# Residential gas pressure **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350 "2018-09-14T18:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350/21 "2018-09-15T16:16:18Z")
A neighbor’s propane tank exploded. It destroyed the house, although a bed was blown into the yard, still containing the unijured woman who had been sleeping in it. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350/22 "2018-09-15T16:39:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A neighbor’s propane tank exploded. It destroyed the house, although a bed was blown into the yard, still containing the unijured woman who had been sleeping in it. I don’t know the details of your neighbor’s incident but I’d wager that there would have been a similar level of damage if instead of propane, the tank had been a simple compressed air pressure vessel of similar capacity. It’s the stored energy of compressed gas that destroyed the house. The fact that it was flammable propane is nearly meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350/23 "2018-09-15T16:48:06Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I got that all the time when I was driving the CNG. My response was, it’s a pressure vessel\* not a tin box filled with flammable liquid thus is more likely to survive a bump intact. Most likely what would happen is that a fitting would get knocked off letting the gas escape in a jet. If it isn’t sparked (crossing fingers) you just freeze in place until the noise stops. If it does catch you’ve got a column of flame where you know not to go. What you _don’t_ have is a car-shattering kaboom spraying 15 gallons of flaming gasoline in a circle of destruction I once worked with a guy who was going to visit relatives in Florida. Gasoline was more expensive there, so he took one of the [55 gallon plastic drums](https://www.homedepot.com/p/55-Gal-Blue-Industrial-Plastic-Drum-PTH0933/205845768) that chemicals were shipped to our plant in ($64 each‽ They were free for the taking when empty at work!) and filled it with gas and carried it to Florida with him in the back of his pickup truck. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350/24 "2018-09-15T18:06:02Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > I don’t know the details of your neighbor’s incident but I’d wager that there would have been a similar level of damage if instead of propane, the tank had been a simple compressed air pressure vessel of similar capacity. It’s the stored energy of compressed gas that destroyed the house. The fact that it was flammable propane is nearly meaningless. That is interesting. I did not realize the pressure in the tank. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350/25 "2018-09-16T16:49:22Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Did you have a Phill? No, a Fuel-Maker, the [larger](http://www.cngaz.com/images/Residential.jpg) (stock photo), more expensive and harder to install, but quicker fill time model, that was the only thing available. The Phill came later and I saw no reason to switch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/residential-gas-pressure/821350.md?page=1)