I was brewing in my garage Sunday, and got a front row seat to my neighbor’s house burning down. The cause was a faulty hose on the propane tank he was using to grill with. In addition to the damage to the garage and upstairs bedrooms, his expensive SUV is a total loss. Luckily, no one was hurt.
I simply want to remind all of you guys to routinely check your equipment, especially anything having to do with propane. It could save your house, and even your life.
Wow…that sucks. I’m glad no one was hurt.
I never brew inside with my propane burner, even in the open garage and always have the fire extinguisher within reach for these events.
Hopefully your neighbor gets back to normal soon and doesn’t have any trouble with the insurance company.
Thanks for the heads up. That is a pretty scary story. No brew day is worth losing the house, car, life, etc. Make sure to leak check your equipment!
I’m going to leak check my propane burner this weekend. If it has a leak, I can then tell my wife I need to spend $2k on a new electric system.
“It will be a lot cheaper than spending tens of thousands of dollars repairing the damage to the house”
But seriously, I am going to check my burner and grill this weekend.
I think they make fire with electricity too, not just gas. So that might not work.
Very True, while electrical fires wont be as explosive, they can happen and tend to not be noticed cause they are in the walls. Make sure you get a proper electrician and have the town inspector verify its safe.
This is a good reminder. I too had a hose come off the BBQ, caught fire and started shooting the fire out in the direction of the hose as it fell to the ground. I didn’t find it for a couple minutes, and fortunately, nothing was near it that could catch fire. Whew, I thought. That could have burned my house down.
I’m checking my gas lines again.