Hi,
I want to get rid of my gas forced air furnace. Eventually I’ll go with a mixed heating system with a gas boiler for radiant heating and baseboard in locations farthest from the boiler. My question is I know how to turn off the gas at the meter but if I want to disconnect my furnace from the gas line until I get a new one do I have to worry about the gas that is in the line from the meter to the furnace? and how does one normally go about disconnecting it? I was thinking the safest way might be to turn off the gas at the meter then turn on the furnace until it has burned off the gas remaining in the line.
learner
Replies
The amount of gas in the line isn't enough to really worry about, given a modicum of ventillation, but I'd probably do as you say and turn off the gas while the furnace was running. Or, if the furnace has a standing pilot just wait until that goes out before cracking the pipes.
Note that the open pipes will stink like gas, even though there's no gas present.
Turn off the gas and lock the handle, disconnect he gas line from the furnace and cap the end. Never leave and open end, even for one day.
What 802Mike said. But there should be a shutoff right at (or pretty near) your furnace. You can turn it off there, disconnect at the union that you should also have near your furnace downstream from the valve, and cap it there.
Did I say cap it? Oh, and check your work for leaks.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Makes sense. Thank you for the recommendations. There is a shutoff at the furnace but I wouldn't have thought to cap it as well as have it shutoff at the meter and at the furnace end point. It makes sense though as that is going to be the most fool proof and will give some safety if both shutoffs are not working and the meter is also allowing gas to go by without the digital number increasing.Thanks all !!learner.
Capping is for safety, just to make sure you don't get gas if somebody bumps the valve, or if it isn't sealing 100%. If you're going to replace this in the relatively near future, I'd leave the meter valve on so the line stays charged right up to the furnace shutoff. Bleeding a long, large line is a PIA and tempts folks to take shortcuts.
I worked on a case once where 4 experienced plumbers leveled a new school building and burned themselves horribly trying to bleed a long line by cracking it open until they smelled gas -- a common shortcut. Some dim bulb lit a match just to make sure they were still pumping air -- they weren't. (The idiots actually sued the gas company for supposedly not adding enough odorant to the gas. As if.)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
The idiots actually sued the gas company for supposedly not adding enough odorant to the gas. As if.)
Reminds me of the night I got called into work because a can of "ordorant" setting on our recieving dock was leaking. I smelled it two blocks before I got to the facility. Neighbors were calling the fire department, police, and our customer service line like crazy. The two people working in our warehouse went home sick, puking thier guts out.
A liitle of that stuff goes a loooooong way :)
Someone poured some down the sewer on the lab side of Wright Patt AFB once -- evacuated a dozen buildings.
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. --Bertrand Russell