7 inches or 2#s?

[marlinspike]

HVAC guy says 7 inches is what I want, but I'm not sure how much he knows about the other appliances I will eventually put to gas. House is 2400 sq ft and will be running a gas furnace for the downstairs in the immediate future (upstairs has electric heat and for simplicity I'll just replace it with a heat pump when the current ac unit from 1997 finally dies) and I will be eventually putting in a gas stove and way off in the future I'd probably switch to a gas water heater. 7 inches still the way to go?

 

[75gmck25]

I can only guess at what you are talking about?

Bruce

 

[marlinspike]

Whoops, typed that in a hurry and missed the punchline. The question is regarding what pressure to have the gas company set up for delivery.

 

[Movover]

Whoops, typed that in a hurry and missed the punchline. The question is regarding what pressure to have the gas company set up for delivery.

In the house its usually 11" water column at least here, how far of a run from the meter to the furnace?

 

[marlinspike]

In the house its usually 11" water column at least here, how far of a run from the meter to the furnace?

Meter to the furnace will be very short, about 10 feet. Meter to the stove would be about 40 feet and to the water heater about 60.

 

[Movover]

I think they will run the low pressure 7-11" and not the 2#. if you tell the HVAC guy up front what else you will have they will size the pipe coming in for those devices

 

[marlinspike]

I think they will run the low pressure 7-11" and not the 2#. if you tell the HVAC guy up front what else you will have they will size the pipe coming in for those devices

Interestingly enough, I assumed 7 inches is what HVAC would say because that's what the last guy who flaked on me said (I don't understand why it is so hard to give my money to contractors, they never want to show up). This new guy said he rather 2 pound if he has the choice. The gas company here does 7 inches or 2 pounds whichever you tell them, and anything other than those you have to pay more for.

 

[Movover]

If you go 2# you would need a regulator at each device, but the piping would be much smaller and probably CSST instead of black iron which would be easier to install but not sure about the cost difference?

 

[Firebrick43]

Doesn't 2psi regulator, mounted inside the house, need their own vent line? That would negate the cost savings of smaller pressure pipe? I personally still would not like regulators in the house even when vented.

 

[Movover]

Doesn't 2psi regulator, mounted inside the house, need their own vent line? That would negate the cost savings of smaller pressure pipe? I personally still would not like regulators in the house even when vented.

I think that depends on the location and code.. but I would tend to agree I would rather have everything outdoors and use the black iron pipe unless they make CSST big enough for the BTU load

 

[Radix2]

I just had my gas upgraded - I have 2 boilers, gas furnace, stove, grill, HWH, prep for generator... meter is good up to 1.6 million BTU at 7 in as I recall.

They don't do 2psi unless you need more than that.

 

[Smoker]

Its also a function of total gas pipe diameter & distance. I have to up size my 7" system to a 2# system because my new shop is 90' away from the house and I want to run a 45k BTU gas heater. There's commonly available tables that tell you capacity/distance and such for each gas supply pressure. They're pretty easy to follow.