natural gas plumbing

[56flatbed]

Just had a question about pipe for natural gas. I am bringing cng into my pole barn and need to know what is required, black pipe or galvanized? Is one required by code? Are there compatibility problems? Anybody know?

Wally

 

[sprntpshr]

CNG refers to natural gas compressed into cylinders for use in a vehicle, a Zamboni or forklift.

Is it the natural gas service that is run to supply a furnace or shop heater?

 

[Jlbc212]

Natural gas should be piped in black pipe, not galvanized.

 

[56flatbed]

Sorry about that, yes it is natural gas piped into the house.

 

[Showkey]

Google is your friend..........

https://www.google.com/#q=natural+gas+underground+piping&facrc=_

 

[willymakeit]

Black iron or the pex alternative. See what your local code allows. Its not hard to do but there are rules you don't violate.
Galv. flakes and clogs the orifices of the appliances.

 

[PassnThru]

Natural gas should be piped in black pipe, not galvanized.

Black iron or the pex alternative. See what your local code allows. Its not hard to do but there are rules you don't violate.
Galv. flakes and clogs the orifices of the appliances.

I apologize for the thread hijack here but had to ask - what is galvanized pipe used for these days? No one is plumbing with it anymore are they?

 

[55bigblockcid]

I apologize for the thread hijack here but had to ask - what is galvanized pipe used for these days? No one is plumbing with it anymore are they?

Absolutely nothing !!!!
The most worthless pipe ever.

 

[Scott r c]

Black iron or the pex alternative. See what your local code allows. Its not hard to do but there are rules you don't violate.
Galv. flakes and clogs the orifices of the appliances.

By pex alternative I'm assuming you mean "csst"?

 

[dogdas]

PEX is not allowed inside a building, only underground for the fear of fire melting through the tubing. Threaded black iron pipe with black malleable fittings and AGA (american gas association) approved ball valves ONLY, don't pinch pennies here. Do not use teflon tape but invest in some Loctite 567 thread sealant. Home Depot will set all the pipe you need all you need to know is how to measure and take off fittings.

Remember if you do a **** install with the wrong materials and your home burns down that will give the insurance company leverage to deny your claim. Do it right or hire a licensed contractor.

 

[CNGsaves]

By pex alternative I'm assuming you mean "csst"?

No . . . CSST is Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing . . . some people call it TracPipe as that is one of the manufacturers.

IMHO the risk of using csst is too great due to lightning strikes, and burned down houses that have occurred prove it. Here is csst propaganda website that acknowledges lighting risk and explains electrical bonding & grounding that is critical for csst.
http://www.csstsafety.com/CSST-FAQs.html

For ABOVE ground natural gas piping, IMHO best material is black pipe steel. It's cheap at around $1 foot and extremely safe.

For NG piping between buildings (ie buried under ground), the best choice is yellow plastic polyethylene pipe (thick wall IPS - - iron pipe size). You direct bury the plastic yellow pipe and use risers at each end that transition the plastic to steel above ground. Risers are either fused with the yellow plastic pipe, or a Stablock connector is used (ie much like "Push To Fit" for water - - aka SharkBite). Tracer wire is wrapped around the buried yellow plastic NG pipe so it can be located later.

Now the "PEX stuff" that was mentioned refers to very new technology of NG style plastic pex that have crimp connectors at each joint. There was recent This Old House TV episode where it was used to connect NG supply from outdoor meter around perimeter of house to customer's BBQ grill. It takes special crimper machine (ie squeezing jaws) that permanently connects each joint. I'd skip this for now as it's brand new technology.

FYI - - - to easily find prior GJ threads on NG pipe use Google & search:
. . . . buried natural gas pipe site:garagejournal.com

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=buried+natural+gas+pipe+site:garagejournal.com

 

[Petey156]

Galvanized is used for electrical needs

 

[stokefire7]

I apologize for the thread hijack here but had to ask - what is galvanized pipe used for these days? No one is plumbing with it anymore are they?

