Awl --
The issue of copper for natural gas came up recently, where a poster indicated that, according to his city code, a certain **type** of copper was OK. I was not able to find out what that copper was, but then I'm no google whiz.
What I did find some consensus on was the issue of H2S concentration in the gas and copper compatitbility:
Copper is quite OK (apparently any type) IF the concentration of H2S is less than 0.7 grains per 100 cu ft or 0.7 mg per 100 liters (
I surmised that part of the problem is that a lot of natural gas *aleady* has boucou h2s in it, and the problem is getting rid of it. It's called "sour gas" if the concentration of h2s is high enough.
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Another less sophisticated discussion is on
The copper peeple certainly endorse copper's use:
I may have found an original copper gas line in my 1920's house, altho I have to verify that this line is indeed carrying gas -- my only hint so far is that it is by itself, as opposed to hot/cold water pairs. I guess I'll put a stethoscope on it or sumpn, to try to sleuth this out.
The Q is then: how diligent is the typical supplier about providing clean gas?
Another interesting thing is that you can buy natural gas detectors -- not too expensive, < $100 iirc.
These, in conjunction with a solenoid main gas valve, should provide pretty foolproof protection for any type of gas delivery system. I'm thinking of getting one of these, altho a 2" solenoid gas valve (2" to and from my meter) will likely break the bank. I should proly think about downsizing this -- 1" should more than suffice, I would imagine.
Also, getting a solenoid gas valve to *work* with a detector, or buying a turnkey system, proly isn't so cheap, regardless of the pipe size.