"Wade Lippman" wrote in message et.net...
True, but houses do blow up there. 40 years ago a whole street blew up. I
don't remember what it was; a big surge in pressure or something like that.

You know what Mr. Lippman. What you have heard of is by no means an
isolated occurrence.

Houses explode from gas leaks all the time.

The biggest gas line danger in a home are the flexible gas lines that
connect the clothes dryer to the gas line along with the stove and the
water heater that use the flexible connection as well.

DANGEROUS! Here in Cali at least I know that it is illegal for anyone
to install a new gas appliance without putting in a new flexible metal
gas line.

Also what if nobody is home to smell the gas leak? (Vacation most
likely, most home owners are not smart enough to shut off the main gas
valve before they leave the house) Then it just keeps building up more
and more until all 4 houses the 3 surrounding houses included are
blown up.

There was once incident somewhere in North America where an Elderly
couple were getting more and more sick and they would sleep for the
whole day through and would have to use crutches. They felt tired all
the time and would vomit and they didn't know why.

Eventually the house cat (cats have an acute sense of smell) was seen
digging in the side of the house. The Lady went up to her cat and
noticed that there was a bad odor and a hissing sound from the gas
leaking out into the ground.

The gas company came with one of those testers that can sense how
strong the gas concentration is and it was off the scale.

That very same couple are a lot better now but are extremely lucky to
be alive. They were suffering from the poisoning and their house was
filling up with gas without them knowing. They are lucky that they
didn't quite literally blow up.

Sure there is a danger using electric appliances as well. The
difference is when you introduce gas appliances into the house, you
and your loved ones are now more at risk. Every house would have
electricity anyway. Having a gas appliance only adds more risks along
with a lot more things that can go wrong.

Remember, "What ever can go wrong will go wrong." Murphys law...

I'm not trying to by like Ralph Nader here going overboard. I'm just
saying that now that I am aware of all of the possible dangers
involved and the smart thing to do would be to make wise decisions to
keep you and your loved ones safe. Wouldn't you want to keep your
loved ones safe? There is nothing worse then a parent outliving a
child.

If for whatever impossible reason I were forced to use gas appliances
I would have them all inspected annually and would replace all the
flexible gas lines every year. Now if you had to inspect all of your
gas equipment and infrastructure annually how is that more frugal then
just using the more maintenance free electric appliances in the first
place?

A burn victim from flash burnings can be the most tragic accidents to
live through. I have seen burn victims and it is not pretty seeing
them like that uncomfortable no matter what they do. They don't even
look human anymore. Being a burn victim is no different then loosing
your hearing, loosing your vision or becoming a cripple. It's sad,
it's tragic and it's most unfortunate. The worst part about it is
that it would have been avoided if only one took the necessary
precautions.