Urinals and lavs.

 

[ovilla]

Check your city's Building permits website. They will typically have pricing for every type of code enforcement, along with details of what is mandated by code.

Also note that if you are burying that gas line, you might not be allowed to use black steel or galvanized piping. My township's code states that there can be no underground connections. Hence, I'm going to bury a 2" PVC pipe to use as a protective sleeve for my 1/2" corrugated gas line for my grill.

 

[7th Kahuna]

Last year I researched this for a project at my own home. For the underground portions I used an epoxy coated black iron pipe with all the joints primed and taped to isolate the steel from the soil. This is an important step under any conditions but especially if you are using imported pipe (as sold at Home Depot and the like) as the steel is not as high a quality. Buy American made if you can. I assumed the taping was about rust but it turned out it was about electrical conductivity and the resulting pinpoint oxidation. The pipe tape primer is not easy to find but it works well. Had cost not been an issue, I would have run the underground in plastic, as seems to be preferred method these days, but the fused risers are expensive and I would have needed more than two.

Above ground I used regular black iron. Apparently the general rule is no galvanized fittings for gas (as a result of the flaking issue mentioned) BUT it seems this is a regional problem. If memory serves me right, in parts of the country where the gas carries a lot of sulfur, it peals the galvanization from inside the pipe which ultimately clogs up the downstream ports. In my area this is not an issue and I happened to connect with a plumber who worked in the beach cities who stated the use of galvanized fittings was not uncommon as protection against the salt.

I apologize for the thread hijack here but had to ask - what is galvanized pipe used for these days? No one is plumbing with it anymore are they?

Absolutely nothing !!!!
The most worthless pipe ever.

In my work I see it used a lot for irrigation. It is far from the most worthless pipe ever. In my own home I have had to replace copper pipes that were installed in the 1990's (following multiple pinhole leaks) but have galv steel that was installed in the 1920's and 1930's that is not only still functioning fine but can actually still be taken apart and reassembled. I had planned to replace it all but based upon my experience thus far, I'm not in such a hurry anymore. Steel is also used for fire sprinklers, some drains, and a variety of other applications. I think the same rule applies here as for the gas lines. There is a big quality difference between higher grade American pipe and the pipe imported from Malaysia or China by the big box stores. Pipe which I expect is made from lower grade recycled materials.

 

[metalart]

Always black iron above ground. Tape and Thread Sealant all connections.

 

[csp]

There was recent This Old House TV episode where it was used to connect NG supply from outdoor meter around perimeter of house to customer's BBQ grill. It takes special crimper machine (ie squeezing jaws) that permanently connects each joint. I'd skip this for now as it's brand new technology.

That was black iron pipe that they showed with the crimp fittings. A friend of mine has the crimper and uses Viega fittings with this system.

TOH demonstrated with Ridgid's MegaPress system.

 

[Forsythe04]

That was black iron pipe that they showed with the crimp fittings. A friend of mine has the crimper and uses Viega fittings with this system.

ill have to look into that. sounds interesting

 

[csp]

It's a huge timesaver. There's a tool driven by a cordless drill to clean the outside of the pipe for a good seal and a reamer to remove the ridge you get from cutting it. The fittings have an o-ring to seal the joint. It takes about 10-15 seconds to crimp the fitting on.

 

[Lippyp]

In the UK its all plastic below ground (yellow PE) and then it transitions to copper above ground/inside although larger installations still use black iron. I had to replace the piping from our bulk lpg tank to the house three years ago as the original supply (plastic coated jointless copper pipe) was too small to feed our new heating setup.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I apologize for the thread hijack here but had to ask - what is galvanized pipe used for these days?

Railings and playground equipment...

Tommy

 

[55bigblockcid]

Urinals and lavs.

No.....never ....not anymore ,unless you like to fix rotted out or plugged pipe.