Crawl space natural gas pipe condition

[gregtwojeeps]

A few weeks ago a fellow in my state was in his bathroom when he heard a LOUD noise and felt his house shake. It was a ranch home over about a 4 ft. tall crawlspace on a hillside. He ran outside and found his home was teetering on what was left of the home's cinder block wall foundation. A natural gas explosion under his house from a pipe leak had occurred ,when his gas furnace located in the CS lit. His home is a total loss....

The pic is of the main NG gas line going under my crawlspace that feeds my gas furnace in the CS and WH in the utility room. The PO's before us, allowed the CS to have water lay in it all the time rather than fixing the problem. I have fixed the water in the CS issue...

I do have a NG furnace in my CS. I would like to stay in bed at night and not be splattered all over the ceiling. How would I safely determine the integrity of the rusty main gas piping/fittings in the pic attached ?

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

You could cap it off on both ends after unhooking it from the water heater/furnace,then have it pressure tested.

 

[Highbeam]

Gas is dangerous. A pressure test was likely done on your pipe and your buddy's when they were built. Same with the furnace that may also have caused the explosion and is also often responsible for gas related deaths/damage.

As long as you have any gas pipe in your home you will have the chance for a similar or worse explosion.

You can paint the outside of that black iron. You can install gas leak detectors, CO detectors, etc. but you will never be able to be worry free.

So either get rid of gas or learn to live with the risk.

 

[75gmck25]

That appears to be iron pipe, and it would take quite a while for water to put a hole through iron. My house has iron pipe for its 1940 plumbing drains and I none of them have rusted through due to standing water. My iron gas pipe looks almost the same as new. I suspect that the guy who's house blew up probably had some type of flexible pipe and it was damaged by something other than water.

If you want to replace the pipe you may be able to take it apart at the union, and then replace each rusted section by taking it apart. However, it depends on what is connected to the near side of that T, since that side must be free to let you rotate the fitting and get the other pipes off.

Bruce

 

[CNGsaves]

Inspect, pressure test, and paint . . . . all good advice. Another important thing for crawl space is ventilation to move that dead air out, which would have diluted any gas leaks down there (which is not much consolation if you have gas leak, as you should NOT have any leaks).

OP yours looks to be in solid but rusty condition and up off the ground. Black pipe steel looks to be fine, but you should wire brush, then paint it for some added protection.

For "safety" the odor added to NG is your chance to smell the leak, and also reason for low flow 1/2 psi to residential.

Always good idea to have best materials for pipe in a crawl space . . . thus black pipe steel painted. I'm not a believer in CSST.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Gas is dangerous. A pressure test was likely done on your pipe and your buddy's when they were built. Same with the furnace that may also have caused the explosion and is also often responsible for gas related deaths/damage.

As long as you have any gas pipe in your home you will have the chance for a similar or worse explosion.

You can paint the outside of that black iron. You can install gas leak detectors, CO detectors, etc. but you will never be able to be worry free.

So either get rid of gas or learn to live with the risk.

I did not know the person that had his home blown up that I mentioned in my OP, his story was on the news I was watching one evening....

I am going out on a limb here and surmise maybe that you or maybe someone close to you, has been harmed by natural gas in some way ?

If so, my condolences to you on your bad experience(s) with natural gas. I would just as soon do my due diligence and try to keep my gas system working safely for me and my cold nature-d wife...that would not have anything in our home...but gas heat. Thanks for your reply and concern

 

[James-W]

You could probably get a competent company to come in and inspect everything as check for any leaks. They may even clean up the pipe and paint it for you. Anything that you can do to lessen your worries will no doubt be helpful to you.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

You could cap it off on both ends after unhooking it from the water heater/furnace,then have it pressure tested.

Good idea Zman. Something I have done for years whenever I ran any new gas piping for our home appliance/fireplace log supply hook ups.... before I ever put them on line. I would charge my new lines with 45 PSI of air, then soapy water test all fittings and then leave the air pressure on overnight and would find the next morning ....the air gauge would never drop a needle width. We only have about 4 psi of NG pressure here in our homes so I really over tested the pipes probably. .

But now ? I don't know if I can just trust myself on how to do the pipe fit ups, put a pressure gauge on the system, an air hose connection ******, cap off the pipes, run my air hose to it and remember to shut off the gas main off before I uncap the gas lines.... should be a piece of cake if I decided to to it !

I think I will do as suggested here and go the less aggressive route first, something I don't think I will mess up doing. I'll do a scrape off of all the rust that I see on the pipes and wire brush the fittings. Then I'll go back and do my soapy water spray test test on the rusty areas and fittings. ...

If I see no bubbles, and the pipes still look good after the rust is removed....I like the idea of putting a rusty metal primer on the pipes like that Rustoleum makes. It always worked well for me painting the rusty metal in the large pool mechanical room at work, that was really rusty from being in the chlorinated atmosphere. Thanks for the tips all !

 

[gregtwojeeps]

You could probably get a competent company to come in and inspect everything as check for any leaks. They may even clean up the pipe and paint it for you. Anything that you can do to lessen your worries will no doubt be helpful to you.

Good suggestion James and thanks.

When we first moved in this home in a different town, we had all kinds of problems with it's plumbing and heat. Being new in town, I had to rely on word of mouth referrals for contractor's. What a disappointing experience that was to endeavor....

