Show TO 17 DETECT LEAK IN GAS PIPE lather of soap much better than using a match tile the folly ot of hunting for a leak in a gas pipe with a lighted match Is not so much because of the danger ot of an explosion as of other damage as Is shown by the experience ot of a west philadelphia householder household ec last weel week one or tuo small leaks were detected by going over all the pipes and holding a lighted match ti to them the smell of gas ceased but was wa s replaced a tow few hours later by the smell of burning wood another visit to the cellar showed a charred floor joist a little distance above a gas pipe there was no apparent cause for this until a very close examination discovered that a tiny jet of gas was issuing from the pipe beneath the beam it was but was so small as to lie be blue in cibir and nearly invisible it had been lighted by the match used in the first investigation but had sot not been noticed it if that leak had happened happ erMid to be in a lead joint instead of an iron connection tion said a gas man there would probably have been work for the fire department the smallest possible jet of lighted gas issuing ls sumP through lead will in time heat and melt the lend lead and make the leak lar larger until a big flame Is issuing this may make a fire licurs figurs later in the dead of night or at a time when no one is in the house the only proper way to look for these very small leaks Is to paint the suspected pipe with a smooth soap lather just as 2 in the case of a bicycle tire the tiniest leak will blow a bubble in tho th lather and there you aid 14 phia record Kec oril |