In article ,
"John" writes:
In some countries (France being one), this will likely cause
the gas supply to trip off, and you won't be able to reset it.

That sounds interesting - is there some sort of cut-off device that shuts
off if the flow exceeds a certain volume?

It's built in to all gas cocks in France (at least, I think
you are required to use gas cocks with it built in). It's
also built in to the main regulator in at least some cases
(you can't reset that one).

This could be a life saver in areas where the theft of pipes is becoming
common place.

It way predates that. I suspect it's to cope with appliances
falling off the wall, or buildings collapsing, or some such,
leaving a ripped open full bore gas pipe.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]