topic Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line in Community Chat

Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 17:35:20 GMT

What a morning it's been! When we got up early this morning it was -2 degrees outside and 54 inside, BRRR!!! Luckily, we have a few space heaters in the building for emergencies like this.

Turns out, the natural gas line at the well located at the other piece of property across the road "froze up." (We own the well) My dad and his brother had to go down and do what he refers to as "bleeding" the line. Apparently, the cold temperatures cause condensation and increased air to form that must be drained off or the gas will not travel up the lines to the heat/air unit.

I was nervous for him the whole time they were down there. They're certainly not young men anymore. I wish he'd have let me go to watch. One day, I'm gonna have to know how to do things like this myself. Frankly though, the thoughts of it terrifies me. Have any of you ever had this kind of thing to happen?

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

catter70 — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 17:43:37 GMT

No, I never knew anything like that could happen. Sounds scary. No burst pipes in the house, I hope. It was a balmy 12 here in my part of Pa. and it seemed to take forever for the house to kinda get warm. Hope you are all safe.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

SandySparkles — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:40:51 GMT

😲 WOW! I have never had that happen and am SO sorry this happened during this arctic chill we are enduring!!!🥶 I think it is an EXCELLENT idea for them to teach you the ropes if it is not a difficult task, in the event they are not home IF it happens again; fingers crossed it does not!!🤞🤞

I hope you are COMFY and WARM now!🤞😊🔥

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

MamaWick — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 17:54:38 GMT

@cheriere hopefully y'all will have a good weather warmup very soon.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 17:57:10 GMT

@catter70 No, thankfully it doesn't effect the pipes or anything. But it's always scary! I can only remember this happening a couple of times since they built the home. It always happens down the hill and across the street from the house at the point of the actual gas well itself. I'm going to mention to him contacting the company who leases the well from him. It seems to me that something to better cover this part of the line might need to be added. I'll wait a little while before mentioning this though because he's still quite aggravated about having to go through all this...plus, he thinks I'm an idiot whenever it comes to household "man" jobs like this lol. Yes, he's from that generation lol.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:01:07 GMT

@SandySparkles @MamaWick Thank you so much 😊. It's definitely been a crazy morning around here lol. It is supposed to warm up a little, but not much until next week. I don't think the line should give anymore trouble again though. It isn't supposed to be as cold as it was and usually once the line has been "bled" it lasts.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

Marp — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:03:50 GMT

@cheriere, your household "man" jobs comment brought back a memory.

When I was a kid dad had a lot more patience with me when it came to "man" jobs than he did with my brother.

I was an opportunity to teach; brother was apparently expected to have innate knowledge.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

SandySparkles — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:06:54 GMT

@cheriere wrote:
@SandySparkles @MamaWick Thank you so much 😊. It's definitely been a crazy morning around here lol. It is supposed to warm up a little, but not much until next week. I don't think the line should give anymore trouble again though. It isn't supposed to be as cold as it was and usually once the line has been "bled" it lasts.

That is reassuring news!👍 You are most welcome!🥰

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:08:01 GMT

@Marp lol that's a great point! I'm certain my dad would've shared that exact philosophy if I'd had a brother. Unfortunately though, patience has never been one of his strong suits. But I'm gonna have to learn to do these things for myself. I sure hope I can get him to understand this...but it won't be today lol.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

chessylady — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:12:32 GMT

Sometimes, if you can afford it,it is better to hire someone to do those types of jobs.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

On It — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:36:16 GMT

@cheriere Yes! There was snow, ice, and bitter cold. I was alone. No heat. No hot water. (The range and oven were electric so I could cook). I called the gas company, and they sent someone out. I could see him working for a long time. Another truck arrived. They replaced the connection valve at the main gas line with a new one. Then they had to come into the garage to check the hot water heater and the gas furnace to see if they were burning properly. It was a major deal.

My advice if it is up to you, call the gas company. They were quick to respond.

Edited to add: If you own the well, are you the gas company? I would want to find a bunch of answers to whom to call. You are officially the only person I know who has a private gas well.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

SaveTheTurtles — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:29:57 GMT

Yikes! Anytime you are dealing with natural gas like that is scary. I would have called the Gas company to come out I think. Sounds like your dad knows what he's doing luckily.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

Desert Lily — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:33:18 GMT

I agree with @chessylady and would hire a professional to do the job.

