I'd live with it like it is, you go messing with old pipes and you are apt to wind up replacing everything out to the main. And if you did get it closer to the wall how are you going to screw the ells and tees onto the closer pipe running up the wall? You would need to assemble it all and then use a union and you need to get a pipe wrench around that. My suggestion is paint it and find something else to worry about.
=3D=3D Leave it alone lest you blow your house up and your neighbors as well. The gas company is the ONLY one to modify this pipe...period. =3D=3D
If this is UPstream of the gas meter, it is indeed the gas company's pipe, and should not be messed with. It also needs to be accessible, so keep that in mind if you box it in. A door, or maybe a bookcase on casters or something.
A follow-up added that a plumber looked at one and there was no liner; the fitting collar in that case was simply being used as a bushing at present (and by inference, never was actually sleeved altho that's pure presumption on my part). I'm also presuming that's the particular building supply line in question.
All said, though, while it's possible perhaps to shorten it a little in situ, it would be hard to see what could be gained that would be sufficient to be worth the effort involved.
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That is why you reverse the cutting edges in the die. (You also have to rearrange them so they are in the proper order going around.)
The taper then is cut from the back side of the die. Works fine. Gains you an inch or two. You do have to start the thread the normal way to get it straight. I have done it to make a shorter nipple using a pipe vise and hand threader.
My intent was more to say it could be done. I wouldn't likely mess with the pipe coming out of the wall. If I did, I would thread against a pipe wrench, as someone else suggested. Hard to come out ahead of what is there if you did.
bud-- wrote: ...
Will be in wrong direction then.
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Nope.
The die sets I have used have been "Rigid" The die has a 'long side' where you insert the pipe and a 'back side'. There are 4 cutting edges, that insert into the die from the 'back side'. The large diameter of the taper on the cutting edges faces the 'long side'.
Imagine Harry Potter comes along, and the cutting edges magically float out of the 'back side', rotate end-for-end in space, and float back into the 'back side' of the die. The large diameter of the taper on the cutting edges now faces the 'back side' of the die. You can cut the normal tapered thread by putting the pipe in the 'back side'. (But you are not likely to start the thread right. So you start it first the normal way.)
It works. I have done it.
Thanks. I doubt that I'm even going to attempt this, but it's good to know how the taper works.
Thanks again to everyone for all of the replies. I read them all and rather than reply to them individually I thought I'd just write a general reply here.
It does seem unlikely that I'll want to go ahead and attempt to shorten the incoming pipe at this point, but it's good to know what the options may be if I do want to go ahead with it. The reason for wanting to shorten the pipe is that it would give me a way to place the pipe within the wall behind an access panel and allow me to place a refrigerator on that wall in front of where the pipe is. As it is now, the pipe will just come through the wall and go up to the meters, and I will just have to paint the exposed pipe white to match the wall color and move the refrigerator down to where it will be beside the pipe and not in front of it. That creates a problem with the room size and layout, but I may just have to live with that.
If I did decide to go ahead with the idea of shortening the pipe, it's good to know that there may be a way to do it without having to dig up the whole underground pipe going out to the street. The shortening and re-threading process may be a possibility, but I have a hunch that it is something that the gas company would not be willing to do even if I paid them for their labor costs to do it. And, I don't know if a licensed plumber would be willing to attempt it, but that would be to route I would want to go if I went ahead with the idea. If there were to be any re-threading going on, it would definitely have to be done in a way that a pipe wrench could be placed on the incoming pipe to secure it so it did not turn or move during the process.
There remains the question about exactly what the silver metal "dielectric"(?) bushing is, and how to make sure that would remain in place after any pipe shortening. One other possibility would be to consider the idea that one person mentioned about leaving the silver fitting in place, not cutting or shortening the incoming pipe, and replacing the next fitting that now attaches to the silver fitting with a 90 degree L fitting. That would eliminate any re-threading etc., and it may work to bring the vertical pipe in just enough so that even though it would not be within the finished wall, it would be almost flush up against the wall and a refrigerator could be placed in front of it.
Thanks again for all of the replies and ideas.
Since Bud has given us the trick of "turning the dies around"...... we can add the additional trick of using an internal pipe wrench to stabilize the nipple as the threads are cut.
Of course the starting length of the shortened nipple would have to be about 3"+.
With the die set being used in "reverse" configuration and using the internal pipe wrench, the nipple could be threaded. As the process unfolds, the die would have to be removed and the nipple re-cut to remove the over cut threads. Repeating this process, one could work all the way back to the wall.
Finished product should have the ~7 good threads & ~4 runout threads plus a bit of clearance between the new fitting face & the wall.
Overall method would yield a threaded nipple about 1.5 to 2" long......but what an effort to remove 3.5 to 4" ! It's "doable but if things don't go perfectly, someone will be digging on the other side of the wall. :(
I would definitely leave the whole mess alone & find something where the cost/benefit ratio is better.
cheers Bob
Without seeing the room in person or better photographs of it which show the entire area I have to say that unequivocally that has to be the dumbest ass reason on earth to want to move a huge gas pipe, for the accommodation of a refrigerator... If you wanted to fix the problem permanently you could ask to have the meters relocated outside...
Is this basement room utility space ? Why on earth would you desire/need/require to have a refrigerator located in such a room ?
Gas Meters and Electrical Panels should have a wide berth and not share the same room with much of anything else whenever possible...
It sounds a lot like a fool's errand to finish off that room with the gas meters in it, as anything you put in front of that piping will have to be removed at the demand of the gas company if they ever need to inspect that pipe, a small "access panel" will not do, every segment of piping and each coupling will need to be within reach for the sniffer leak checker... By having gas service connected to your building you have granted them an easement to have the distribution gas piping up to the meter connections accessible to the gas company for future maintenance and diagnosis for the gas company to maintain safe utility system...
~~ Evan
...
I'm holding a set of Ridgid 65-R dies in my hand...forgot that the spare set was still sitting here on the desk.
Hmm....that's what I thought I recalled--the groove in each die that fits the internal spline that controls depth during the cut is on the leading side of the die and there's no provision otherwise. They can't be inserted into the ratchet assembly in any other orientation.
That's the die set for the Ridgid 1" to 2" ratchet I posted link to earlier; afaik the Ridgid dies are same design for the others.
A solid die could be flipped over, of course, but then on is cutting w/ the full depth first.
I don't see any way it can be done as said, Bud or no, sorry...
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Duane-
Thanks for checking that out. I was too lazy to take my dies apart plus my 00-R set doesn't go to 1-1/2"
cheers Bob
What I have is a ratchet handle (111-R) that works with a separate die head for each size of pipe. With the 2 die heads I have, 1/2 and 3/4, the cutting edges are easily reversible. It is probably an intentional feature. I have used larger individual die heads and what I remember is that they are reversible also, but its been a long time. The heads are really simple compared to what you have.
Wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't work on your adjustable die. The only adjustable dies I have used have been on power threading machines (where die reversal would not be useful).
I have a handle for machine screw threads, with hex dies and adjustable centering on one side. I can reverse the die and thread from the back side to get closer. If you can reverse a solid pipe die in the handle you should be able to thread from the back side. (Starting threads should use some kind of alignment mechanism.)
Works fine on my individual die heads. Sounds like it does not work on your adjustable Rigid.
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