I was bringing a couple 'newbie' buddies down to check it out. When made it to the entrance there was a overpowering gas smell blowing out, so thick it appeared you could see the gas. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this before? I thought maybe it was some kind of methane. Whatever it was I immediately became light-headed and started seeing stars... Is this common or did a pipe burst somewhere within the system?

If you can smell it then yeah sounds like a gas leak to me. Sounds serious...

That's no good. No good, at all.

You should have called the fire department, even if the building is abandoned. They'd take care of it.

Yeah thought about it after. It was pretty bad, worst I've personally ever seen.

Sounds like a good spot to light a cig and think about it...

Posted by Benedicted I was bringing a couple 'newbie' buddies down to check it out. When made it to the entrance there was a overpowering gas smell blowing out, so thick it appeared you could see the gas. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this before? I thought maybe it was some kind of methane. Whatever it was I immediately became light-headed and started seeing stars... Is this common or did a pipe burst somewhere within the system?

Gas smell in West Kit?

This seems odd to me since there isnt a gas line or such running through or around. How deep inside was this smell??

Could be from the sewer connection that's a 1/4 mile up it, maybe someone dumped a bunch of diesel down a drain or something?

The sewer connection can be overpowering, at times. Especially if you're not used to it.

Posted by ToXiC Gas smell in West Kit? This seems odd to me since there isnt a gas line or such running through or around. How deep inside was this smell??

We didn't even make it inside the entrance. You could smell it as soon as we walked around the wall. I walked up into the beginning of the entrance and started feeling light headed. I'm pretty confident it was gas and not sewer, but of course I could be wrong too.

It's pretty hard to confuse the smells of gas and sewage.

Like Mario said, the most likely thing is that someone poured a bunch of gas or paint thinner down a drain. There have been occasions in the past when businesses were improperly discharging stuff into drains as well. I remember that in like 2005, Krenta made a report to somebody because there was some blood red stuff pouring into Trout Brook from a nearby business and they ended up having to stop whatever they were doing.

There have also been vehicle accidents that dumped gas or diesel into drains.

http://spillcontai...om/2008/01/21/163/

The one I linked to was pretty large, but even a single-car accident could dump 10-20 gallons. Fumes from much less quantity can be pretty bad, there are some drains and tunnels through contaminated areas that always have a fuel/chemical odor just from trace amounts in the soil.



More recently a milk truck crashed in the I-94 tunnel, the video of cars trying to escape the milkflood is pretty funny:

http://www.myfoxtw...-truck-crash-video

Posted by Freak More recently a milk truck crashed in the I-94 tunnel, the video of cars trying to escape the milkflood is pretty funny: http://www.myfoxtw...-truck-crash-video

Haha that video was awesome. What a terrible place for that to happen!

To the OP: What you're describing is normal, assuming we're thinking of the same thing. There's a hole in the wall, which connects to a sanitary-interceptor about 100 meters or so from the outfall. The "gas" which you describe is Methane and possibly Hydrogen Sulfate + a plethora of other by-products that are created when shit decomposes in a confined space, although it smells great, to me. Though I doubt the quantities present at said location are even close to being dangerous or high enough to cause symptoms of acute CH4 intoxication (assuming you aren't standing next to the hole and huffing the stuff).

Once you get past that point, it's barely noticeable, especially this time of year when the air-flow blows out of river-level tunnel entrances.

However, as someone else mentioned, although sewer-gas and "gas" should be easily distinguishable, if you really are unsure, and are actually experiencing symptoms of Oxygen deprivation, GTFO. It's worth mentioning that I have noticed a tunnel-placebo effect in which NEWB's or otherwise naive people will "feel sick" in areas that I know for a fact are safe.

Posted by TCdrainer To the OP: What you're describing is normal, assuming we're thinking of the same thing. There's a hole in the wall, which connects to a sanitary-interceptor about 100 meters or so from the outfall. The "gas" which you describe is Methane and possibly Hydrogen Sulfate + a plethora of other by-products that are created when shit decomposes in a confined space, although it smells great, to me. Though I doubt the quantities present at said location are even close to being dangerous or high enough to cause symptoms of acute CH4 intoxication (assuming you aren't standing next to the hole and huffing the stuff). Once you get past that point, it's barely noticeable, especially this time of year when the air-flow blows out of river-level tunnel entrances. However, as someone else mentioned, although sewer-gas and "gas" should be easily distinguishable, if you really are unsure, and are actually experiencing symptoms of Oxygen deprivation, GTFO. It's worth mentioning that I have noticed a tunnel-placebo effect in which NEWB's or otherwise naive people will "feel sick" in areas that I know for a fact are safe.

