I bought a gas range to replace my electric countertop range and am running a gas supply line to it. Approximately 15 feet under the house crawlspace. Can I use 1/2 inch copper tubing to make it easier to go around obstacles and turns, or does it have to be gas pipe?
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Depends on local codes. Has to be black pipe here. This might be one of those areas where you're better off calling a licensed plumber.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
I would use csst, yellow - jacketed ribbed stainless steel tubing. All new construction here in midwest uses it, has compression fittings and you build the manifold up out of black pipe usually. Nice material.
Remodeler
here in ontario canada, 3/8 or 1/2 tubing is aacceptable using flare fittings instread of compression
caulking is not a piece of trim
In most places black iron is required. Flexible tubing is almost never allowed, and specifically not allowed to pass through a wall or floor. Copper pipe sometimes is, but generally isn't allowed. Some natural gas can be corrosive to copper. Best bet is to call your inspector and your gas utility. You have to satisfy both.
Don't forget shutoff valves and dirt legs as required.
>Flexible tubing is almost never allowed, and specifically not allowed to pass through a wall or floor
I saw someone say this before - are you talking about the csst material like gastrac? In Indiana it's all anyone runs anymore. Why wouldn't you pass it through a wall or floor? It needs strike guards of course, but is a nice material. The plumbing supply houses are geared up for it in a major way here, offering certification classes etc.
remodeler
I don't recognize the brands you mention. But in upstate NY, the gas utility will not allow any flexible gas tubing to pass through a wall or floor. Only black iron pipe is allowed inside a structure except for the final flex connection to an appliance, which may not pass through a wall or floor.
Underground, other materials are allowed. The gas company uses a plastic, which I think is polyethylene.
It's the same here in L.A. Steel pipe, black or galvanized. Flex is not allowed to go thru walls or floors, and limited in length to 6 ft.
-- J.S.
>Flexible tubing is almost never allowed, and specifically not allowed to pass through a wall or floor
Here you can't run the flex connector thru anything, framing or otherwise--i.e. you can't terminate the black pipe inside a cabinet and then run the flex out to the range thru a hole in the cabinet wall. Gotta hard pipe all the way to the space the appliance is in.
As said before call the gas company and the city. Every place is different. Did a job in Minneapolis and copper with soldered joints was used (exposed and in the wall). In New Orleans gas pipe cannot be concealed. In Louisville certain types of connections can not be concealed. In Chicago black iron pipe but in the suburbs flex pipe is ok. In Honolulu galv. pipe is used out side (tiki torches).
Gotta wonder if gas is so different in each city.
Up here, csst is not considered flex pipe. Flex is the conector with flare fittings to hook up the appliance.
Louisville does not allow copper tubing for gas either. They do allow csst, concealed or exposed as long as it is propperly supported.
NFPA has a warning about csst in one of thier bullitens. Has to do with pin hole leaks, detection and electrical grounding. Saw it several months ago, but can't remember the details. It may be adviseable to sheck with not just the code enforcement authority, but the local fire marshal. Code changes seem to lag behind the NFPA most of the time.
Dave