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Need advice about plumbing specifically gas fitting.
Posted on 1/6/18 at 5:33 pm
Posted on 1/6/18 at 5:33 pm
My little brother is moving out on his own and he and his roommate are moving into a little 2 bedroom fixer upper. It has no heat so he has bought a 20,000 btu gas space heater to install. I looked under his crawl space and the existing black iron gas piping is old as frick and rusted pretty bad and I don't feel comfortable hooking up to it. I am going to start new at the meter with 1" iron at first for 10 feet and then reduce down and run copper the rest of the way. My question is about what size copper to run. The valve on the heater is set up for 3/8". Does that mean I can run 3/8" copper all the way to the heater or does the copper need to be 1/2"? I ask because their is a noticeable difference in price between 3/8" and 1/2" copper tubing. Just trying to save him a little money but I obviously want the heater to work right. 20,000 btu is on the small side. Any help is appreciated.
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Posted on 1/6/18 at 7:17 pm to Commander Data
You should be fine. Are you planning on adding anything else in the house that needs gas? If so you might want to put a couple of tees in that 1" iron pipe and cap them off. It will make future installs much easier.
Posted on 1/6/18 at 9:47 pm to Commander Data
Sorry you have the poors, but you should run black pipe throughout if you can’t afford it and if you have to go to copper, make sure you use the proper solder or the shite will eventually corrode.
This post was edited on 1/7/18 at 5:53 am
Posted on 1/6/18 at 10:15 pm to Commander Data
Why not use iron pipe? It's easy, twist tight, line threads with some pipe dope. Or just use some flex gas line.
Also is the gas space heater allowed? I thought they weren't allowing those in residential anymore.
Also is the gas space heater allowed? I thought they weren't allowing those in residential anymore.
Posted on 1/6/18 at 10:30 pm to Commander Data
I would seriously not DIY with natural gas. Call a pro. shite will EXPLODE.
Posted on 1/7/18 at 3:25 am to Pigfeet
Thanks for the advice but you can't solder gas lines. Has to be flared and secured with flare nuts. I think I am gonna go with what the others said and run iron to within a few feet and run a short flexible line to the heater from there. Thanks to everyone. Gonna put in 2 t's with plugs for future use.
Posted on 1/7/18 at 5:58 am to Commander Data
quote:
Thanks for the advice but you can't solder gas lines.
Good gawd, man, yes you can.
Sounds like you should call a professional, not sure you know the difference between gas lines on the house or from the ones on your El Camino.
Posted on 1/7/18 at 3:53 pm to Commander Data
I personally don’t frick with gas too much. It is a good thing you’re going with all new lines. In my experience I’ve always seen iron pipes. The only time I’ve seen copper is for a flex hose for connecting at short distances.
Posted on 1/7/18 at 7:26 pm to Pigfeet
In S.C. You cannot solder gas lines because most fires burn at a temperature that will melt the solder. You can braze them (silver solder) but you have to get permission from the gas company and have justification for it. As op said we mostly just flare it here or use track pipe.
Posted on 1/8/18 at 12:52 pm to Commander Data
No way I would do this. If anything ever happens in the future they are going to come back to who installed the line and I would not want my name associated with it, even if I was qualified unless I had the license and the insurance requirements.
Honestly gas lines are fairly cheap to have installed. They are also easy to have inspected if you want to have the existing one inspected. Also, easy enough to have a pressure gauge connected to the line. Just pressurize the system with a portable air compressor and see if it holds pressure. I'd use a 5lb gauge on the line.
Honestly gas lines are fairly cheap to have installed. They are also easy to have inspected if you want to have the existing one inspected. Also, easy enough to have a pressure gauge connected to the line. Just pressurize the system with a portable air compressor and see if it holds pressure. I'd use a 5lb gauge on the line.
Posted on 1/8/18 at 2:06 pm to Commander Data
Buy the cheap sniffer from Home Depot and USE IT when you’re done at ever joint
Posted on 1/9/18 at 7:15 am to amherstdawg
Yeah, I use black iron pipe for service.
The dumbass op said you couldn’t solder gas lines and I was saying that I do and can. He’s probably dead by now, fricker didn’t know what he was doing.
The dumbass op said you couldn’t solder gas lines and I was saying that I do and can. He’s probably dead by now, fricker didn’t know what he was doing.
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