How To Install Soft Copper Gas Line
Welcome to the The Garage Journal Board forums.You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please,!If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact. I'm looking for some help and ideas for installing a garage natural gas heater line.
The gas run will be a home run all the way to the main 'T' in the house. It's about a 45' run.The kicker is a 90 degree bend in the middle, it's a 6' wall to a 12' ceiling.So, any tips or trick to running soft copper line without kinking it?Right now I'm just thinking of drilling a 2' hole and try to angel it.Please no preaching about using black pipe. Here in Minnesota we run type L copper in our houses for gas. I bet if you can't hold your tongue your state doesn't use gas heat as much as our state. Yes, black pipe is good from some states, but not this tread. What size pipe are you running? Rigid and several other manufactures make make a spring coil you slide over the pipe to assist in bending it.
Steel, copper, brass: The most common gas piping is black steel. Three- or six-foot long and accessible: The flexible connectors can't go. I had an inspection last week where a copper pipe was connected to the water. Had a few calls where someone tried to install a saddle valve on the gas line. Or not it is allowed I would not trust such a soft metal to carry a flammable gas in.
They are not very expensive and work pretty good. I have used them in the past to bend soft copper in the slab. Back in the day you could find flared 45s and 90s. I don't know if they are still legal and I would not put them in a area where you could not access them in the future if they leaked.Half inch pipe.Something like this:The issue is I have to pull 20-25 feet through this angle.
I am drilling holes through the ceiling studs and running down a wall. I would rather not cut a notch out of the top of the wall, unless this is common practice.Do you know if the copper can handle be drawn through this spring? There are tubing bend kits out there that you can rent or maybe borrow.
I would not try to 'pull' your line through a bender and the up a wall or anything like that. Can you cut some access holes around your 90. or possibly notch the wood in question (as long as it is not structural)? Then run the line and bend it after the fact?Another solution would be to run it on the surface and then build a false wall over that 6' location which would also allow you to bend it after it has been run.Personally, I would not put a flared 90. in a wall cavity. I like all joints to be exposed whenever possible.Also a 90.
Flexible Gas Line Installation
bend is pretty severe so be very careful not to kink the line and also use a high quality bending tool. I would definitely not use a spring bender for a 90. gas line.Maybe you might want to hire this one line out if you cannot safely figuer out a solution.
QUOTE=Mr.N;2937117Do you know if the copper can handle be drawn through this spring?/QUOTEYou can use a spring to prevent kinks from happening. I had the same problem only down a wall between two studs had to make a 90 deg bend to the right and then another 90 deg bend left into the other roomwith about 25 ft on each side. I had about 14' of room between the studs and it was almost impossible but I did manage. Took 4 of us.
One feeding, one pulling and me and a helper in the middle trying to make the two bends for every push/pull cycle. As the original poster said, soft copper is commonly used in Minnesota for gas lines - I have it in my house as well.However, I'm not sure how to solve the problem of pulling it through a tight bend, can you find a different routing, or a different way of transitioning from the wall to ceiling? A photo of the area may help.Sounds like once this dangerous soft copper gas line is put in wall (and covered up so subsequent home owners won't know it's there), need to paint BIG RED LINE on wall saying Dangerous Gas Line Threat Below!!First remodel on that house when guy is installing molding or shelving and he uses an air nailer, that piddly soft copper pipe will be leaking for sure.Learned something today about houses in Minnesota. Buyer Beware! Sure hope every house sold has Disclosure Statement about hidden dangers in wall from soft copper gas line!! You can braze and solder soft copper all day long BUT you CAN NOT braze or solder anything related to natural gas or propane EVER. The reason being the obvious, if there is gas in the line you will be having a closed casket funeral and/or down the road Joe home owner might see that solder joint and think,'Hey there's a water line I can tap into!'
He and his family will all be having closed casket funerals as well.Completely wrong. A brazed connection is not only permitted but recommended for soft copper gas service. A brazed connection WOULD be allowed in this instance and is probably the best solution, but it'd need to be professionally brazed IMO.
Sounds like once this dangerous soft copper gas line is put in wall (and covered up so subsequent home owners won't know it's there), need to paint BIG RED LINE on wall saying Dangerous Gas Line Threat Below!!First remodel on that house when guy is installing molding or shelving and he uses an air nailer, that piddly soft copper pipe will be leaking for sure.Learned something today about houses in Minnesota. Buyer Beware! Sure hope every house sold has Disclosure Statement about hidden dangers in wall from soft copper gas line!!Soft copper is used in many places, often for LP.
The pressures used are.
How To Tee Off An Existing Gas Line
.If you still see leaks, disassemble the fitting and check the flare shape.You may need to redo the flare end of the copper pipe.If you smell any gas odor, shut off the gas immediately! Open a window to help move the gas fumes out of the room. Don’t turn on a light or start an electric fan, either. Both have been known to cause a spark and ignite the gas fumes, causing a devastating and sometimes fatal explosion.If you kink soft copper tubing, cut off the kinked section and redo the fitting. This may mean replacing the entire length of pipe. Kinked soft copper tubing usually has a split in the side wall that’s sometimes almost invisible. When you have a split, you also have a gas leak — a dangerous and possibly life-threatening situation.