Potentially disasterous experience with a bench top gas cooker !

[Dumbastheycome]

Last evening my wife  had just finished  boiling some potatoes on one burner of a 3burner cooker when I noticed  a small smoky  fire  burner  under the  glass  cooktop. Checked the controls were all off and closed the  under bench  bottle. Mistake was to  tip a glass of water down the back of it in the presumption it was something that had  fallen past the  burner and was burning from below. Instant explosion of the tempered glass cooktop !

It became obvious when I lifted the  whole cooker up  to see what had been burning that it had been concurrent  with the potatoes cooking  on top .

This cooker has a  right angled  swiveling union for the  gas tube input. The screwed on fitting was loose and gas  had been slowly leaking and had ignited which had been quietly heating up the  glass so when cold water splashed on it the result was an explosion of glass !

The cooker is 5 years old with regular use so why now the fitting came loose is a small mystery but  on completely removing the  union I notice the threading on the metal tubing is crude and minimal and no form of sealant used.

 

I only post this as a small warning to anyone who has similar equipment to  check the integrity of that fitting. I add that at no time before that had the smell of  gas been noticed in an enclosed cooking area so if it had  continued to leak without igniting as it did a major explosion could have resulted at some later point in time.

[CharlieH]

Good news no one was injured, thanks for the warning to others, its something that can so easily happen over time I guess.

 

Our is always turned off immediately after use and the bottle is physically located outside the premises.

[Pilotman]

I will check mine now. Thanks OP for the heads up. 

[Moonlover]

We had one of those collapse inward a few years ago. The whole thing just crumbled! I replaced it with a free standing stainless steel unit which seems much more robust.

[Lacessit]

Tempered glass cooktops are dangerous, I had one shatter on me when one of the spacers got displaced. Bought a stainless top replacement, much safer.

[Dazinoz]

I worked in an oil refinery for 23 years and can see what LPG can do. The rental house I am in had a gas cooktop with gas bottle under the sink. I asked the owners to take them away and I bought an induction cooker. I won't have LPG bottle inside. 

 

But for those that have and are not worried a regular check on all connections and condition of items should be performed.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Dazinoz

[tonray]

16 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

I worked in an oil refinery for 23 years and can see what LPG can do. The rental house I am in had a gas cooktop with gas bottle under the sink. I asked the owners to take them away and I bought an induction cooker. I won't have LPG bottle inside. 

 

But for those that have and are not worried a regular check on all connections and condition of items should be performed.

Yeah...I cook a lot...but I leave the Gas outside. Inside use induction or ceramic.....I'm a coward when it comes to keeping a pressurized bomb under the counter

[LawrenceN]

19 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

at no time before that had the smell of  gas been noticed

Does the cooking gas used here have a smell? Natural gas (methane) is odorless. In the US, I know that that distinctive "gas" smell is added, just so that a leak can be detected by our noses.  The assumption that gas smells could lead to a "false negative," that is, no smell = no gas leak, which might not be true.

 

The sparker went out on my cooktop. I light it with a match and never smell "gas."

[Dazinoz]

9 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

Does the cooking gas used here have a smell? Natural gas (methane) is odorless. In the US, I know that that distinctive "gas" smell is added, just so that a leak can be detected by our noses.  The assumption that gas smells could lead to a "false negative," that is, no smell = no gas leak, which might not be true.

 

The sparker went out on my cooktop. I light it with a match and never smell "gas."

The gas in bottles to run cooktop is not methane but LPG, being either butane or propane or a mixture. These also don't have a smell. I don't know about Thailand but in Australia the refiners add a chemical called Ethyl Mercaptain to give it an odour.

[phantomfiddler]

3 days ago I went into my kitchen to light a burner on the stove top, pulled the trigger on the hand lighter and.......BOOM !!!  a deafening explosion so loud people thought a transformer had blown. It turned out that a rat had eaten a sizable hole in the gas feed pipe to the cylinder stored outside. Total fireball in the kitchen, forearms ablaze but luckily no major damage other than one hell of a shock and minor burns, but a pointer to check that gas feed line at regular intervals. I also smelled no gas, as it tends to lie low, and a search of Pattaya's hardware stores found no availability of any stainless steel mesh covered gas feed line. Maybe on Ebay ???? 

