Jump to content
308AR.com Community
  • Visit Aero Precision
  • Visit Brownells
  • Visit EuroOptic
  • Visit Site
  • Visit Beachin Tactical
  • Visit Rainier Arms
  • Visit Ballistic Advantage
  • Visit Palmetto State Armory
  • Visit Cabelas
  • Visit Sportsmans Guide

Well this sucks


Armed Eye Doc

Recommended Posts

We hired a guy to take down 2 trees.  One was a 50 foot oak in the front yard.  It had the house on one side, carport on one side and power lines on another - overhanging all of them.  The other tree is in the backyard between a fence and the detached garage with about 5 feet of space.

He started in the front.  He had gotten about half of the tree down without issue.  Then this happened.

IMG_20200203_141540.thumb.jpg.f727af717a234eaee630e36495ba9e29.jpg

He is bonded and insured and, most importantly, did not run away.  I was in the house and heard the crash and saw power flicker off and on.  Half of the breakers in the box had tripped.  The limb had hit the power supply line from the pole to the house. 

I went back in to finish lunch when I noticed sparking in a wall.  I ran to turn the main breaker off thinking that would be the end.  But no, the sparking continued.  I called the tree guy in who called an electrician friend to get here quick.  We heard a buzzing sound that we tracked to the water heater closet.

IMG_20200203_190104.thumb.jpg.76660679af9ce1e46e84daa2d51ef9ce.jpg

The copper tubing was glowing red.  It is the gas supply to the water heater.  It was radiating heat, not what you want from a natural gas line.  (I wish I had gotten a picture of the red hot tubing.). We called the power company, fire department and the gas company. 

IMG_20200203_155953_01.thumb.jpg.411bebfaf15423c5bd70338a2514bd09.jpg

The electrician figured out that the limb had pull one leg of the power out of the meter into the tube and was arcing to it.  It blew the return line to the pole and needed a place to ground.  It found the gas line. 

We are currently sitting in a house without power or gas.  Luckily, it is not going to get cold for a couple of days.  We have our generator running a fan and TV while we wait for the power to get turned back on.  It is supposed to be on before midnight.

IMG_20200203_194305_01.thumb.jpg.beae7b25036cd0051237ac30dea79947.jpg

As I said, life sucks at the moment but I am thankful that no one was hurt and I still have a house to sit in and complain.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Doc, I'd say you are luckier than a double peckered goat, but first you had some badder luck than you ought to have had, then you got away from an explosion that would have took out all you and all of your stuff.

Tree guys aren't known for doing 100% successfully perfect work.  I had the same kind of problem and hired a tree guy that did climbing tree removal. he started cutting off branches with his helper pulling them to a good spot with a rope.  I had a time or two that I didn't breath for a good three minutes. Later I heard from his dad that they bought $75 worth of weed and had a smoke in.that night. The dad accused me of causing them going bad. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He has been doing tree work for 5 or 6 years.  His rope broke on that one limb.  He said it was 900lb rope.

Power is back on finally.  A couple of things may have gotten fried.  Microwave and a wifi router didn't make it.  AC unit isn't coming on.  It may have been turned off due to the gas furnace.

The gas company found that there was a leak somewhere but couldn't say where it was.  They used sniffers and said it was not the water heater or the furnace.  Now I need a plumber.

Edited by Armed Eye Doc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here I was ready to start a long bitching post about the guy installing my septic system, and it may still come before the event is over...but now it sounds like nothing. You’ve had a much worse day. Congrats! 
 

And glad nobody was hurt. Things are fixable, people not as much. Bummer it happened though....hopefully all is right again soon. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're just lucky that you're still here, Doc.  Seriously.  That's some skeeeeery shiit!  Was Wife-Of-Doc, Ruler Of The House home at the time?

I can seriously hear your voice right now, looking around, scratching your head and saying, "Well, this sucks..." 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well shits if we were tied together Friday night fights would have had some lights.. sept then they went out as my garage door fell off it's track.. wind and rain blowing in the door 4' off the ground. home owner bs is hard to beat! pulled the bolts right out of the beam.

20200131_191507.jpg

20200131_191520.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is just plain bad that could have gotten worse quick.  I've seen three houses go up in flames from one bad gas water heater explosion.  Multiple deaths and a lifetime of grief followed.  Glad you and yours are merely uncomfortable for now.  The guy didn't run away,  that's a plus in a terrible situation.  I usually run the gas connection with 3/4" black then tee off 1/2",  with a drip leg.  All rigid connections.  Never liked seeing those flex connectors exposed,  think they are too fragile.  God bless you and yours,  and the pups of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone! 

Just to clarify, I was not in the house once the glowing gas line was discovered.  That is why I do not have the picture.  Fire, gas and electric were called as soon as it was realized.  The tree guy is a volunteer FF and helped to make sure it was safe.  Now that it ended safely, I can wish I got the picture because it was impressive.  It is that inner child in me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, DNP said:

He had it roped. The rope broke!  I bet he puts two on the next one that has anything around it. 

Part of the problem is the more stress and repetitive stress put on a rope, they gradually lose their tensile strength. Wonder how often he replaces his ropes? Ropes that strong are not cheap.

Edited by Sisco
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bet he bought a new one yesterday. Nobody wants that stuff to happen. Unfortunately every so often it does. Insurance cleans up the mess and you get a great reminder to go back and review your process. A friend of ours does a lot of work brushing properties. Last year he started a fire and his insurance picked up a 70k bill. He’s a lot more prepared now when he’s out working. As long as we learn from our mistakes and nobody gets injured or dies due to our negligence, an occasional fail can be a good thing for your business. It’s that splash of reality that washes away complacency. 

Edited by DNP
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...