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Hi-
Have a water heater and a boiler I am in the process of moving a few feet from their previous position in my basement. Here’s the deal:
Have black pipe (1″ I believe) that brings natural gas in and branches into 2 pipes off a tee that have various elbows, fittings, etc. and steps down in size to deliver the gas to the water heater and boiler. I would like to remove these pipes, and make a simple “header” with tees and shutoffs that utilize flexible copper pipe to make the final gas connections (so I don’t have to cut and thread all this black pipe again.)
My questions are- 1) If I am dropping 7′ or so from the ceiling (where my header and main black pipe line are located) how large of a soft copper tubing do I need? (1/2″ I.D., 3/8″ I.D., etc.) Obviously the larger the diameter the harder it is to bend into position and more expensive the tubing. 2) Where can I find general info on how long certain runs can be with certain sizes of tubing for natural gas…3) Is type “L” tubing o.k.? 4) What does F.I.P stand for…?
Thanks in advance-
Jelly Belly
Replies
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Hope these will help:
http://www.ccbda.org/publications/pub14E/14e-publicationp1.html
http://www.coppercanada.ca/publications/pub14E/14e-publicationptb5.html
http://www.cda.org.uk/megab2/build/pub124/default.htm
*JB: 1) Flow-wise, 1/2" pipe is fine for both HWH and boiler, unless the boiler is massive, like >500,000 BTU/hour. Some local codes require particular minimum pipe sizes to particular appliances (e.g. 3/4" to a free-standing range). Check with your building department.2) Page 170 of Peter Hemp's excellent book, "Plumbing a House" by Taunton Press has flow versus pipe size and distance. Here's the upper corner of the table: 1/2" handles 512,000 BTU/hour over 50 feet. Or 352,000 over 100'. Or 242,000 over 200'. 3/4" handles just over twice as much for each of those lengths.3) You must check locally. Type-K copper (the thicker stuuf) is allowed in some areas, but prohibited in other areas due to reactions with sulphur in natural gas. Seven feet is a long run for unannealed copper and I'd want it secured to the framing somehow. Black iron and stainless are always allowed. I'd drop the manifold 4 feet down, secure it to the wall, include "drip-legs" to catch rust and chunks that may flow through the pipe, and then go to each appliance with 1/2" flex stainless to the HWH and 3/4" to the boiler. That's what those flex stainless (24", 36", 48" or 60") are made for. The flex copper is for water lines - like the HWH connections. Also, use separate ball valves to each appliance. Makes future servicing much easier.4) F.I.P. is Female Iron Pipe. There used to be many more schemes for threaded pipe. The iron pipe scheme prevailed and is used with black iron, galvinized, brass, PVC, ABS, etc. Sometimes also referred to as FPT for female pipe threaded. Versus M.I.P. or MPT for male threads such as the end of a piece of pipe. -David
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Hi-
Have a water heater and a boiler I am in the process of moving a few feet from their previous position in my basement. Here's the deal:
Have black pipe (1" I believe) that brings natural gas in and branches into 2 pipes off a tee that have various elbows, fittings, etc. and steps down in size to deliver the gas to the water heater and boiler. I would like to remove these pipes, and make a simple "header" with tees and shutoffs that utilize flexible copper pipe to make the final gas connections (so I don't have to cut and thread all this black pipe again.)
My questions are- 1) If I am dropping 7' or so from the ceiling (where my header and main black pipe line are located) how large of a soft copper tubing do I need? (1/2" I.D., 3/8" I.D., etc.) Obviously the larger the diameter the harder it is to bend into position and more expensive the tubing. 2) Where can I find general info on how long certain runs can be with certain sizes of tubing for natural gas...3) Is type "L" tubing o.k.? 4) What does F.I.P stand for...?
Thanks in advance-
Jelly Belly