[Cake Monster]

20 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

The cooker is 5 years old with regular use so why now the fitting came loose is a small mystery but  on completely removing the  union I notice the threading on the metal tubing is crude and minimal and no form of sealant used.

One reason possibly that the Union become loose is the Weather.

At the moment the weather is cool, and therefore Metal will contract, thus loosening the threads.

Also you  are correct in thinking the thread is crude, I am afraid that things with such importance as this are not Manufactured well at all in Thailand / China. Everything is reliant upon the person installing the product to have sufficient skill and knowledge to prevent any gas leaks themselves.

Thank God you and yours were not injured in this accident.

For future reference try wrapping PTFE tape around any threads of this nature ( its the white tape used in Plumbing Joints and easily available )

[Dumbastheycome]

23 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

3 days ago I went into my kitchen to light a burner on the stove top, pulled the trigger on the hand lighter and.......BOOM !!!  a deafening explosion so loud people thought a transformer had blown. It turned out that a rat had eaten a sizable hole in the gas feed pipe to the cylinder stored outside. Total fireball in the kitchen, forearms ablaze but luckily no major damage other than one hell of a shock and minor burns, but a pointer to check that gas feed line at regular intervals. I also smelled no gas, as it tends to lie low, and a search of Pattaya's hardware stores found no availability of any stainless steel mesh covered gas feed line. Maybe on Ebay ???? 

WOW!  Lucky as! Maybe copper tubing would be  better ?

[fittobethaied]

A few years ago I turned on the gas and the regulator exploded like a hand grenade and threw shrapnel all over the porch. Fortunately, the explosion blew downward out of the bottom of the regulator; otherwise, I would surely be either dead or seriously maimed. Now, I regularly change the regulator and encase it in a portion of a plastic water bottle in order to contain the shrapnel in case it ever happens again. I also hold an aluminum pan over the regulator when I turn on the gas and turn my head away just as an added measure. 

[superal]

53 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

One reason possibly that the Union become loose is the Weather.

At the moment the weather is cool, and therefore Metal will contract, thus loosening the threads.

Also you  are correct in thinking the thread is crude, I am afraid that things with such importance as this are not Manufactured well at all in Thailand / China. Everything is reliant upon the person installing the product to have sufficient skill and knowledge to prevent any gas leaks themselves.

Thank God you and yours were not injured in this accident.

For future reference try wrapping PTFE tape around any threads of this nature ( its the white tape used in Plumbing Joints and easily available )

I do not know why but in the UK the ptfe for gas connections is a yellow colour as opposed to white colour used on water plumbing connections

[millymoopoo]

Personally I would prefer LNG (liquefied natural gas) as it's lighter than air, and thus dissipates much more easily.
LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) is heavier than air, has a tendency to accumulate in low areas, mixing with air until it gets to an explosive ratio, and if there is a ignition source nearby, then blamo, it's goodbye Mary.

When I was a kid it demolished a kitchen of the hotel we were staying in, the cook turned on a jet but didn't light it, instead (luckily) had a call of nature, left the kitchen, the gas leaked until an explosive ratio was met and the pilot light sent it on it's way.

Yep, good idea to leave the bottles outside, but check all the unions with soap and water on a brush, look for bubbles.
Not a fan of tempered glass either.

[HarrySeaman]

Natural gas which is piped to homes is methane and it is odorless, colorless, and lighter than air.  If there is a leak methane will disperse upward and will not collect in low spots but it can collect under a ceiling.

 

Compressed methane is what is used as Natural Gas for Vehicles (NVG) in Thailand.  It is not normally sold in cylinders for home cooking since a very heavy cylinder would be need to be sturdy enough for the high pressure needed to keep a useful amount of gas in the cylinder.  At high enough pressures or low enough temperatures methane will liquefy but the cylinders needed for the pressure to liquefy methane at Thai temperatures would be so heavy they would be impractical.

