rburke65
Well-known member
Water, a little Dawn in a spray bottle.
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Method for leak testing black pipe
- Thread starter ripsnortMN
- Start date
ddawg16
Well-known member
If it's natural gas...sniff test. I have a sensitive nose....if I don't smell it then it's good.
I aired mine up to 50 PSI and started in with the soapy water. Found 2 fittings with very minute pinhole leaks in them. I would suspect that your overnight drop in pressure would be a fitting, the quality on them isn't what it used to be.....
Last edited:
D45
Well-known member
. I would suspect that your overnight drop in pressure would be a fitting, the quality on them isn't what it used to be.....
Problem I found is that ALL the bog box stores carry pipe and/or fittings made in CHINA or MEXICO
My local True Value sells USA Made gas pipe and fittings..........Anvil brand I believe. Not that much of a price difference either
mrobins297aaa
Well-known member
when we were doing some new houses back in the 80's we mostly did the furnaces and the duct work but sometimes we also did all the gas piping for the whole house (sometimes the plumber did it).
we never checked the piping system for leaks.
the way it works around here the gas company runs the gas line up to the house and hooks it to template which is basically a flat plate with two threaded connections on it that fit the meter.
we would pipe from that connection on the other side to the rest of the house.
after you had a least one appliance hooked up you could call for the meter.
when the gas company showed up with the meter they would install it and put a small pencil mark on the glass of the meter right at the most sensitive dial. they would watch that dial for a certain amount of time and if the needle didn't move you were good to go. Most of the time we weren't even there when they showed up, we'd come back to the job and the meter would be installed so we new we were ok.
the only time we ever pressured test gas pipe was if it was going to have joints in the wall that would be covered up, but we still only tested that section.
Now that being said when we did furnace replacements we always checked the joints we did.
You guys are really over think this, ng is only about a 1/4"PSI
Turn the gas on and put some soap bubbles on it and be done.
we never checked the piping system for leaks.
the way it works around here the gas company runs the gas line up to the house and hooks it to template which is basically a flat plate with two threaded connections on it that fit the meter.
we would pipe from that connection on the other side to the rest of the house.
after you had a least one appliance hooked up you could call for the meter.
when the gas company showed up with the meter they would install it and put a small pencil mark on the glass of the meter right at the most sensitive dial. they would watch that dial for a certain amount of time and if the needle didn't move you were good to go. Most of the time we weren't even there when they showed up, we'd come back to the job and the meter would be installed so we new we were ok.
the only time we ever pressured test gas pipe was if it was going to have joints in the wall that would be covered up, but we still only tested that section.
Now that being said when we did furnace replacements we always checked the joints we did.
You guys are really over think this, ng is only about a 1/4"PSI
Turn the gas on and put some soap bubbles on it and be done.