We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember YAPH saying
something like:

On Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:15:03 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

There was one a few years back where the owner /renter had been nicking
power and the hot tank was on permanently. The stat had failed shut and
the chalky water over the years had closed the vent pipe down. Resulting
steam explosion took out the back wall of the house.

So presumably the head of water from the tank pressurised the cylinder
raising the boiling point, and then when someone opened a tap the drop in
pressure caused the pressurised water to flash to steam in a classic steam
explosion.

That might well have been the sequence. Offhand I don't recall if anyone
was injured. It was mentioned on here actually, probably ~nine or ten
years ago and there was a link to a BBC (or perhaps a local rag) news
page.
Somewhere in the north of England, iirc. Middlesborough, perhaps?

I don't suppose the legality or otherwise of the leccy supply had anything
directly to do with it though.

Indirectly, iwt - if the immersion hadn't been on all the time I suspect
the stat would have lasted longer (and he might have turned the stat up
'cos he liked a piping hot bath for nowt), but also the vent pipe
wouldn't have chalked up so much.
Served the bugger right anyway.