 

Propane and butane are also odorless and colorless.  They are both heavier than air and will collect in low spots.  The reason these are sold in cylinders for home cooking is that they liquefy at room temperatures at reasonable pressures so you can get much more gas into a lightweight cylinder.  The drop in pressure inside the cylinder as you use the gas causes more of the gas to evaporate (i.e. it boils) so the supply of gas to your stove remains steady.  Heat is absorbed from the surroundings through the steel cylinder to provide the energy needed to evaporate the needed bottled gas.  Ethane is more popular for providing adequate gas for cooking at low temperatures (think freezing) since butane doesn't boil well at low temperatures compared to ethane. 

 

In most of the world various individual sulfur containing chemicals, usually mercaptans, or mixtures of these are used to add a rotten egg smell to piped or bottled methane, ethane, butane, or mixtures of these gasses.  My experience with Thai bottled cooking gas is that the odor is very slight, making it easy to overlook a small leak.

 

With bottled cooking gas it is best to have the tank outside and to use steel, copper, or steel mesh protected gas lines to your stove.  None of these is ever done in Thailand unless you do it yourself make a Thai worker fix things that way, and the Thais will think you are a crazy farang.

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by HarrySeaman

[wavodavo]

22 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Good news no one was injured, thanks for the warning to others, its something that can so easily happen over time I guess.

 

Our is always turned off immediately after use and the bottle is physically located outside the premises.

Its not a good idea to have a gas cooker with the bottle inside.  I reckon you were lucky alright !

[Iron Tongue]

2 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

3 days ago I went into my kitchen to light a burner on the stove top, pulled the trigger on the hand lighter and.......BOOM !!!  a deafening explosion so loud people thought a transformer had blown. It turned out that a rat had eaten a sizable hole in the gas feed pipe to the cylinder stored outside. Total fireball in the kitchen, forearms ablaze but luckily no major damage other than one hell of a shock and minor burns, but a pointer to check that gas feed line at regular intervals. I also smelled no gas, as it tends to lie low, and a search of Pattaya's hardware stores found no availability of any stainless steel mesh covered gas feed line. Maybe on Ebay ???? 

Go on lazada and search with "steel mesh pipe".  2 meter lengths are about thb 650.  Or, you can visit a restaurant supply store if you speak Thai or have a translator with you.

[Seeall]

23 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Last evening my wife  had just finished  boiling some potatoes on one burner of a 3burner cooker when I noticed  a small smoky  fire  burner  under the  glass  cooktop. Checked the controls were all off and closed the  under bench  bottle. Mistake was to  tip a glass of water down the back of it in the presumption it was something that had  fallen past the  burner and was burning from below. Instant explosion of the tempered glass cooktop !

It became obvious when I lifted the  whole cooker up  to see what had been burning that it had been concurrent  with the potatoes cooking  on top .

This cooker has a  right angled  swiveling union for the  gas tube input. The screwed on fitting was loose and gas  had been slowly leaking and had ignited which had been quietly heating up the  glass so when cold water splashed on it the result was an explosion of glass !

The cooker is 5 years old with regular use so why now the fitting came loose is a small mystery but  on completely removing the  union I notice the threading on the metal tubing is crude and minimal and no form of sealant used.

 

I only post this as a small warning to anyone who has similar equipment to  check the integrity of that fitting. I add that at no time before that had the smell of  gas been noticed in an enclosed cooking area so if it had  continued to leak without igniting as it did a major explosion could have resulted at some later point in time.

 

Well written and appreciated ..... yes, even if brandname things can go wrong, everythings made so cheap, but the consumers want cheap....  and I bet that union was mde in our favorite place.... cheers

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

3 days ago I went into my kitchen to light a burner on the stove top, pulled the trigger on the hand lighter and.......BOOM !!!  a deafening explosion so loud people thought a transformer had blown. It turned out that a rat had eaten a sizable hole in the gas feed pipe to the cylinder stored outside. Total fireball in the kitchen, forearms ablaze but luckily no major damage other than one hell of a shock and minor burns, but a pointer to check that gas feed line at regular intervals. I also smelled no gas, as it tends to lie low, and a search of Pattaya's hardware stores found no availability of any stainless steel mesh covered gas feed line. Maybe on Ebay ???? 

