My earlier "cooking with gas" story

Following up a bit on my article about getting a new oven/stove and the adventures in converting that oven to LP gas, here's the story on one of my older adventures with gas.

Several years ago (god I'm getting old!), back in my early days of living out of the house on my own, soon after my first (failed) year at College and after my time away at basic training and AIT (Army specialty skill school) I lived in a small RV style camping trailer.  Not a little pop-up, but a camper style, metal skinned box, 8 foot by 23 foot (give or take).  A living room/dining room, kitchen area, restroom with tub and shower, and small bedroom area.  A self-contained apartment/bachelor pad that could be moved around on wheels if necessary but which stayed parked at a trailer park that was run by a family friend.  (As some folks know, I can truly call myself trailer trash and have been able to for quite a while).

That little trailer was literally plugged into the electric service lines of my landlord as if I was living in his basement.  I had separate heat and gas service for my stove/oven in the home through a small set of LP tanks that was outside the trailer (they literally sat on the trailer hitch area of the trailer).

After my first winter in the home, or perhaps it was the first full winter in the home, my dad took the furnace out for servicing/thorough cleaning before the winter fully hit.  The unit in that home was a small box, about 16" - 18" tall by about the same width and maybe 24 inches of depth.  It slid in and out easily enough for easy service or replacement if necessary.  Basically a modular device made for RVers so that they are easy to deal with.

The somewhat local RV service center farmed out the work, got the furnace cleaned up and serviced and notified us that we could pick it up and pay for the service.  No problem, off I went to pick the box up.  Got the box, talked to my father and asked about hooking it back up so it could be used.  Short discussion over the phone about hooking the gas line back up to it with a caveat of be sure not to over-tighten the connection (a compression fitting).

You may see where this is going already.  I heard the key words "do not over tighten" and acted upon those words.  I hooked the line back up as required, tightened the fitting with my hands and proceeded to light 'er up.

Boy did it light up.  Flames shot out all around the gas fitting.  Thank god for my quick thinking partner (then fiance, later spouse) as she reached for the kitchen fire extinguisher and let fly with the foam from same.  Fire out, soot around the area a bit, and the fire extinguisher/dust as well.  Valve cut off for the gas again, and back to another night with no heat while I contacted my dad again to see what went wrong and how to correct it.

He wound up coming up a day or so later and got things tightened down (still not "too tight") and working properly again.  The wife (then fiance) laughed at me like crazy and to this day still gives me a hard time about almost blowing myself up on that furnace.  I have to admit it was pretty funny.  Sad, but funny.  Cold too.

In anycase, that was lesson number one in not messing with gas.