Commander Kinsey wrote:

On Mon, 11 Mar 2019 19:48:48 -0000, Roger Hayter wrote:

Commander Kinsey wrote:

On Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:52:13 -0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 11/03/2019 15:46, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Mon, 11 Mar 2019 15:28:57 -0000,
Andy Burns
wrote:

Commander Kinsey wrote:

hat are those things you see in the middle of nowhere (in the UK
at least), a 10 foot high white pole with an orange roof-shaped
lid on top?

Hi-viz poles to allow the chopper to follow the pipeline route easily.

They're not just markers, I'm sure they can actually let off gas.

They are simple makers for the helicopter that checks the pipeline to
follow with its airborne leak checker. One of the high pressure
pipelines runs close to me. They also mark the no dig zone at the
roadside (permission required from the pipeline owner Ineos or Shell).

Are you sure? I looked at one once and I'm sure it had some kind of valve
in it to let gas out. When I asked someone at the time, I was told that
if it had let off pressure and ignited it, the bright orange lid would
have been blackened, signifying there had been a problem.

Do you often have a problem with people taking the ****?

When I don't know what the device does, there's no way of telling which
answer is truthful.

Strangely, I find the common sense I was born with answers that question
pretty conclusively. There could be no circumstances in which excess
gas needed to be discharged randomly in the middle of the countryside.
If it were necessary it would be done at the origin or termination of
the line, and it is equally unlikely that any leak of gas would be
deliberately ignited. There can be no doubt about this.


--

Roger Hayter