Natural gas line installation--plumber has ??'s

[Mitzi]

Hi--my plumber just left and tried to give me the whole "are you sure it will work on residential gas" deal.

I have read a ton of postings on the forum but of course my question is probably too specific--please bear with me as I have NO idea what I am talking about.

Mr. Plumber wants to know if my Piranha will be able to get enough gas. I guess he has to run the line 55 feet from the furnace through 1/2 inch gas line--greek to me. Is this possible?

He also said he only knows btu's--

Thanks so much in advance for your help!! It sure helps to know you can look to the experts in the field to give the correct answers--invaluable!!

[MikeAurelius]

No problem. As long as he can guarantee to you that the pressure after 55 feet will still be residential pressure and not below that...for that length, though, he may want to consider running 3/4" pipe...just a thought.

[Three Muses Glass]

My mini-cc will run on the residential gas even when the oven is on, the dryer is on and the gas grill is on with no noticible drop in the flame at all and it's way more than 55 feet from the furnace, but it's got a 3/4" black pipe run. Oh yeah, I forgot, the furnace is on too.:smile: I didn't actually mean to do that, but it was good to know that everything on at once worked OK.

[Mitzi]

Thanks so much for the quick replies!!

Is it a big pain to run 3/4 inch line as opposed to the 1/2 inch line?

[artwhim]

Several years ago my DH had a gas line installed for me. After all the expense it would not power my lynx. Apparently the diameter was a problem. If I understand correctly, they could not go larger in diameter that the line that fed the entire house. Major bummer! Kinda hard to be versital with a 1" long flame. Now I have a second line that runs to a propane tank located outside the garage. Between ventilation and gas installation bills, my love of glass isn't shared by my DH. I do belive they now sell some form of gas boosters to correct the problem.

Good luck,
Kathy

[Mitzi]

Thanks Kathy! That is my big fear--after spending a bunch of money, it won't work....keeping my fingers crossed.

If anyone has any other thoughts, please share.

Thanks!

[bclogan]

My NG comes in at the front corner of the house. The line runs all the way to the back of the house and up to my studio (after all the connections). The furnace, stove, and hot water heater are all NG powered and I have no problems with my torch. I'm running a Minor.

[Heather/Ericaceae]

Get your plumber directly in touch with the technicians at Bethlehem. They'll be able to convert all the questions into terms they'll each understand much easier than a non-gas-technician could. I have my gas guys the Bethlehem contact info from their website and they had a goood old chat and worked a lot of things out to help with getting teh torch running and making sure it all worked with the permits, etc. Converted flow into BTUs as well - OH, rght I have that info still in my email - here it is!

"You asked about btu's. A few thumb rules for you. Natural
gas is about 1,050 BTU/cubic foot of gas burned. Propane generates about
2,600 BTU/cubic foot of heat. The Piranha at maximum used about 2.8 cubic
feet per hour or 7280 btu's per hour."

That's from Jerry at Bethlehem, a really great guy! Of course that's the MAX BTUs - on NG with a concentator you'd be putting out way less. Jerry can help you calculate if you need it. Hope this helps! -Heather

[Mitzi]

Thanks Barb and Heather! I will print out that info for the plumber...he is coming tomorrow night to do it. Unfortunately, I don't have my oxycon yet, so I won't be able to tell right away if it works. Geesshhh!

[Sharon Abood]

I am getting estimates of between $850 and $1250 for the installation of a line to a second story bedroom. Anyone have any ideas if this is as outrageous as it seems to me?

[Mitzi]

To follow-up:

My plumber did my installation last night and it took him about 3 hours to run the line from the basement to the floor above (about 55 feet total). It cost me $275, which I thought was reasonable.

Now I just have to receive my Oxycon from Justin and I will be set to go!! The best part last night was turning on the gas line and hearing the "swiiiisssshhh" of natural gas running from it. Yeahh!!!

Thanks everyone for the tips and advice.

[artwhim]

That seems very reasonable. Hope it works well for you.
Kathy