LP in a basement or pit

Plumdog_2

A while back there was a thread about the cons of installing LP fired appliances in a basement or pit where heavier-than-air combustible gas could accumulate and create explosion hazards. I looked at job like this yesterday; and recommended removing a furnace from a crawlspace that was essentially a pit; with no ventilation or combustion air. While looking up the Chapter and Verse in the International Codebooks, I was astounded to see that the clause prohibiting such installations is not included any longer. One nearby jurisdiction will not allow it without a variance, the other will allow such installation but only when a combustible gas sniffer-solenoid is employed, with battery backup. I wonder, what was the thinking (or not) behind ommitting this common-sense rule?

bigugh_4

LP & pits or basements?

I have not researched the National Fire Code, and here in the US that is the final say. However again common sense would say that LP and its heavier-than-air weight is enough that it is one scary thing to place or have near a low collecting point. My shop did some maintence on a water heater,LP, that was on a floor above a dug out place underneath. of course it got out of hand and the fellows got burned. No big fire resulted but the flash burn was a result of the collection of LP underneath the floor.
BE super awake to LP and low places. even totally outdoor low depth pits can and do contain any leaks and can flash at any time.

S Ebels

I won't do it regardless of code

Simple fact here: It's not up to my code and that's all that matters to me. I will not endanger someone in that way regardless of what a book says you can or can't do, and I'll tell you why.

The danger of LP appliances in a pit or confined space was impressed on me in a manner that I NEVER wish to repeat, not will ever forget, about 20 years ago.

I was working at our family's hardware store at the time and doing some furnace work for my wife's cousin on the side. A customer came into the store and asked if I would do a furnace job for him so I went to take a looksee. Turned out he had a dirt floor crawlspace of very limited height and wanted to deepen an area for the furnace to sit in. Amid much protesting on his part I politely declined to do it for him for the obvious reason. He basically told me I was worrying about nothing and that he'd get it done thank you very much. I left.

Fast forward about 4 years.

I was still working at the hardware store when this guy's wife called to ask about getting her dryer serviced. During the course of the conversation she said that they had been having trouble with a gas leak they couldn't find around the dryer and also that the LP company had been out checking the regulator for suspected problems. She also said they had just been there and filled the tank because they had been out of fuel and her husband was down in the basement lighting the furnace.

No sooner had she said this (and I am not making this up) when over the phone I heard a loud bang at which she said "Oh my gosh! something just happened in the basement!" Immeadiately following that I could hear someone screaming in what could only be described as hellish pain.

I will never ever forget that scream as long as I live.

I then heard her scream and the phone was hung up. Within a couple hours news came that her husband was horribly burned in a gas explosion.

He had tried to light the pilot while laying in a pool of LP, had ingested the LP into his lungs and was literally torched inside and out when it lit off. One of the EMT's that picked him up told me the guy had pieces of skin hanging off his face arms and torso that looked like strips of cloth. He lived for 3 days after that IIRC.