I’m planing to install a wood fireplace insert in my existing fireplace. At the moment there is a gas log set in the fireplace. I will be removing a gas line that goes thru the chimney to the log set. This horizontal line needs to get capped off. What is the common practice to do it? My thought is to remove the existing pipe and install a short section of pipe with a cap. Anything wrong with that?
Your help is appreciated.
Martin
PS: I know about the wood insert installation requirements (liner, block off plate, etc…)
Replies
Capping it right there off the tee is normal , but you have to shut the gas off for that.
You can install a short nipple & cap downstream of the valve, then you don't have to shut off the gas.
I do see that the valve is out there a ways, & you probably didn't want that much pipe protruding.
In a perfect world I would remove the pipe back to the tee, & install 2 short nipples , a new valve & cap----- I like to have branches with valves for future use, without having to turn off the gas.
Turn the gas supply off for the house then cut that horizontal pipe just before the old gas shut off valve. Remove the short pipe nipple that screws into the "T" fitting of the vertical pipe. At that point you should just have a "T" fitting with a threaded hole which is easily plugged with a threaded fitting. Use pipe dope and Teflon tape on the plug and screw it into the threaded hole.
Problem then is going back and relighting all your pilots and getting things back up to speed. Use some dish soap in water solution to check your work for leaks before doing anything else on the project.
PS Get the proper threaded plug first before cutting anything.
Edited 11/22/2007 3:57 pm by woodway
Just got back!!! After thinking about this more, it might be better to forget the Teflon tape on gas fittings. Just go with the pipe dope alone on the plug.
Edited 11/22/2007 4:19 pm by woodway
why no teflon tape ..?did i miss something ..??
It is rumoured that bits can get loose and plug up orifices.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"If you want something you've never had, do something you've never done"
In the past, sometimes the tape degrades with time and breaks off inside the line. Once the tape comes lose it can end up inside one of your gas appliances where it then plugs up some small orifice inside the control valve or other vital part. Once that happens you have devil of a time finding why you can't get full gas flow like it use to be. Come to think of it, we got a complaint once about a gas fireplace log that wouldn't flame like it use to. After spending a good day or so we found some small pieces of Teflon tape stuck inside the on/off valve. Nearly had to chip out some of the concrete base to access the gas line but found the tape just before getting down to business.
Turn the gas supply off for the house then cut that horizontal pipe just before the old gas shut off valve.
Be easier to bust loose that union at the right side of the first pic & just twist the whole thing out of the T.
No cutting.
Joe H
Yes it would. Probably better too since once cut, if you're unable to remove the remaining pipe nipple then your stuck. Doing it as you suggest leaves you with the option of just capping off the remaining pipe end.
We use tape & dope, but the rule is no tape on the first two threads.
No plugs though, nipple & cap is the standard method.
I can't speak for every code out there, but UPC & UMC do not allow male threaded fittings.
"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?" Benjamin Franklin
Up here all unused branches have to have a valve and a cap.
East, west, central?
You UA?
"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?" Benjamin Franklin
I lied. A plugged valve, or a cap or plug. Must be getting old, can't remember code.
All of Canada, national code.
But, I always use a valve and cap.
UA, just got a 10% raise.
Edited 11/23/2007 2:34 am ET by rich1
I'm a looking at the UPC and don't see it. Where does it say you can't use plugs in fuel piping? What section code number?
Good question ( I might stand corrected)
I couldn't find it either.
I'll ask my inspector next week, & see where this "rule" came about. It's been so long since I studied gas piping rules.
"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?" Benjamin Franklin
First off, don't use a saw to cut a gas pipe when there's still gas in it, whether or not the gas is shut off. If you had to cut the pipe, you should shut off the main then use a pipe cutter. But you don't have to cuz there's a union right there.
That's 1/2" pipe, right? Just get a 1/2" black pipe plug and plug it at the t. It's not complicated. As for dope vs tape, dope has worked since like forever, so that's what I use.
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Edited 11/23/2007 7:14 pm by Ted W.
Edited 11/23/2007 7:17 pm by Ted W.