[devilbunny]

They do. I didn't realize this until my natural gas supply company decided to replace my meter on a Friday. Without alerting me ahead of time so that I could, you know, plan to be gone while my house had no hot water.

Whenever natural gas supply is turned off in the US, for any reason, only the gas company can turn it back on. And they can't do so if there's a leak at all. You have to call a plumber to come out, detect the leaks, and fix them. After that, you can call the gas company to come back out (but not on a weekend) to turn it back on. And a same-day request for service requires someone to be home ALL DAY after it's called in.

And this is how I ended up showering at work for three days that week after not having had one over the weekend.

[ajb]

My parents used to have an old cooker which rather than having a spark button, had individual pilot lights for all of the hob burners and the grill. My mother was forever worried about whether one of the damn things had gone out (which they occasionally did). I think if you switched the supply off, switched it on again, and someone has left their house for a week, it might build up a significant amount of gas. Although they are supposed to be small enough not to. Presumably there were hardly any of those left now, but they can't assume they're all gone.

[jojohohanon]

Pilot lights are often designed so that the heat from the flame holds a bimetallic switch in the open position. Should the light go out, the bimetallic switch will shut as it cools.

[genter]

For water heaters and wall furnaces with a gas control valve, yes. For old stoves, they don't.

[K0balt]

TBF the amount of gas used in old style pilots is really tiny. I’m sure it’s possible to accumulate dangerous quantities somehow, perhaps in a sealed subterranean basement if using propane instead of natural gas.

Natural gas is mostly methane, which is lighter than air and easily escapes most structures.

[bluGill]

Natural gas today is mostly methane, but in the past it often had large concentrations of CO. In 1950 you can turn the gas on and stick your head in the oven as a form of suicide - won't work anymore (unless you get the house to explode).

[Hnrobert42]

Fascinating. I double-checked with ChatGPT (FWIW), and it confirmed. It said that currently, natural gas is extracted and shipped in its mostly pure form. In the mid-20th century, natural gas was "town gas," manufactured by heating Cole in the absence of oxygen. That produced a lot of carbon monoxide.

[SoftTalker]

Yes it's not a concern for kitchen stoves. The amount of gas/flow rate is too low.

[bdavbdav]

That is an insane solution to the problem. I’d rather put a match to it.

[Freedom2]

> Whenever natural gas supply is turned off in the US, for any reason, only the gas company can turn it back on

Doesn't match my experience. My colleagues and I are able to turn on or off the gas supply to our houses at will.

[teepo]

often around here in texas, when the gas is turned off due to an issue, the gas company disables the meter, or even removes or bypasses it. And I live in gas land, where we have natural gas piped in to the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, outside for grills, as well as the furnace. We've seen it a lot, if you call the gas company about smelling gas, they come and remove your gas meter until you hire a plumber to go find the leak.

[ThePowerOfFuet]

What needs gas in the bathroom?!

[devilbunny]

Depending on the age of the house, it might have a gas-powered radiant heater in there. The one I grew up in did (built late 1930s).

[brewdad]

You’ve never made s’mores while doing a #2?

[Johnny555]

>Whenever natural gas supply is turned off in the US, for any reason, only the gas company can turn it back on

I had a seismic shutoff installed at my gas meter and the plumber who installed it had no problem turning off the gas and turning it back on when he was done. (and then turning it off again to demonstrate to me how it worked).

He re-lit the water heater pilot light before he left. The gas company was not involved at all.

[thomascountz]

As an American expat, I will use this story to explain some of the indignities of living in America. Thank you for sharing.

[devilbunny]

Every country I have ever discussed with its residents has something that, on its face, is a reasonable safety precaution (I definitely don’t want to blow up my house), but in practice is just a way to make your life miserable while helping the people who work there have an easier day.

This just happens to be the one that affected me. Like modern gas water heaters that have electric ignition instead of pilot lights, because the one serious reason to have gas water heaters is that they work when there is no electricity. Now it’s just a price distinction.

[macintux]

> And this is how I ended up showering at work for three days that week after not having had one over the weekend.

I discovered the unexpected value of a YMCA membership when my hot water was offline for a while.

[mvdtnz]

Sorry how is this story relevant?