Austin house explodes just before noon Sunday

[60 Deluxe]

What? You talking about an electric water heater exploding? If it exploded like your saying I bet it had a lot more than 1 psi of pressure built up!
never heard of this happening.

I was talking with a Factory Mutual Insurance inspector several years ago. He pulled out some pictures of water heaters blowing when the pressure relief valve failed. The heater itself normally takes off like a rocket for several hundred yards. It causes lots of damage to structures. I looked at the pictures of the house that blew and can see that the damage is much more extensive than a water heater popping. My guess is meth lab or a leaking propane tank filling the house with gas. Propane is heavier than air so it will settle along the floor until it builds high enough to find a spark like a light switch would make.

[Tejas Wildlife]

1 psi isn’t blowing out a candle. Local news said they did have propane tanks on the property

When testing the Intervention Package on our Remote Operated Vehicles offshore, we regularily tested the lines to over 5,000 psi. I unscrewed the drain plug from a 5 gal air tank once that had 3 psi inside. Only damage was my dirty drawers & the 20 minutes it took to track down where the plug finally ended up! Man it richocheted all over the work shop!!!

[Walker]

What? You talking about an electric water heater exploding? If it exploded like your saying I bet it had a lot more than 1 psi of pressure built up!
never heard of this happening.

Re-read my original post. Not 1psi in the water heater. 1 psi in the building can cause structural collapse. Straight out of NFPA.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I call BS on your thinking. The reason they hydrotest pipes, pipelines full of water is because they will not blow up. They will dribble just a bit & drop the pressure. Leaking gas is a whole different story.

I call BS on your BS call sir! I spent 46 years in the high pressure fluid handling business and provided equipment to industry to do hydro-static testing of equipment from water hoses to nuclear pressure vessels and submarines. I guarantee you a pipeline full of water can catastrophically fail (blow up) and it can cause devastating damage, launch projectiles and all manner of destruction. Most people do not realize it, but water is very compressible. Yes, it's less compressible than a gas, but it is still compressible and a failure whether axially or radially, can tear come crap up.

[Hoggslayer]

Sheriffs office reported that there was no gas service to this residents.

[sharpstick35]

I've seen doorbell camera footage from across the street. That was now water heater, but didn't look like a gas explosion either.

[Greenheadless]

[ThisLadyHunts]

Here’s a pic published in the local daily of the house after it exploded. News Talk radio was all atwitter this morning. Reports that the house was under construction at the time of the explosion (remodel or new build, I’m not sure). The owners were living in another house nearby while the work was being done The husband was at the site when the house exploded, he is critically injured, they say. The wife was at the home in which they are currently living.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed homes under construction (usually a remodel, as I’ve observed) succumb to fires and explosions. I’m going to guess that someone left something on, gas and pressure accumulated and then someone/something was the source of ignition.

I hate it for these folks; especially for the owner who was severely injured, God bless them.

[bboswell]

Sheriffs office reported that there was no gas service to this residents.

they also reported that the house had propane tanks connected to it

[Hoggslayer]

they also reported that the house had propane tanks connected to it

Didn't here that part. To me that seems like a gas service.

I cant imagine a news article only telling half the story these day.

[Chew]

Thanks, Bin Laden.

[Buckshot-73]

Here’s a pic published in the local daily of the house after it exploded. News Talk radio was all atwitter this morning. Reports that the house was under construction at the time of the explosion (remodel or new build, I’m not sure). The owners were living in another house nearby while the work was being done The husband was at the site when the house exploded, he is critically injured, they say. The wife was at the home in which they are currently living.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed homes under construction (usually a remodel, as I’ve observed) succumb to fires and explosions. I’m going to guess that someone left something on, gas and pressure accumulated and then someone/something was the source of ignition.

I hate it for these folks; especially for the owner who was severely injured, God bless them.

why would they show a Pic of Plano Fire and P. D. ??

last I checked, Plano is a long way from Austin.

[S-3 Ranch]

they also reported that the house had propane tanks connected to it

Of the 3 homes that exploded I referred to earlier one was on city gas service, other was a 500 gallon propane tank service , one multiple 100lbs tanks
the propane explosion was my postman and I was friends with him and we talked often about it
Fire marshal said dog had caused the gas leak, whole house was gone , along with the two next door, and this was on a 1 acre lot subdivision ( basically destroyed 3 acres with houses)
and my neighbor blew up his barn and the house next door to it, when he was trying to make bio diesel, with propane as a heat source,
the city service one I drove over to gawk at before the fire marshal roped it off , I saw pink Insulation blowing down the street in the wind 1/4 mile away,
so I believe it was a gas leak explosion imo

as saltwater slick said water underneath pressure is extremely dangerous, I saw a guy inspecting a water leak and he had a broom that he used to find the leak and it cut the broom stick off

[ThisLadyHunts]

they also reported that the house had propane tanks connected to it

If I’m correct, the neighborhood in which the house is located was developed in the 70s and early 80s and were mostly builder spec homes. I’m guessing, though I don’t know, that propane tanks weren’t commonly installed back then. A mobile propane tank, perhaps? Could a mobile propane tank have caused that much damage?

[bboswell]

Didn't here that part. To me that seems like a gas service.

I cant imagine a news article only telling half the story these day.

"Texas Gas Service confirmed to FOX 7 Austin that the home did not have natural gas service; however, the home did have propane tanks, according to officials."