Gulf oil disaster

**Ian Gills** · 05-20-2010, 08:08 PM

This is really starting to annoy me.

Take it from a Brit, if you've got a leak America CALL IN A PLUMBER! Not many good ones made it over on the boat here but hey.

And I don't see a single one.

Here's my solution: send the top hat down and freeze the water around the leak. Just like what you might do with changing a leaking main valve.

BP are sending Toto to fix a problem that requires American Standard.

**Terry** · 05-21-2010, 04:27 AM

They have "American" workers on the problem now Ian.
What's your point?

Are you saying they need workers from other parts of the world to figure this out?
Maybe someone from England, they people that only have hot water in the house on weekends?
And low piddly pressure at that?
I doubt that the English would know how to work on high pressure piping.

It is a shame, all this talk of that exact area being a "dead zone" in the Gulf from farming pollution and now they dump oil into it.
It's just sad.

**Ian Gills** · 05-21-2010, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by Terry

What's your point?

My point was that plumbers would probably have better ideas to fix the leak but I bet they haven't called any.

And the rest was just my usual jibes at Americans.

Blame America first.

**Doherty Plumbing** · 05-21-2010, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Ian Gills

My point was that plumbers would probably have better ideas to fix the leak but I bet they haven't called any.

And the rest was just my usual jibes at Americans.

Blame America first.

Errmm.... a plumber would know nothing about stoping an oil leak 5000' below the oceans surface.

You can't just pick up parts for that at your local wholesaler....

**JAR8832** · 05-21-2010, 02:33 PM

Google " Ixtoc 1". Same type of incident, except much more oil. It happened in 1979 - 1980 and nobody even remembers it.

**Ian Gills** · 05-21-2010, 06:54 PM

Errmm.... a plumber would know nothing about stoping an oil leak 5000' below the oceans surface.

I'm not asking him to do it, just what might work. The same principles apply whether you're plumbing at 10 atmospheres of pressure or 1000.

Google " Ixtoc 1". Same type of incident, except much more oil. It happened in 1979 - 1980 and nobody even remembers it.

Interesting. Red Adair capped that one. And he sounded like a plumber, although he was a bomb disposal expert.

"It scares you—all the noise, the rattling, the shaking. But the look on everybody's face when you're finished and packing, it's the best smile in the world; and there's nobody hurt, and the well's under control."

"Retire? I don't know what that word means. As long as a man is able to work and he's productive out there and he feels good—keep at it. I've got too many of my friends that retired and went home and got on a rocking chair, and about a year and a half later, I'm always going to the cemetery."

"There are two things I really like about my job. When the phone rings I never know where I'm heading to next - and I'm never bothered by life-insurance salesmen!"

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

**Dunbar Plumbing** · 05-21-2010, 10:15 PM

When this oil slick pulls around florida and heads up the east coast, and we start having hurricanes in that area?

One of the hugest man made disasters is going to unfold in front of our eyes.

No way one company can possibly pay for the billions in damage that is coming. This tiers into a social disaster more than ecological when you figure how many will lose (beaches/fisheries/vacation industry)

And the health problems from the exposure by air will start bogging down the hospitals in those areas. Evaporation process, I'm not sure of but clouds don't exist without evaporation and I don't know if particulates of this disaster can reach the sky or not.

The media is just teasing us with the disaster....it's more than anyone knows.

**jimbo** · 05-22-2010, 06:23 AM

I just heard on the news this AM that BP had engaged Kevin Kostner...the actor....because apparenly he has invented some kind of device to recover oil from the near shore, to ward off the ecological damages. I haven't seen the detail of this yet, but if it works......git'r done!!!!!!!

**Ian Gills** · 05-22-2010, 07:03 AM

I think taxpayers should pay for it.

Like they should for health and higher education.

This is not my country, but I wouldn't mind putting my hand in my pocket to prevent harm to people along the affected Coasts.

**Dunbar Plumbing** · 05-22-2010, 12:37 PM

Here's an inside story:

A russian company was on that platform when this all transpired. Their bit got stuck when they was drilling. This company told BP that it would take weeks to get that bit freed up and BP said no, hurry up and drill down beside the casing to free it up.

When that new bit went down to free it up, it was red hot and was told to BP how dangerous it was to do that, knowing there was natural gas pockets.

That's what triggered the explosion...BP wanting speed and not safety.

What you'll see in the next 10 years is BP disappearing from the landscape of retail, meaning gas stations. Same way with Exxon, you don't see many of those around much anymore.

**Redwood** · 05-23-2010, 09:14 AM

What I understand about British Petroleum is BP = Big Problems...

Ixtoc 1 went for 9 months before it was capped....

**sjsmithjr** · 05-24-2010, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by jimbo

I just heard on the news this AM that BP had engaged Kevin Kostner...the actor....because apparenly he has invented some kind of device to recover oil from the near shore, to ward off the ecological damages.

Costner has been financing the development of the technology for the past fifteen years. Basically centrifuges capable of handling up to 200 gallons per minute. Last I heard they'll be trying it out next week.

As with any accident of this magnitude, more than one thing had to go wrong. If they lose the wellhead before they finish the two relief wells it could be the makings of an unprecedented disaster. Guess the safety celebtration BP was having onboard was a little premature.