# Tiny Explosions In My Kitchen- Not A Gas Leak- Need Answer Fast! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647 "2025-01-06T17:55:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/21 "2025-01-06T19:19:30Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Look on the bright side. They could have declared your boxes a fire hazard… In the brief time they were in my apartment, they did say I should not have a cardboard box sitting on top of the range. I explained that I only did that because the gas to the stove was shut off months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/22 "2025-01-06T19:37:58Z")
How on earth do you live without a stove? CALL maintenance. Tell them you’re gonna continue to call 911everytime you hear/see this explosion. Be adamant. Be gripe-y. Be bitch-y. Be a Karen. Whatever it takes to get them to your apartment. Unfortunately, your stacked boxes are there. Short of calling in movers, renting a storage unit, it is what it is. You know that old saw _“you made your bed, now you have to lie in it”_. Gently, that’s you. It shouldn’t matter. If management takes umbrage, just explain you’re downsizing or something. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/23 "2025-01-06T19:43:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > An engine with full crew showed up. I immediately felt embarrassed and guilty. I repeatedly explained that I had wanted to call the non emergency fire number but couldn’t find it. I, and about 7 fire firghters in full gear, went up to my apartment. They found no evidence of fire. They did not know what was causing it. They suggested I call maintenance. I apologized again. They left. Don’t sweat it. They send who they send, whether you call the non-emergency line or 911. In my town they tell you to call 911 for gas smells or CO detectors going off. I know for a fact that the non-emergency line goes to the 911 dispatch center, they just know they can ignore that phone if otherwise occupied. They come on a truck because that’s their vehicle. They get dressed because that’s their protocol. They come as a team because that’s their protocol. The fire department doesn’t want to have to come fight a fire in an apartment building. They are always happy to do fire prevention when they can. You did nothing wrong and they won’t be judging you for it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/24 "2025-01-06T19:48:28Z")
A pop and a bright orange flash sounds like hydrogen gas being ignited. This might be produced accidentally by electrolysis if there is water in contact with electricity somewhere, although I feel like it would need some fairly special conditions to concentrate in a small enough area to create a very localised pop. Hydrogen gas is odourless though, which is point of consistency with the described phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/25 "2025-01-06T19:53:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > A pop and a bright orange flash sounds like hydrogen gas being ignited. I don’t know. I have only ignited hydrogen once when I did some electrolysis in my first apartment. It made a distinctive kind of bark noise. This was POP. I am thinking some kind of flammable gas got into my kitchen. I don’t know what gas, where it came from or what to do next. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/26 "2025-01-06T19:59:36Z")
If you light hydrogen in a test tube or similar container, it makes a weird squawking sound or a squeaky pop. If you light it in a less constrained setting, and especially if it is mixed with oxygen, it just goes pop (or if the quantity is sufficient, bang). One other possibility is that the bright flash you are seeing might not be in mid-air; if it’s very brief and your eyes are not focused on its exact location, the flash might appear as a defocused patch of light - like those bokeh effects you get on photos with very small depth of field. If you follow the line of sight of where you saw the flash, is there anything of note beyond? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/27 "2025-01-06T20:05:02Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > None of the refrigerants in use for household appliances is highly flammable Not true. All refrigerators sold in the US after Jan 1, 2023 must use R600a refrigerant: > **[R600A Refrigerant | GE Appliances](https://www.geappliances.com/ge/service-and-support/r600a-refrigerant)** > > Learn more about r600a refrigerants, and how GE Appliances utilize them in refrigerators and freezers to attempt to lower the effects of global warming. R600a is just isobutane, which earns a 4 on the NFPA 704 fire hazard box. That said, it does seem like an unlikely source here. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/28 "2025-01-06T20:14:14Z")
I’m not doubting you, but could explain why it is unlikely? I didn’t smell butane. But, I haven’t had another incident since I propped open a kitchen window for about half an hour. Given what I saw and heard, I think a flammable gas is the explanation. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/29 "2025-01-06T20:16:22Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > One of the reasons people don’t like mice & rats is that they chew electrical wires. We had a 2 year old Amana gas range start to leak internally - the tenant’s housekeeping had some issues, and mice had run freely under the cooktop, using the aluminum tubing from the controls down to the connection in back as a walkway, pissing all the way as mice will do. The aluminum developed pinholes where the metal was prestressed by a factory bend - [stress corrosion exacerbated by external agent is also a big problem in bridges…] - but there was no source of ignition, and the gas built up until we could smell it. ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/30 "2025-01-06T20:20:30Z")
