appears the family is mostly okay. There were some injuries, but it looks like everyone is going to make it through. Still, it’s an important reminder for homeowners to make sure their exterior gas meter is completely exposed. Not only is it good for preventing foundation and ice-related issues, but in this case it exposed a failure point on gas meters that many people probably didn’t even realize existed.
It’s been years since we’ve had this level of snow and ice around homes, so this is just a simple safety tip: stay safe, make sure your gas meter is clear, and keep your basements dry.
Narrator: Thanks, Adam, for sharing this amazing — and terrifying — story of a house blowing up because of a clogged regulator vent. Wow.
Narrator: If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional or if you'd like more information on foundation crack repair and basement waterproofing topics, please visit a1foundationcrackrepair.com or call Adam at (866) 929-3171, or you can email Adam at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.