Replies

1. 
   davidmeiland | Jul 17, 2004 09:22pm | #1

   I think I'd do a pressure test. Disconnect the gas meter on the house side and let the pilot lights burn out. Go to each appliance location and remove the flex connector and the shutoff valve, and install a cap using pipe dope and PFTE tape. Go back to the meter, install a test gauge (get it at a good hardware store or plumbing supply), and use an air compressor with an air chuck to 'inflate' the piping. The typical test varies, but it should hold 30 psi for 15 minutes with no drop. Tap lightly on the gauge with your finger in case it wants to drop but is slightly sticky. A job I'm working on has been under about 80 lbs for several weeks... until the plumber comes back to trim out.

   If you can pass a test like that then there should be no danger from the lines. If the gauge will not stay up then you have a leak(s) and need to find it or demo the piping. Spraying soapy water or Windex on all accessible fittings will tell you if they leak or not.... the soap bubbles up. Make sure the leak is not at your test caps!

2. 
   DavidThomas | Jul 17, 2004 09:39pm | #2

   I wouldn't be hanging light fixtures or anything else on them, but not terribly worried either.

   If worried, I would run a new line to the current gas appliances (HWH, furnace, maybe range) and bypass the old network.   Compared to a gas light in every room, the runs needed now are vastly less.

   But I would be leary of trimming back the old system extensively.  Knocking around 90 year-old pipes might be the last straw.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
3. 
   mike4244 | Jul 18, 2004 03:04am | #3

   I had this condition in  an old house I owned in 1969. There were gas lines in every room for the original lights.I removed all of them. This was a 3 story house so there was a lot to remove. After capping off the lines I cut sections off in the basement with a hacksaw( did not own a sawzall then). The basement was about seven feet high , I had to cut each line several times to get them out of the wall. It took a good part of the day to complete, glad I went to the trouble though.

   mike

4. 
   EricPaulson | Jul 18, 2004 04:01am | #4

   There was a post here a long time ago about gas in old houses for lighting.

   It was acetylene, and was generated from a pit in the basement by dripping water on to something, I can't recall what it was, I want to say some kind of crabon something??

   Anyone recall that? It facinated me at the time and I'll be damned if I cant remember the substance.

   It was an acetylene generator. I'm guessing that's what the pipes are for and they are now defunct and no woories.

   Eric

   Every once in a while, something goes right!
1. 
   BillHartmann | Jul 18, 2004 05:16am | #5

   Carbide.

   But it could have used "town gas". Made by cooking coal and delivered by a local utility.

   Edited 7/17/2004 10:17 pm ET by Bill Hartmann

2. 
   DavidThomas | Jul 24, 2004 12:42am | #6

   Yes, like Bill said, carbide.

   I've used carbide lamps for caving.  I also like them for camping.  Less light than a Coleman latern - like a 20 watt bulb instead a 100.  But much much smaller and lighter.  

   There's a water reservior with an adjustable drip rate onto the carbide crystals below.  The acetylene gas comes out the center of a parabolic reflector where you ignite it.  A 3-4 oz filling runs about 3 hours.

   That would be workable in a house, but very bothersome and somewhat dangerous.    I suspect mostly in mansions and such well removed from the city.  "Town gas" is much more likely.  Around the turn of the century, town gas was generated by heating coal and such to drive off the volatile gases.  I've investigated the soils in some of those old facilities.  They didn't haul their waste very far before dumping it.David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska

1. 
   EricPaulson | Jul 24, 2004 04:00am | #9

   Some one wrote about a relative of his that used to service carbide lighting.........he talked about a pit that would be in the basement that would contain the carbide.

   I thought it was very interesting and led me to search the whole cave light thing.

   EricEvery once in a while, something goes right!

1. 
   DavidThomas | Jul 25, 2004 01:27am | #11

   Although people think of carbide lights as being older than electrical lighting, it was the other way around.  Because you can't mine carbide with open flame so carbide couldn't be mined until there were sealed electic lights.

   I saw in a caving journal about 10 years when the last US carbide mine closed.

   Carbide did, however, offer much more light for a longer time than an equivalent weight of batteries.  At least until LED lights came out a couple years ago.  West coast cavers used to use incandescent electric (smaller caves) and east coast cavers often used carbide (bigger, longer caves and deeper pits).  LED everywhere, increasingly.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska

1. 
   EricPaulson | Jul 25, 2004 04:30am | #12

   Thanks for all the good info Dave.

   EricEvery once in a while, something goes right!

3. 
   OneofmanyBobs | Jul 24, 2004 02:13am | #7

   Calcium carbide.  Can still be bought in small quantities for carbide lanterns and cannons.  Remember them?  Drop in a pellet of carbide and a couple drops of water.  Tamp it with cotton or steel wool.  Makes a nice bang.  Fairly safe for kids since you can't make explosives like with gunpowder.  The gas leaks out fairly quick.  The carbide itself is pretty inert unless you add water.

1. 
   BillHartmann | Jul 24, 2004 03:05am | #8

   I have one. You can still get them.

   http://www.cannon-mania.com/bigbang.htm

1. 
   OneofmanyBobs | Jul 24, 2004 04:35am | #10

   Wow.  Might have to buy myself an early birthday present.  Very tempting.  Got a little starting canon they use for sailboat racing.  The neighbors are not happy about it.  Not happy at all.

2. 
   Dinosaur | Jul 25, 2004 07:35am | #13

   I used to use a carbide miner's lamp on my bicycle while riding the streets of Manhattan at night. Man that lamp threw a wild looking light--one real bright stabbing jet of flame, but jiggling all over the place as the bike bounced over the infamous potholes and steel plates. People saw that comin' at them and got out of the way right quick....

   You know the Union Carbide Company? Well, down in the shop I've got a can of...Union Carbide Carbide. Must be 25 years old. Still makes gas if it gets wet, tho.Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

1. 
   DANL | Jul 25, 2004 03:43pm | #14

   Concerning carbide making gas if it gets wet": So does potassium cyanide, but that's another story.

1. 
   Dinosaur | Jul 25, 2004 04:28pm | #15

   HAH!! You just gave me the perfect mechanism for a 'Columbo' type murder mystery: The wife substitutes potassium cyanide for the calcium carbide in her husband's lamp, and....

   Thanks! When I win the Oscar for best screenplay, I'll mention you in my thank you speech.

   ROFLOL!Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

2. 
   DANL | Jul 25, 2004 09:05pm | #16

   Glad you liked it. When I was a transportation planner, I was sitting at a safety meeting with a bunch of police officers and Deputy Sheriffs and they showed a video about air bags (guys in the labs putting wrenches on top of them and setting them off and so on), so, forgeting where I am and who I'm with, I say, "Wow, that's be a great way to kill someone, just tape a chunk of lead to the center of the steering wheel and then run into the guy to set off the airbag!" I didn't get any comments, but a few looks. Later, they set an airbag off in the parking lot--like a shotgun going off. Most people I've talked to that have been in an accident where one "deployed" don't even remember the sound. Kind of distracted by other things I guess. ;-)