Installation

When this was posted on Reddit recently, someone claimed this was caused by a fallen power line that made contact with a gas line. So, power flowing into the house through gas pipe and back out through equipment grounds, heating up lower resistance gas pipes in the process.
Photo reportedly taken by fire fighters or gas company employees.
Edit: I meant to type higher resistance...
- Well that's truly fucking terrifying
- This makes no sense at all.
  Why would only these two specific pipes get hot, so hot to glow, but not the other lines connected to it? And not the fittings around it? It's all copper, so even if the power itself doesn't heat them up, why would being connected to an extremely hot pipe heat it up. Since it's you know copper and being good at transferring heat is what it's known for.
  And why would the lower resistance part be the part that get hottest? Low resistance means less loss, so those parts would in fact be the coldest of all.
  Plus thin walled copper pipes can't get so hot they glow without melting or at the very least lose all structural integrity and break.
  And a downed power line with a short to ground would almost immediately turn off. It's when there isn't a direct line to ground those things are dangerous. As soon as it shorts, it gets turned off at the source to prevent further damage, fire and not cause issues upstream.
  Either it's Photoshop or someone has wrapped led lighting around some pipes.
  
  Both of the lines that are lit up are flexible aluminum couplings. They're required in some areas as the final connections to the appliances. They're in line with cast iron gas pipe and fittings. They are much more thin and way better at conducting heat.
  Source: former HVAC tech
  
  https://www.newschannel10.com/2024/09/26/tulia-family-displaced-after-home-suffers-substantial-damage-storm/
- ELI5 anyone?

This happens when the neutral goes out in a house. Usually the waterlines will handle it, but if the house has pex the ground will go through the gas lines.
Especially if a high voltage line comes down on a gas meter for whatever reason.
Definitely run away and call professional… everyone i guess.
- Would killing the main breaker at least prevent the heating of the pipes so that the expert isn't walking into a potentially dangerous situation?
  
  I think in this case the power heating the pipes is not coming from this house's electrical service, so killing the main breaker probably won't help.
  
  I'm a little concerned killing the main breaker might result in a sudden temperature change that might fracture the gas line. Of course if you turn the gas off you might get fried.
  
  I read that this happened due to a downed power line. Unfortunately, killing the main breaker would not do anything.
- We found out a while ago that plumbing pipes aren't the best way to ground a house for a variety of reasons, and this is why ufers (grounding to foundation steel) and ground rods are now the NEC standard. Also, this is why bonding wires are important as well. If the plumbing were bonded to a proper dwelling ground system, the current would find a direct path to ground and trip the responsible breaker, instead of using the gas lines as a big ass resistor and creating the light show we see here.
- I've never seen pex running into a house from the street/ground. It's always been copper up to the water meter at the very least and it's code (in NJ at least) to put grounding wire there.
  
  I'm in a new development. It's all plastic.
- This would have also been prevented if the electrical install included an RCD. It would have tripped instantly when the neutral gets disconnected
  
  Better yet to just have a bond to the gas and water pipes. In this instance, any current introduced to the plumbing has a direct connection to ground, which will allow current to flow freely and trip the breaker.
- Shouldn’t everything be grounded through the panel as well? I know I have a ground wire running out to a copper plate in the ground next to my house and my understanding was that if the neutral goes that would serve as the path to ground. Is this house missing that feature or am I wrong?

TEMU particle accelerator
- Hey, there's particles, they are accelerating. You got what you paid for.
- Normal person reading that: particle accelerator from TEMU
  Me: oh god, there are TEMU particles??

"Home is equipped with a 50 Gallon gas water heater upgraded with RGB lines for an extra 10 FPS."
- Looks like it can run doom

"I've got a buddy who can do the gas and the 'leccy. Super cheap."

Mom: "We have CERN particle accelerator at home."
...

Hey if it’s keeping you warm then it must be working correctly
- “Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”
  
  Did you know that babies born underwater can spend their entire lives down there?

I have no idea what to do if I see this
- Leave immediately and call 911 for an impending gas explosion. Tell them exactly what you saw, it will need to be disconnected somewhere very far away from the house. Aside from this being an obvious fake if you see a glowing pipe it’s the result of a deadly serious electrical fault that has bypassed at least 2 safety mechanisms that would otherwise prevent this catastrophic failure and at that point you really don’t even want to be touching the walls of the structure involved.
  
  Someone linked a story that didn't have an image (didn't watch the video) so this may not actually be fake
- Run. That's what I would do. Then probably call the fire department, the gas company, or an exorcist. Possibly all 3.
- Get the fuck out and call the fire department.
- Either turn off the gas if you can safely do it, or call your gas company so they can shut off the supply to your house.
- Go to the breaker box and pull the big one labeled "main". Then call the fire department.

So there's an air leak upstream allowing a fire inside the gas line. And the house didn't go up in flames I assume. Probably this situation would not end in a big explosion but rather just a house fire. Still pretty scary.

This man exploded 3 seconds later, those are gas lines
- I'm sure the water put it out.

While it looks scary as fuck, wouldn't it not actually explode unless the gas pipe melted through? There's no oxygen in the fuel, so it can't combust. I guess as the gas heats up, it's also possible the for the tank or lines to spring a leak.
Either way, I'd be nopeing out and calling emergency services.
- unless the gas pipe melted through
  That looks pretty damn likely imminent to me...
  
  I think you're right. I was curious, so I looked it up.
  The melting point of copper is 1,085°C, and judging from this chart, its definitely getting close:
- Correct. Natural gas can't be over 15% to burn.

I was curious so found the story https://www.newschannel10.com/2024/09/26/tulia-family-displaced-after-home-suffers-substantial-damage-storm/

Nah.. everything is fine there, it's even glow to spice up your mood a little bit

Nice water-cooled setup!
Specs?

Showed my partner, they said, "Is this some kind of raaave??"

Mood wiring

What are those equipments?
- They look like a gas furnace and a hot water tank. My first thought was "Why are they connected? ", because I thought the tank had its own heating element. My second thought was "Aren't those water lines? How does a water line become incandescent?"
  
  The only way that immediately springs to mind is so unlikely to happen. It requires multiple faults/mistakes.
  1: The chassis of one of the two units became live (connected to "hot" for you Americans) but was also not grounded in any way.
  2: The chassis of the other WAS grounded and created a circuit for the current to flow.
  3: There was no RCD (GFCD or whatever you guys call it) on the circuit.
  In this way, that pipe would be the only thing connecting the two devices, and the resistance is causing a huge amount of heat (just like an incandescent bulb, or a heating element does by design).
  Probably other possibilities, but it's just the first thing I could think of that could potentially produce this result. But, that's a lot of safety features to have either failed or just simply not been in place for this to be possible. So, frankly I hope I'm totally wrong.
  
  Maybe when it contains superheated steam?
  
  Both glowing portions are natural gas pipes. Perhaps it's somehow ignited inside the pipes and is super heating them but also somehow NOT travelling outside the two glowing sections and burning the house down???

Time for a shower!

Pumpkin-spice gas for the holidays

Situation Normal...