Otherwise, I'd likely move.

I know what I don't know and wouldn't take the risk. And I wouldn't be bothered by a look or a comment.

How long do gas wells last? 20-30 years? Would a new gas well with newer technology need to be drilled then?

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

ROMARY — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 22:28:54 GMT

Just yesterday someone we ran across told us that several, maybe many? (across the extreme cold front areas) electric cars' batteries froze and were inoperable.

Regardless, sorry to hear about frozen natural gas line problems.

Keep safe and well.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:01:53 GMT

@On It First, let me start by saying how very sorry I am that you had to go through all of that by yourself. God bless you! I'm glad the gas company sent someone out quickly for you.

As far as our gas well. Yes, we own it. There's a lot of gas underground so we only lease some of what's down there to a company, not local. So, we essentially have free gas, but there's not really anyone I know of that we can call for general maintenance...but I'm going to talk to my dad a lot about this tonight. I need some answers and phone numbers to write down in the happenstance he's no longer physically able to do this. Believe me, this kind of talk about lots of things is LONG overdue.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:06:58 GMT

@Desert Lily The gas well is not very old at all. In fact, the company who leases some of our gas does come by and maintain it occasionally. I would've definitely had to call someone to come and do this though. Apparently, it's not a hard thing to do...if you know what you're doing! I do not though lol. I was telling @On It It's time for me to talk to my dad and get some names and numbers of these companies and people to talk to for the future.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

1Snickers — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:01:41 GMT

@cheriere I've heard of that happening but I don't have gas heat. You are correct you will need to know how to do it if they can't, or have someone knowledgeable available to contact.
I've been a widow for 20 years and my husband always handled things. But, I watched my farther as I grew up. I'd help hand him tools as he repaired things. I'd hold a mirror so he could see the TV screen as he worked from the back.
This morning it was 17 and I was enjoying coffee and I smelled oil. It came from the heat vent. I went in the garage and it really smelled like furnace was running but no heat in the vents. I pushed the reset button. Nothing. I have an underground tank that was supposedly filled in December. When the technician came he said the tank was empty! I was livid and asked if it could have a leak he said no. He filled it with two gallons of oil and I insisted that he get the truck here ASAP. I called and left messages at multiple numbers. The oil truck man came and didn't recall filling it in December and I had told them I wasn't left a ticket.
Heat works, but I really had to insist on help and am still concerned about a leak in that tank . If it has one they replace it free.
So, calmly explain to your Dad you are interested in learning. Even if you don't do the actual work you can be certain that another technician does. Keep warm!

😱 🥶 🔧🛠️🧰 🤗

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

Allegheny — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:01:45 GMT

@cheriere

Oh yes. I remember when the gas line to our house froze up. We got free gas because the line ran through our property. It was an agreement made many years back that was in the deed. The line to our dwelling was our responsibility. It was so cold that we had ice frozen on the inside of our windows. Like yours, my Dad knew what he was doing and went out and took care of it. It only happened once, and that was enough.

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:29:41 GMT

@monicakm Oh yes, I remember when that happened in Texas a few years ago. I was a huge disaster! Thank goodness they did an update in your area. I can't stand to be out of power either. That was really nice of you to call and thank the electric company for a job well done. I'll bet they really appreciated that. I'm sure those calls were very few too unfortunately. My mom worked at our local electric company for years until she retired. The stories she can tell about some customers are truly unbelievable lol. She would've loved you ❤️💕😊

Re: Frozen Natural Gas Line

cheriere — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:45:27 GMT

@1Snickers I'm so sorry to hear that you're dealing with heating issues too. I sure hope that it doesn't up and go out on you again, but if you remember getting it filled in December I'd be afraid I had a leak too. It's so hard to get any of these technicians to listen to you and really check things out.

Thank you for the advice about talking with my dad. It's just something that has to be done. I need to learn how to do some of this maintenance work myself. In fact, I think I'm gonna buy a large binder with plenty of paper and take notes on how to do various things around here. I'll start by making a good list of the first things that come to mind that are kinda simple. This might ease him into teaching me a bit easier. 😊❤️