Where does the Merrimack Valley gas crisis stand now? Here's what we know.

[RockRaven]

1. Recently helped a relative w/ remodel project; learned about the gas lines/codes re his house...

when they build the house new, or in his case completely replace all the gas lines, they pressure-test the entire house system (downstream of the gas meter) at 15 psi -- just with regular air of course -- for a length of time to check for leaks before they hooked the gas meter back up. And their gas meter then delivers 0.5 psi of natural gas.

One can see that there's a big buffer there which allows for degradation of the system before it causes a problem. Indeed on the first pressure test of my relative's new gas lines there was a tiny leak detected -- which only manifested when the pressure was above about 5 psi -- which required some re-working to pass the 15 psi test. If they had never tested the system it still would have functioned safely under normal operating conditions... but would have been brittle when confronted with extreme conditions.

While that anecdote was a badly done new system, the same is likely to be true of an aged system -- there are silent vulnerabilities which only manifest when stressed. An unnecessary stressor is certainly a villain, but perhaps we ought to recognize, as a society, that it is in all of our interests to bear the costs of building and maintaining robust systems which can withstand such villains.