Fun and Games with gas and electricity

[Ferret]

No, it's not about price or service. I just thought someone could use a good laugh this morning. This actually happened last fall. I can laugh now but, at the time, it was kind of alarming.     

There are no electrical or gas line inspections in Mexico. There are no licensed electricians or plumbers or gas fitters. When I moved into this house, the fountain in the courtyard was fully functional... with an electrical outlet for the circulating pump on the ground right next to it. Nope. Not gonna use that fountain. I drained it and waited for everything to be really dry and then, very carefully, unplugged the recirculating pump. I filled the fountain with pea gravel and put pots of flowers in it.

Fast forward five years and I'm sitting at my desk with the patio door open. POP, POP, POP! in rapid succession. WTF? I walked out to the courtyard and there was a blue flame sprouting from the bottom of my "fountain" drain hole. Just a little disconcerting. It wasn't a roaring flame and I knew that the gas line goes over my house and that the previous gas line was no longer in use. The flame was getting softer. I finally realized that the old electrical connection in the ground had corroded and ignited the residual gas in the old line that has continued to deteriorate under the courtyard and house. The flame is out. I sighed in relief and thought the problem was finished.

I check my solar panels daily online. I also check the meter to see how many kWH I have stashed by seeing the difference between the two flashing numbers. My saved kWH was going down at a fairly rapid rate and I couldn't figure out why. My solar panels were producing and I hadn't changed anything else. I called the electrician and told him that I suspected that the old corroded courtyard outlet was shunting electricity to ground because I sure wasn't using it. Two minutes after he arrived, he confirmed my fear and fixed the problem. Two holes in the wall later, he has found the wire to that electrical outlet and disconnected it. Problem solved. 

Never a dull moment.