So what's the pipe which connects into the main under the pavement, travels under my garden and under part of my house and then *rises* up to the meter inside my garage? Is that not a *riser* by your definition?
Until a few months ago, that was pure iron, connected into an iron main. Now, the iron pipe is still there - apart from a foot or two at the 'main' end - and it is lined all the way to the meter with a plastic pipe, which connects into a new plastic main.
A ring circuit then.
Did you remember to put a 32amp circuit breaker at the meter? :-)
In article , Set Square writes
I'm curious to know why they felt it necessary to seal the plastic to the iron at the meter end.
The iron pipe remained in place - presumably to provide rigidity and locate the other components, rather than having them flap around on the end of a plastic pipe.
There's no plastic visible. There's a special metal fitting which is screwed onto the end of the original iron pipe. The plastic pipe is terminated inside that, and sealed with some gunge which was injected through holes in the side before metal plugs were screwed into these holes. The gas tap is screwed onto the top of this special fitting. If the plastic and iron were not sealed together, there'd be nothing to stop the gas flowing backwards between the iron and plastic pipes, and leaking into the soil.
Just out of curiosity, how do you do this on live gas lines, I mean the second you start cutting the pipe and makes a hole in it it will start leaking and you'll have gas al over the place. How do you cut a new thread onto the 1" mains gas pipe with gas comming out of the pipe (put a cork prop in it?)
Second guy with a bung ready to stop the hole again, ie prepare the rest of the pipework and cap it off and then replace the 90°joint with a tee, but then how do you do the rest of the installation on the side of the tee, because you cannot spin it into the socket because there is something connected to the pipe inside...??
Am I making it a bit complicated, I've never worked on the gas pipes myselfe (and wouldn't do it even though I'm pretty good at making soldered joints that desn't leak)...
How did you do this (purely thought up, CORGI might be listening :-) manouvre working on the live gas pipes???
Regards
Morten
On gas mains under ground they bag off. They have a special tool that chains around the pipe. It cuts a hole and thread in the pipe and a rubber bag is pushed through. The bag is then inflated. With plastic they clamp the plastic pipe. The men who do underground are not the same who do overground. The underground men just run a pipe into the premises. A fitter will extend the pipe into the premise, or up a wall, and fit the meter.
Extending mains pipe live is easy. You use a plug, socket and elbow, and maybe an M&F elbow. First you ensure the sockets thread is OK by running it over a short piece, and the same with all fittings. Take off the cap on the mains pipe and insert a socket with a plug in it. One off one on. Fix any pipe clips on the wall. Cut, measure and thread any iron pipe. If say a 6 foot length is to go on the socket, then have a socket on one end of the pipe with a plug in it. Remove the pug on the socket on the mains pipe and quick swop the pipe into the socket (two man job). Work your way up, as necessary, having tees with plugs in them for lateral runs to extend in the same manner. Always have a rubber plugs ready to ram an open mains pipe in case of problems.
If there is a gas c*ck in the pavement (very rare), then you are made.
Longer than I thought, I've just looked it up, almost 5 years ago. Still allowing for 3.5% compounded annual inflation takes it to just over £2000. Not that that is accurate, however it will cost nothing to get a price from them, and if you are definitely having gas installed the sooner the better. By the way, I don't know if their prices vary around the country but this is North Staffordshire.
Ahhh, clever trick with the bag through the hole you just cut and then inflate it...
Thanx for the description...
/Morten
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