When I bought my house I was super excited to see a big gas heater in the garage. That was until I realized the open rafters and well vented roof made it entirely useless. I am in the process of insulating and covering the ceiling and in doing so I started to question the gas hookup.
It's a 75k BTU natural gas convection heater. There is a gas shutoff in the basement with a 3/4" copper tube running 60-70ft to the heater. First I noticed there was no sediment trap at the heater which raised suspicions on the rest of the clearly DIY install. I started doing some research that said copper was somewhere between totally fine and you'll die and insurance won't cover it. Other questionable details include compression fittings (ferruled, not flared to transition to NPT, white (not gas rated) pipe tape, and a soldered elbow.
So what does the hive say? re-plumb the whole thing with black pipe? CSST? Fix the questionable areas and leave the copper tube run? Buy a miata and build a better tolerance to the cold?
I think you need to bite the bullet and phone a gas fitter. Rules are probably variable based on location, but I know I have plastic from the alley to the house, and copper out to my gas grille. Everything else is black pipe. Yours could be just fine, or a tragedy in the making...based on code. In truth, gas after the meter is regulated down so low you could use a garden hose, but insurance people don't like paying when they find the rubber hose residue in the remains of your blown up house. And I'm here to tell you, houses will blow the berkeley up. I met all my roommates in the living room back in the 70's, thinking somebody had driven into the house. A guy seven blocks south bypassed his meter, packed the .house with gas, and leveled it, along with writing off the houses on either side.
You'll want to check to make sure how it is done in your area, but copper is commonly used in some places - my house here in Minneapolis has copper gas lines for everything; they used to use black iron long ago, but that's how it's done these days.
In reply to stuart in mn :
Agreed. I am all copper here as well.
Copper is not allowed in Mass and may not be allowed anywhere on natural gas, but it is allowed for propane. Doesn't mean I don't run across it now and then, just means I can't install it. CSST is allowed pretty much everywhere, but some states require certain bonded types like Counterstrike because of its nasty little habit of melting if there is a lightning strike. There are also some municipalities that have banned it outright. I'm a licensed gas fitter in Mass and I will only use black pipe. Mass allows CSST, but I won't use it. If you plan on doing it yourself, make sure you size it properly or the unit will not run. You need to measure the length of the run and how many elbows you have. Then look it up in a gas pipe sizing chart. Chart you need to use is for 1/2psi natural gas.
A long time ago I was supplying LP gas rubber hose assemblies and I was asked the upper temp limit of the hose - 180dgF.
I had to squint and ask back - do you really want to go there?
Thanks for the responses. While measuring things up last night I noticed the copper gas line runs above my main breaker panel and garage sub panel, that's a no-go zone. I think the bottom line is that you can't go wrong with black pipe. I just priced it out and it's about $100 to re-run the copper. CSST is less work but I don't trust it in an area that is open to wayward angle grinder shrapnel. The consequences are way to high not to do it right while I have the ladders out. I'm going to start picking through the POs DIY work much more carefully. A month ago I found live 220V stripped wiring in the shed. The box and wires were run from the house but nothing had been hooked up at the other end. Who leaves live unfinished wiring!
