I'll right let's talk about me...

[ToolGuy]

Anyone have experience with home gas lines?Here is my issue... I was in my crawl space over the weekend which is above my addition. Dirt floor and a gas line, original, runs from the original part of my house threw my addition, into the ground and up to my garage. It controls my garage furnace.Well, the pipe under the addition is suspended and only has one connection, which goes to a 90 elbow, to a straight, to another 90 and into the house. All the exposed pieces of gas pipe are extremely rusty and two connections are leaking (pin sized holes) slightly from the rust. I have a gas detector tool and it sniffed the leaks. My question is, since all iron gas pipe comes in precut lengths, my pipes are too rusty to cut and splice if you could, besides cutting the pipe in the house and capping it off, what can I do?I cannot undo one of the connections since they all are tied together (people that have dealt with gas pipe know what I am talking about) and the connections are all rusty and that surely they will crumble. I waited all my life for a heated garage and hate to go out like that! I think if I call a repiar guy, he will want to dig for new pipe since the gas line seems to be at least 20 years old, probably more and that option is not worth it only to use the furance a couple times a year.Thanks,

[joatmon]

whatever you choose to do do it soon, don't want you and your house to blow up.Not sure I follow the path of the pipe correctly. If the part that is above the dirt floor is rusted, then can you assume the part that is underground is in similar bad condition? If you just replace the part you can see, are there bad parts you can't see?if you could find a good connection point on both sides of the bad section of pipe, you could replace the bad section with some fittings and a length of flexible copper tubing. That would depend on local building code, and the gas supplier might freak if you go into the gas line without involving them.You could also cap the line off at the house, and then get a propane conversion kit for the gas furnace, then when you wanted to run the furnace in the garage you could hook up a small propane tank, like gas grills use. Not sure what that would cost, or how available a conversion kit is for whatever furnace you have, but if you only use it a couple of times a year that might be an option.but get it fixed one way or another. Don't risk what you can't afford to lose.

[03VibeGT6Spd]

I would suggest you call a plumber.But You could alway cut the pipe and re-tap it and add a union.Gas pipe is very thick, I highly doubt that it will crumble after only 20 years.A lot of pipes leak in the winter do to contraction.In most cases you can just tighten them up a little, if it is really needed.A little gas leaking won't do any harm up to a point, it disapates very quickly.Besides the smell would chase you out of the house before it got dangerous.A single drop of the chemical that is dripped into the gas lines is said to be able to clear an entire mall.You could also call your gas company and ask them to check it out.

[futseal04]

How bad is the corrosion? If it is just surface rust, then you usually don't have anything to worry about. Like it was said earlier, iron gas pipes are usually about 1/4" thick and usually outlive the house. As for the leaks, sand them down to bare metal, and then just use epoxy to seal it up. I don't think (without looking at it) that you have to redo anything other than that. Also consider adding some more supports to take any effects of weight off of the couplings.I have been out of the heat/air game for awhile, but I do know that they have PVC gas piping that is (was) used for buried lines. I don't see why you couldn't use that if you needed to change the lines.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »Not sure I follow the path of the pipe correctly. If the part that is above the dirt floor is rusted, then can you assume the part that is underground is in similar bad condition? If you just replace the part you can see, are there bad parts you can't see?that is what I am thinking...

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by futseal04 »How bad is the corrosion? If it is just surface rust, then you usually don't have anything to worry about. Like it was said earlier, iron gas pipes are usually about 1/4" thick and usually outlive the house. As for the leaks, sand them down to bare metal, and then just use epoxy to seal it up. I don't think (without looking at it) that you have to redo anything other than that. Also consider adding some more supports to take any effects of weight off of the couplings.I have been out of the heat/air game for awhile, but I do know that they have PVC gas piping that is (was) used for buried lines. I don't see why you couldn't use that if you needed to change the lines.Corrison seems bad to me since it is flaking and has scales... I did add supports when I moved in 3 years ago, too bad someone else did not give it attention because I agree with your remark, could have stressed the fittings. I cannot tell how old the furnace ans gas line are. The furnace when I went through it is an old SEARS, has a Honeywell controller and reminds me of the 70's timeframe. Just really bummed because I cleaned the furnace, reaplce the T-coupler, blower on/off switch, blower plug and gave it a coat of paint. Possibly like you stated too, clean them up, then epoxy. New pipe if I can physically do it. PVC, interesting, I did not know that. However to lay new I would have to dig to get to the garage. It is an unattached garage and the pipe exists the crawl space back into the ground, runs under my deck, coming up into the garage. Argggg!!!!I think my plan will be to cut it in the house, cap it and then in the spring try and do what you stated. Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by 03VibeGT6Spd »I would suggest you call a plumber.But You could alway cut the pipe and re-tap it and add a union.Gas pipe is very thick, I highly doubt that it will crumble after only 20 years.A lot of pipes leak in the winter do to contraction.In most cases you can just tighten them up a little, if it is really needed.A little gas leaking won't do any harm up to a point, it disapates very quickly.Besides the smell would chase you out of the house before it got dangerous.A single drop of the chemical that is dripped into the gas lines is said to be able to clear an entire mall.You could also call your gas company and ask them to check it out. These pipes too look to have lost their joint compound seems to have flaked away. Agree with the gas leak size, it is very small, I just noticed it and it could have been that way for years! I just noticed it by chance and the average person probably would not entered my "crawl space of dirty doom!!" Cannot stand up in there, just croutch down, it does have lights though.

[futseal04]

Quote, originally posted by MiVibe-ToolGuy »PVC, interesting, I did not know that. However to lay new I would have to dig to get the the garage. It is an attached garage and the pipe exists the crawl space back into the ground, runs under my deck, coming up into the garage. Argggg!!!!I think my plan will be to cut it in the house, cap it and then in the spring try and do what you stated. Thanks a lot for the suggestions! Yeah...it is a thick yellow pipe. The only catch is that you have to heat the couplings so that they stay. THere is a special tool that goes around the fittings and then heats them to seal it up. BUt, if you run the pipe on your own and then call someone to seal teh joints, then you can avoid most of the cost.