Investigators of the mysterious Two Serendra blast may want to consider an utterly simple, often overlooked, yet vitally important aspect of apartment maintenance.
Based on the latest news, it seems like a case of gas explosion. Don’t rule out explosive methane gas seeping from the drain pipes and sewer system into an apartment whose windows are usually closed for air-conditioning. Methane seeps into apartments usually through a toilet floor drain, which does not get filled up with water as often as a bathroom drain does. All drains have a U-shaped pipe which traps some of the water flowing through it to form a barrier against gas emanating from the drain pipes. Since toilet floors get washed maybe once every four to seven days, and even more rarely in an apartment unit with multiple toilets but only one of which is regularly used, the U-shaped pipes for the toilet floor drains often dry up and the methane starts to seep into the sealed air-conditioned apartment. Some apartments’ problems are compounded by the multiple toilets found in each unit and by the extensive drain pipe systems found in high-rise apartments.
A major newspaper related how the occupant of the apartment that exploded had purportedly called up the maintenance department to report a strange
occurrence—he had turned the air-conditioning full-blast yet his apartment was stifling hot and he found it very hard to breathe. The explosion allegedly occurred a little while later.
On several occasions, I have helped some relatives eliminate the noxious odor they detected in their apartments by instructing them to get a pitcher of water, pour the contents carefully down the toilet floor drain in all the toilets in their apartment unit, and to repeat the procedure every three days. The simple procedure promptly got rid of the smell pervading their apartments.
Other apartment owners, residents and caretakers may wish to adopt the preventive maintenance—and safety-related—procedure as well.
—BENJAMIN AGUNOD,
benjamin2914@yahoo.com