NTSB has been investigating the natural gas-fueled explosion at R.M. Palmer Co. Factory that ended 7 people's lives last March in West Reading, PA.
According to NTSB's latest findings, natural gas was linking from a DuPont Aldyl A service tee that was installed in 1982.
UGI exposed and retired the service line that was connected to this tee in 2021 when they relocated the natural gas meter from the basement to the outside of Building 2, where the explosion would later occur.
After that service line was retired, the 1982 service tee remained connected to the natural gas system, pressurized at full system pressure.
As part of a meter relocation project, UGI installed the 2021 service tee and a new service line. In addition to the leak on the 1982 service tee, NTSB investigators identified a small leak on the 2021 service tee.
The 1982 service tee, according to NTSB, was less than two fee from subsurface infrastructures that ran between Palmer Buildings 1 and 2, including a steam line, a condensate line, and multiple heated chocolate pipelines.
NTSB investigators reported they observed general corrosion and a crack in the steam line when it was exposed on-scene.
Upon further examination of the 1982 service tee by the NTSB's Materials Laboratory revealed that the tower, which houses the tap, consisted of an outer shell and a Dupont Delrin insert.
According to the NTSB report, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) added Aldyl A service tees with Delrin inserts to their list of pipe materials with “poor performance histories relative to brittle-like cracking” on September 6, 2007.
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