Category: Gas Pipe Re-Routing

Undoing the Byzantine basement gas pipes in favor of a single high-capacity run.

Stove Gas Line

December 17, 2021 / / 0 Comments

This was a relatively small project. I’d left it on the back burner for a while, but since I was waiting for some (more!) deliveries to move forward with the stair railing project, I decided to knock this one out. Back when we had temporarily (several years) had the washer and dryer on the first floor, we ran a gas line up to it, using the segment that was future-intended for the stove. This meant I had an existing hole in the floor to run through up into the wet wall. The nice thing about the wet wall is that there’s room inside to work.

I bought a recessed box for the gas valve a while back, partially since it looks cleaner, but mostly since it would allow me to cut a big hole in the wall to handle the pipe connections. When I cut an exploratory hole to dial in the position, I discovered there was a stud a bit closer than I’d hoped, and the pipe came up in the middle of the wet wall, so it was about six inches back. I also realized that the electrician had run a conduit just above the sill plate horizontally, which meant I couldn’t have the box configured vertically as I expected.

New branch with sediment trap.

I made the hole the correct size horizontally, and with it enlarged, started reaching in with pre-doped fittings and putting things together. I worked out that the vertical pipe could first elbow toward the wall, then turn again into the box. II hadn’t bought all of the required fittings, of course, so I did have to run back to the store to pick up more.

Fun times with a pipe wrench and my arms inside the wall.

With parts in hand, I got everything put together and tightened down. I ran everything in 3/4″ since it’s a big stove and I’d rather have more than I need than not enough. I put in the appropriate sediment trap in the mechanical room below the branch, since there wasn’t room for it higher up. The last step was to fit the box onto the pipe, add the valve itself, and then secure the box to the wall.

Recessed valve installed

I had the benefit of being able to get into the wet wall on the other side of the wall from the radiant access panel, which will also give me a way to test everything with the gas sniffer before I turn the branch up. We have shut off valves on each branch, so we can easily shut off just that section if there are any leaks, but I was pretty liberal with the pipe thread sealant, so I’m fairly confident this time around.

New Gas Plumbing

June 24, 2013 / / 0 Comments

We’re taking a step back from framing the first floor and shifting to mechanicals. Specifically, getting the new boiler installed in the basement. I met with Lester, our radiant heating guy, on Wednesday and we walked through the plan. I got the requirements figured out for the boiler install and we’ll be working on getting those items ready over the next month and a half.

The first step in the process is the gas line. We need to provide gas service to the new boiler, and given the state of the existing plumbing, it was time to start over. We modified the gas plumbing about a year ago to eliminate the runs along the beam in preparation for the steel beam. With that done, there were still two runs from the meter at the front of the basement to the back. One went to the existing steam boiler and then to the water heater and stove on the second floor while the other went to the gas dryer. It went through byzantine twists, multiple unions, and a frustrating lack of valves. It was time to replace it all.

Putting in all new plumbing meant I needed a plan. I came up with a simple main trunk and branch design that would service all future gas appliances. To determine the sizes needed I added up the distance from the meter to the furthest branch and the total input btu of all appliances. Then I used gas pipe sizing charts to arrive at 1¼” for the main line, reducing to 1″, ¾”, and ½” at various junctions. With the plan in place I worked through the basement, measuring distances and coming up with every pipe length and fitting I’d need.

If I was to do this again I’d recommend going to a plumbing supply store. They sell the more obscure fittings, like reducing tees in all sizes, inline reducing tees, 1¼” street 90s, and on-site pipe cutting. Because I went to a big-box store instead, I had to re-plan in the store, winding up with a lot more fittings, and every junction is  potential leak. In any case, I got home and immediately realized I’d forgotten to buy the straps to attach the pipe to the ceiling. D’oh! I went back, bought the straps, and then laid out everything on the floor and discovered I had gotten a reducing tee by mistake (it was in the wrong bin).

Yesterday morning I ran back to the store and bought the correct tee. I got started removing all of the existing pipe, except for the run up to the stove on the second floor. Then I connected the existing water heater to the branch that went up to the stove, making a single segment that could be removed at a later date.

New gas line

New gas line

Dean and Sarah’s dad, Mike, arrived and we set to work putting in the new plumbing. The new trunk runs along the beam, just as the original line did. We got about halfway down (at our second tee) and realized that my measurements hadn’t properly accounted for the size of the couples and tees. We needed a shorter piece of pipe to line up properly and our pipe threader only went up to 1″ pipe. Mike ran back to the hardware store to get it and Dean and I worked on putting the remaining branches together.

Tie-in to existing stove and water heater

Tie-in to existing stove and water heater

Mike got back with the missing pieces and we got the remaining branches in. At the end of the trunk we ran a line to the dryer using existing pipes and fittings. Someday that branch will be removed and in its place we’ll put in a line to the back deck for a natural gas grill.

Removed pipe and fittings

Removed pipe and fittings

After requisite leak and pressure testing, we only needed to tighten a couple of unions. Everything was looking good. We re-lit the pilot on the water heater and headed upstairs for some burgers cooked on the gas stove. A big thanks to Dean and Mike for their help!

Gas Line Re-Route

June 15, 2012 / / 4 Comments

Gas line

The gas lines in the basement are predictably terrible. Like everything in the house they were done right at some point and then redone wrong later. Like so much that we’ve done, we’re doing them less wrong temporarily and we’ll do them brand new later.

Let’s see if I can describe the situation. The gas main comes in at the front of the house and goes to the meter. There used to be two meters, but one of them was removed at some point. From the one meter, three lines branch off and go to the same general area at the back of the house: one for the boiler, one for the dryer, and one that feeds the hot water heater and stove for the second floor. From where the other meter used to be, a line goes back and connects to the hot water heater and stove for the first floor, as well as a line that feeds the long-disconnected gas lamps that predate electricity in the house. Since the second meter is disconnected, that line is tied into the line that services the second floor, but they left the whole thing connected. Finally, from one of the water heaters a line branches off to provide gas to where the basement stove used to be as well as a capped line to the basement living room where we guess there may have been a space heater. The boiler line is 1″ pipe that reduces to 3/4″. The rest is all 3/4″ except for the basement apartment lines that are done in 1/2″.

The two lines that connect to the hot water heaters and stoves run along either side of the beam in the basement. Since we’re replacing the beam we need to remove these gas lines. That was the project for last Sunday. I asked Dean for assistance, since every time I went into the basement to look at the gas lines I just got overwhelmed and did something else. I bought a bunch of fittings and some metal cutting blades for the angle grinder and reciprocating saw and we got started.

Undaunted

Dean was decidedly not overwhelmed and in no time we had the gas shut off and were using my angle grinder to cut out the old sections of pipe. Once cut, we used some pipe wrenches to disconnect the either side. I had a rough plan that we used to tap off the line servicing the boiler and connect it to the water heater and stoves.

Dean had borrowed a pipe threader that we used to make the appropriate lengths from the pipe we had removed.   With some elbows, thread compound and valves I had bought, we assembled the new connections. We also removed the gas line that went to the basement living room and disconnected the line supplying the old gas lamps.

New connections

The result fed gas to all the same appliances with a minimum of new pipe. I removed the two lines that ran along the beam and everything worked without any leaks. As an added bonus, the new line had valves that can shut off individual segments without having to turn off the gas at the meter.

 

Gas line-free Beam

I still have an electrical conduit to move that also runs along the beam, but other than that we’re looking pretty good for getting our structural work done. On top of that the basement actually smells better!