Texas Hospital Explodes 1

[JAE]

Four injured, one critically, in explosion at a local hospital in Gatesville, Texas.

http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Ex...esville-hospital-486604311.html?llsms=1387181

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[JAE]

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[itsmoked]

Both oxygen and natural gas would be available in proximity to the generator. Perhaps a gas line got cut in close proximity to the generator and a subsequent loss of power caused an autostart that lead to a runaway engine. /speculation

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[byrdj]

It is just my speculation, but the first thought of when seeing the word "generator" was the incident at the Kleen Power Plant where the practice to use natural gas for a cleaning blow resulted in an explosion.

 

[cranky108]

A random thought, but when large generators go to load rejection, some amount of gas is expelled to prevent something like water hammer, except with the fuel gas.

Is this possible?

 

[waross]

Water hammer is caused by both the inertia of the running water and the incompress-ability of water.
The lower inertia and the compress-ability of natural gas make the pressure surge much less than a water system.
Also, the relatively low fuel velocity in a diesel engine is such that load rejection does not cause a problem when the fuel is abruptly cut on an engine of a size suitable for a hospital standby set. Gas fuel would be even less of an issue.
I am more inclined to suspect a plug missing in a drain leg when the gas was turned on.
I have seen issues with plugs missing on a couple of startups.
One was a CO2 system.
A more trying case was missing plugs in an ammonia refrigeration startup. That caused a lot of tears. Fortunately no injuries or fires.
It happens.
If the missing plug is a long way from the location where the main valve is located a lot of product may be wasted before anyone realizes that there is a problem.
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[IRstuff]

This one aerial view suggests that the building itself was epicenter of the blast

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[bimr]

Concur with that.

Investigators are said to be looking at a boiler room that was under construction. The explosion occurred in the building housing the hospital's new physical plant including boilers and chillers.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction, the general contractor for the project, issued a statement Wednesday in which it said all 16 of the workers were employees of Lochridge-Priest and were working near the central utility plant when the explosion occurred.

Probably had nothing to do with standby generators which are normally housed outdoors.

Most likely there was a natural gas leak.