Check your regulator, I have seen two types here, there is one with a safety that shuts of the gas should a large leak occur, a small button that can be reset, as with the hose two basic types one is much thicker than normally fitted. 

[brianthainess]

On 1/4/2021 at 1:10 PM, CharlieH said:

Good news no one was injured, thanks for the warning to others, its something that can so easily happen over time I guess.

 

Our is always turned off immediately after use and the bottle is physically located outside the premises.

So every time you want to cook go outside turn on, then back and turn off. Wow.

[CharlieH]

2 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

So every time you want to cook go outside turn on, then back and turn off. Wow.

Absolutely right ! But is only a 1 step out the kitchen door, prefer the safety it offers being the otherside of the wall and well ventilated.

[brianthainess]

4 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

It turned out that a rat had eaten a sizable hole in the gas feed pipe to the cylinder stored outside

Get a cat.

[KhaoYai]

Before I fitted a new kitchen, my gas bottle was in a cupboard under the hob - accident waiting to happen. I'm not a fan of electric hobs and wanted to stay with gas in the new kitchen.  The bottle is now in the garage downstairs - supplied by 10mm copper pipe that I brought from the UK (flexible on a roll) but its probably available in Thailand.  Rubber pipe perishes in time and should only be used for camping etc.

 

I've always found it difficult to understand the lax attitude towards gas safety in Thailand - there are accidents often.

[ronaldo0]

Have a smeg gas cooker top inside with the bottle outside . Any time the gas ring has been on without being lit I can smell it a mile away . My wife doesn’t seem to notice it though . For a decent brand name it is really easy when turning on one ring to slightly turn on another which then just leaks gas into the room. Only takes a slight nudge to push it down and turn it releasing the gas and no click when you do so if not careful you could gas yourself very easy. Had induction cooker hobs before but do not find them good for cooking with .

[Crossy]

36 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

... when you do so if not careful you could gas yourself very easy.

 

Nah, propane is non-toxic. Blow yourself into next week would of course be the next option.

[ronaldo0]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

 

Nah, propane is non-toxic. Blow yourself into next week would of course be the next option.

Yeah would rather not do the blowing up bit . Bad enough when the gas comes through and it doesn’t light first time before going boom on the second or third click . Can just imagine the damage one 16kg tank would do ????

[Crossy]

46 minutes ago, ronaldo0 said:

Yeah would rather not do the blowing up bit .

 

This was a small gas explosion 

 

 

 

Incredibly only 4 died, and the woman whose flat blew up (and her gas stove) survived and moved to a new place.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronan_Point

 

 

 

[The Theory]

On 1/4/2021 at 1:02 PM, Dumbastheycome said:

if it had  continued to leak without igniting as it did a major explosion could have resulted at some later point in time.

My girlfriend's aunt lived with us for sometime. I guess she was really experienced regarding this type of problems since she turned off gas by cylinder valve every time after cooking.  

Edited January 5, 2021 by The Theory

[Dumbastheycome]

5 minutes ago, The Theory said:

My girlfriend's aunt lived with us for sometime. I guess she was really experienced regarding this type of problems since she turned off gas by cylinder valve every time after cooking.  

I think you have missed an important factor. It is also  routine  for us to shut of the  cylinder when  not in use.

The  failure of the union possibly  occurred when (also) routine  cleaning was done after previous use but such a component should not be  so inferior  as to be disturbed  by the passing of a  damp cloth !

Just for the sake of it (because the entire unit is now unusable) I tried to  tighten the  union onto the threaded   tubing securely as originally was intended. It would not beyond a  certain tension before it "stripped".(failed).

The quality of the  brass  union seems  fine. It is  the  poor  quality of the threaded  tubing that is the  problem which has  taken  some years to present itself.