house explodes in ohio killing 4

Just curious, what would make you think that? Seems like every year I hear of a house blowing up in the winter because of some malfunction with the gas heating.

My first thoughts go to meth lab then gas leak. Since there was nothing about the meth lab
in the article I'm guessing gas leak. But hey, I'm no stranger to bad guesses.
TM

Thats what i was thinking too,its the first real cold spell for the northeast this year so heating units are just being turned on. We had a house blow up 2 years ago nearby that was caused by the heating system.

The dog was the only survivor.

So I am going to say he is the prime suspect.

Probabaly not gas. The house is usually eliminated to splinters and a foundation when the Lower Explosion Limit (4%) of natural gas is ignited. I was at one this summer that was literally a block basement and that's it. This seems fishy.

The extent of the destruction is a function of a myriad factors. How much gas has filled the structure before ignition, construction quality and type, size of the house, etc. It could have also been an explosion within the gas-fired appliance itself instead of a room. I've done some investigative work on explosions. They're far from all the same.

I haven't seen if this house was serviced by natural gas or LP. Natural gas is lighter than air and will flow upwards to fill a space until an ignition source lights it off Propane is heavier than air, and goes to the floor. The two will cause very different results.

But to your point, we did have a house go off locally a few years ago. Small structure, old construction. Splinters and foundation. Also saw a malfunctioning furnace with a pilot that went out, then something sparked the accumulated gas inside the firebox later. Blew the room apart, but not the whole house.