I am thinking about putting in a natural gas powered generator. The best place for it happens to be a few feet away from the gas meter, which I thought was great because it would make the plumbing so simple.
But someone told me that I can't do that. I have to take it off the gas line after it enters the house, which means a lot more work and another hole in the wall.
Anyone know about this? Thanks.
You can cut in right after the meter, no need to go into the house! Greg
Yes, call a licensed, insured reputable plumber, and do so with the full knowledge of your gas company. You're crazy to go messing with this.
Why do you say that? It requires: Closing the valve at the meter Opening the union by the meter Replacing an elbow with a T Closing the union by the T Putting a union after the T Running a line to the generator.
It seems comparable to changing a gas water heater. Am I overlooking something fundamental? If so, I would be most grateful if you could fill me in.
Yes, if you screw up any one of the steps you risk blowing up your house, your family, and possibly one or more neighbors. To most people, the small amount of money to be saved is just not worth the risk.
Pressure testing the line! Greg
When you have a plumber install a water heater, does he pressure test the line? I don't know because I have always done my own.
Oh come on; a water heater is much more dangerous in this respect, but I can't remember ever reading about a house blowing up from someone putting in their own water heater. Sure, it probably happens somewhere in the US each year out of the 5,000,000 installations; but it is sure to be someone who saw it done on television and throught that was enough. And it would be most extraordinary for a gas leak to blow up outside; unless maybe the pipe just fell off.
When I switched from electric to gas water heater, I bought the entire package from the gas company. There was already gas piping in the house, but it had been unused for 30+ years. The gas company sent a private plumber to the house who did the actual removal of the old tank and installation of the new tank, then had to call the gas company to install a meter. NO ONE did a pressure test, although the gas company did do leak tests at every joint, and they were the ones who fired up the water heater.
You should NOT have to run a separate gas line into the house for the generator as long as the existing one can handle the capacity. You may have to get a new meter to handle the increased gas flow. I considered getting a second meter in the house until I was told that meant a second service charge as well, so I just opted for the larger meter, which cost me nothing.
I had problems getting plumbers to come quote the job of running about 40 feet of gas pipe. Out of 9 that were called, three showed up, and only two gave me quotes, both over $1000. In desperation I called the gas company and they gave me the name of a private plumber who did a lot of work for them. He came the next day, gave me a quote right there, and had the job almost done in one day using flexible stainless steel gas line. Still cost me $750 but he took out a permit, pressurized the line, had it inspected, and did all the connections.
It isn't really pressure testing. It is leak testing. Put in a pressure gage at the end of the line, turn on the gas, let it stabilize, note the pressure, turn off the gas, and see how much pressure is lost over a 10-15 minute period. Don't know what the minimum standard is, but when I had my gas lines installed, the pressure was the same at the end of
15 m>
No and neither does anyone else. Why would you pressure test the line? and what pressure would you go to? The answer is you test for leaks using a pressure guage.
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I guess I'm just lucky, but pipe doesn't cost much and labor isn't that high. When I had my electric furnace and water heater replaced with gas appliances, most of the work was in fitting the furnace, cutting airways, fitting flues, and hooking up to the main plenum. Several people were working, but only one guy was under the house to run the pipe from the meter to the furnace, with minutes of help from others. It was about 40 feet and took him, not more than 3 hours. I would guess out of the entire installation that gas piping cost less than $60 and labor at $50hour would make it about $210. If I had had to pay $1000 for the gas line, and $50/hour for the rest of the installation, there wouldn't have been much left for the furnace, water heater, and filter.
Thanks for filling me in. I suppose that is nice if you have the equipment, but does it really tell you anything you can't get with soapy water?
You really don't know how it is done, do you! To properly pressure test a gas line you need to pressurize it with air, not gas. You will need to disconnect any appliances on the line and cap it. The amount of pressure and length of test will depend on the code requirement in your area. Usually 15 or 60 PSI. There can be no drop in pressure in a specified time. The last one I tested had several hunred feet of two inch black pipe, that fed ten differant heating units. The test in our area is only for a few minutes, but it was aired up and left for well over 24 hours and it did not leak at all. Same pressure reading on the guage for the whole period. Greg
If I add gas line it gets a pressure test, period! If I change out a gas valve it will always get a soap bubble test. Often you can get a leak that will not show up with bubbles, some how the leak just blows the solution away instead of forming bubbles. The only sure way to test is to pressurize the line with air and wait to see if the pressure drops. This is not something you want to take a chace with! Greg
At the very least, it is probably illegal. Check your local building codes.
overlooking
Its the law in most areas, covered in the International Gas Code book.
That normally depends on the system, and the inspectors preference, since you will pressurize it, and test it with him there.
No one has mentioned using a lighted match, this was the way my father taught me to test for gas to test for gas leaks!
Sorry I was being a bit facetious, because I think that it is not pressure tested, but it is a leak test. In a pressure test you raise the pressure to a certain point to make sure that the components don't fail (blow apart). In a leak test you just put in the normal operating pressure and then determine if the system hold that pressure for a certain period. Am I not right?
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