I never let on to the bidder's that I even knew the difference between a pilot light and a purge fan. I had plumber's/HVAC guys that were inspecting the equipment in my crawlspace, that gave me crazy high bids. I even looked at my furnace after one guy diagnosed it and found the parts that he said it needed replacing ....did not even exist on the furnace. It is a different world now dealing with people, than it was when I was working for people as a young man.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Good idea Zman. Something I have done for years whenever I ran any new gas piping for our home appliance/fireplace log supply hook ups.... before I ever put them on line. I would charge my new lines with 45 PSI of air, then soapy water test all fittings and then leave the air pressure on overnight and would find the next morning ....the air gauge would never drop a needle width. We only have about 4 psi of NG pressure here in our homes so I really over tested the pipes probably. .

But now ? I don't know if I can just trust myself on how to do the pipe fit ups, put a pressure gauge on the system, an air hose connection ******, cap off the pipes, run my air hose to it and remember to shut off the gas main off before I uncap the gas lines.... should be a piece of cake if I decided to to it !

I think I will do as suggested here and go the less aggressive route first, something I don't think I will mess up doing. I'll do a scrape off of all the rust that I see on the pipes and wire brush the fittings. Then I'll go back and do my soapy water spray test test on the rusty areas and fittings. ...

If I see no bubbles, and the pipes still look good after the rust is removed....I like the idea of putting a rusty metal primer on the pipes like that Rustoleum makes. It always worked well for me painting the rusty metal in the large pool mechanical room at work, that was really rusty from being in the chlorinated atmosphere. Thanks for the tips all !

Ive got faith in your ability to handle it,Take a wire brush to the lines/fittings and check for any obvious issues.
If everything looks good do a custom by rustoleum job on the lines and call it a day.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Ive got faith in your ability to handle it,Take a wire brush to the lines/fittings and check for any obvious issues.
If everything looks good do a custom by rustoleum job on the lines and call it a day.

Will do, and the mice/spiders under the floor will love the looks of it when I get done !

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Will do, and the mice/spiders under the floor will love the looks of it when I get done !

Yeah gotta keep those renters happy down there!

 

[soj]

The pipe you CAN see may not be a problem. What about the pipe you CAN'T see? As in that portion going through the block wall.

Previous house I was in had LP gas pipe in the crawlspace. The furnace and the cook stove had been changed to electric. All that was left was a gas water heater. When it gave trouble I ran a wire and changed it to electric as well. Saw no need to have a LP tank just for a water heater. When I was moving out, I decided to salvage all the pipe under the house. The black pipe coming through the foundation wall had nothing between it and the concrete. It was 1" and rusted at least half way through. Thick scales of rust, that once I pulled the pipe out of the hole, just brushed away by hand. I think I can see something black (felt paper maybe) where your pipe goes in the block. That can help, but the previous water problems could have resulted in damp or saturated block walls. If there is a union outside between that pipe and the meter, it will be easy enough to pull out and check. Knowing the condition of that one piece of pipe would help me sleep at night.

The rest appear to just need a wire brushing and Rusty Metal Primer. A top coat will offer more protection, as primer is porous, the top coat seals out moisture.
jp

 

[mygarageone]

Gas is dangerous. A pressure test was likely done on your pipe and your buddy's when they were built. Same with the furnace that may also have caused the explosion and is also often responsible for gas related deaths/damage.

As long as you have any gas pipe in your home you will have the chance for a similar or worse explosion.

You can paint the outside of that black iron. You can install gas leak detectors, CO detectors, etc. but you will never be able to be worry free.

So either get rid of gas or learn to live with the risk.

Well if we are supposed to worry all the time about a slight chance of explosion You had better quit driving your car or crossing a busy intersection.
Because you'll be far more likely to be hurt or die that way .

House gas explosions are very rare and 90 % of the time it's do to human error.

Should gas lines in crawl spaces in high humidity areas be checked once in awhile ? Yes like every time you have your furnace serviced.

 

[Mike007]

As suggested, pressure test it for your own piece of mind. I have cut apart and removed 40+ year old regular black pipe that was installed on a roof of a building. The pipe was in amazing condition considering it was exposed to the elements for all those years.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Not to jump too far off topic on this...but the last line of defense for the homeowner on a gas leak is the SMELL. By code (at least in the U.S.) natural gas must be odorized to a level where a person with a normal sense of smell can detect a gas leak at 20% of the Lower Explosive Limit of gas-in-air.

Why do I point this out? Because as someone who works in the industry, I hear about calls all the time where people say "I've been smelling gas for a couple of months, so I thought I'd call and have y'all come check it out". Uhhh....if you're smelling gas inside...you should immediately go outside. Don't wait "a couple of months" and call the gas company.

To the OP...that looks like ****. I too would be very concerned about the pipe that goes through the block wall. Suggest you have that replaced. By code it needs to be coated where it goes through the wall to protect against corrosion.

Phil

 

[Milton Shaw]

Some of the flex gas lines used to hook up from the black pipe to the furnace/water heater are very sensitive to such stuff as copper solder flux. Some are eaten through in less than 60 days. There was a propane explosion in a cabin near here about two hours after the initial propane delivery. Natural gas is lighter than air so it does not tend to collect in basements like propane does that is heavier than air.