Thanks for the info. It was pretty strong, I've been there 5 or 6 times now and have never smelt anything like it. I definitely felt light-headed, and started seeing black dots. I walked in the entrance about 15 feet to check it out before I left. Are there any other sanitary-interceptors I should know about on that side or near the eastern entrance?

Thanks for your insight, I appreciate it.

Posted by Benedicted Thanks for the info. It was pretty strong, I've been there 5 or 6 times now and have never smelt anything like it. I definitely felt light-headed, and started seeing black dots. I walked in the entrance about 15 feet to check it out before I left. Are there any other sanitary-interceptors I should know about on that side or near the eastern entrance? Thanks for your insight, I appreciate it.

For whatever it's worth, I would never tell someone that a gas smell was "normal" if I hadn't been there and told them that normal explorers would have just stayed and kept breathing it. Statements like that are reckless and dangerous to the point of being reprehensible.

Sobering reminder:
http://news.minnes.../28_ap_cavedeaths/

If you smell something weird and feel yourself getting lightheaded or nauseated, etc. Get the hell out of there and come back another day when it might be better.

Did you fart?

It was definitely not my intention to infer that smelling gas/feeling not right is not serious, I was simply stating a possible explanation, which is what the OP was asking. I never said smelling gas is normal, what I meant is, if we were in fact talking about the same odor (and judging by his description, I thought we were), that it is not unusual for that particular location. I apologize if my post read as ambiguous, I really suck at communicating via online, non-verbal communication. I feel like I'm a much more effective communicator face-to-face.

Anyways, the point I was unsuccessfully attempting to make, is that the sewer-smell which is most prominent near the outfall is normal for that particular drain . It's been like that as long as I've been exploring that tunnel. However, based on your last post, what you're describing sounds like something totally different. If you are light-headed a mere 15 feet into a 9' storm drain, which has great air-flow and air-quality under normal circumstances, something is probably seriously wrong. I really have no clues as to what the origin of the gas which you described would be. There are a few small conduits at the top of the 3rd (final) helix, but I'm pretty sure they were water-mains, not gas-lines, although anything is possible. There are about a billion ways gases could potentially seep/leak into that system, somewhere within the several miles of concrete pipe, not to mention, the source could quite likely be outside the drain completely.

As to the existence of other interceptor connections from within, that is the only one I can think of (doesn't mean there aren't others). There are several locations where sanitary connections used to discharge directly into the drain, and ultimately the river. Most of those were walled off when separated sewer from storm (they used to be one system). There could be overflows however, or connections which still exist (wouldn't be the first time). Anytime you feel sick, it's time to GTFO.

Again, I no longer think we are describing the same smell/gas. Whatever you are talking about is definitely NOT good. If I happen to be in that area today/tomorrow I'll check out the outfall. Now I'm curious about this.

Edit: Missed this the first time I read your post. By the "eastern entrance" were you referring to the other (East) Kittsondale tunnel? If so, they are two separate, sister-drains which drain different parts of St. Paul. And no, that one is one of the most "organic", textbook smelling drains I've ever explored. However, conditions underground are extremely volatile/subject to perpetually changing conditions. For example, many a time I've discovered poor air-quality in tunnels which have always been okay in the past. Each time you explore something, be ready for the unexpected. That's the best advice I can give on this. Remember too, many highly toxic gases have no odor at all, or are undetectable after a couple minutes of exposure.

Posted by EatsTooMuchJam For whatever it's worth, I would never tell someone that a gas smell was "normal" if I hadn't been there and told them that normal explorers would have just stayed and kept breathing it. Statements like that are reckless and dangerous to the point of being reprehensible.

Thanks Dad

For what it's worth, I was in West Kit last weekend with some buddies, and didn't notice anything strange smelling. We could smell the sewer connector 1/4 mile up the drain, but once we got past it, it was nothing but the sweet smell of drainage tunnels.