Do you have a spare cellphone or other camera you can set up to record the kitchen, see if it captures any of these flashes? If possible two, each from a different angle, to corroborate evidence. My first thought was some form of gas coming in through the water faucet or drain but that ought to be affecting others in the building. [I don’t know that you ought try a lighter on your taps](https://youtu.be/tGEKzMgkUhU?si=xWkP4Ixoj1-fgJbE)but did the gas company workers check for that? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/31 "2025-01-06T20:20:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’m not doubting you, but could explain why it is unlikely? Does your refrigerator still work? Also, the amount of refrigerant a modern fridge holds is measured in _grams_. So it’s not even that there’s all that much in there in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/32 "2025-01-06T20:20:45Z")
Fridges aren’t really prone to leaking. Plus it seems unlikely that they’d leak in a way that would cause small balls of gas to float around until they hit some ignition source. Isobutane should disperse pretty quickly. Then again, the whole problem is very unusual, so maybe it demands an unusual explanation. It’s worth checking the label on the fridge to see if that’s a possibility. It should say somewhere if it uses R600a. Refrigerators don’t use much refrigerant (about 50 grams), so if there was a leak enough cause fireballs, the performance of the fridge should be notably degraded already. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/33 "2025-01-06T20:40:28Z")
Yeah, any kind of gas isn’t likely to concentrate itself into a small pocket then get ignited like that; it would either disperse to the point that it would not sustain combustion, or if it was being produced more rapidly, it would be a much larger explosion. I think I’d be looking for some exposed wires somewhere that are perhaps causing a brief explosive arc when some bug happens to crawl across them - and if there’s no candidate for that in the line of sight of the observed phenomenon, consider that it might have been reflected off a wall or something - so follow the line of reflection - does it intersect with the light fitting? One other possiblity that springs to mind… it’s not unheard of to perceive a bright flash of light on hearing a sudden loud noise - it’s normally associated with falling asleep or waking, and usually in darkened conditions, but I think it’s possible to happen in other circumstances - so it could be that there is just something making a loud pop (I have a plastic bottle of cooking oil in the kitchen that does this from thermal expansion/contraction) and that the flash is an illusion. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/34 "2025-01-06T20:44:53Z")
First, I think my fridge is still running. Second, the first one I only saw out of the corner of my eye, But the second one I saw very clearly. It was not like any electrical arc or spark I have ever seen. It was a bright pale orange flame. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/35 "2025-01-06T20:46:55Z")
What shape? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/36 "2025-01-06T20:51:16Z")
I would say straight vertical along the sides and wavy, triangular peaks at the top. It only lasted an instant though. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/37 "2025-01-06T20:58:28Z")
For a flash to occur the way she describes it it would have to come from a spurt or a puff of gas. Like maybe a spray bottle being jottled around in a box and giving out " Puffs" of flammable gas. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/38 "2025-01-06T21:08:00Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I didn’t smell butane BTW, you wouldn’t smell it. Pure isobutane is odorless and they don’t typically add an odorant (like they do for natural gas) for refrigeration applications. > [@DocCathode](#): > > First, I think my fridge is still running. It would still seem to run if all the gas leaked out. It just wouldn’t work very well. I’m not sure how much you could lose and still be effective, but if the temperature is still normal, it’s probably not that. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/39 "2025-01-06T21:53:23Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Not true. All refrigerators sold in the US after Jan 1, 2023 must use R600a refrigerant: Just as an aside, I have seen a notice on a UK refrigerator which says it uses cyclopentane. Which as a hydrocarbon, is of course flammable. This was a commercial unit in a gift shop. Our home fridge is years old, and almost certainly still contains CFCs. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647/40 "2025-01-06T21:55:45Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Just as an aside, I have seen a notice on a UK refrigerator which says it uses cyclopentane. All the coolers my store has purchased in the last few years have used R290, propane. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-explosions-in-my-kitchen-not-a-gas-leak-need-answer-fast/1012647.md?page=3)