Tankless Heater Installation

KillerToiletSpider

I thought this was a thread about water heaters, not rocket surgery.

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Bill

Damn, i must be on the wrong thread then. I thought we were trying to go to mars here!

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Grumpyplumber

Hadn't you heard?
The latest craze in DIY plumbing is pumping up the gas pressure and buying meters that are sold by weight....geesh, get with the program!

Grumpyplumber

You're DEFINITELY not a plumber...looks like you're thinking of LP for a mobile home or something.

22rifle

I have worked quite a bit with elevated pressure gas systems. They are a sweet solution for certain applications.

How cool is it to run 2 furnaces, 2 fireplaces, a dryer, a range, a barbecue grill, and a water heater off of a 1/2" CSST gas line?

Ha, now watch some DIYer read this and think he can run all that off a 1/2" gas line.

silvertree

My solution is to get the HVAC guy or the plumber to figure out what I need. I'm still having trouble remembering to cut crown molding upside down after more than 30 years of installing the stuff.

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Bill

Upside down and backwards!

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flashheatingand

I stand corrected, I should have said a 2lb meter. Yes, I know that the meter does not control the pressure, however, if one were to follow this advise, they would call the gas company, and what would happen is that the gas man will change out the meter to a 2lb meter (after a green tag by the local inspector). There is a pressure regulator at the meter, but I certainly would not reccommend to someone that they should tamper with that.

I appreciate the input. I like this forum because it's a good way of learning things within the trades, and I am certain that there are many things I could learn from you in regards to plumbing or carpentry.Having said that should a situation arise similiar to the one mentioned, you can keep the existing pipe line. Take this info or leave it.

flashheatingand

I thought grumpyplumbers knew a little more about gas piping than that. I am certainly not the guru of hvac. I hope I don't come off as thinking myself a know it all cause I don't. In short... Most houses have a 1/4lb gas meter. That is it feeds the house at 7" w.c. (1/4lb). The gas company controls the gas pressure. What one does is call them to increase the pressure. They come and change meters. There is a 1/4lb setup, 2lb setup, 5lb. set up, and I think it goes up to 20lb but I am not sure.

KillerToiletSpider

7" of water column is a ½ pound, the meter makes no difference whatsoever, it is all in the regulator that is installed either before or after the meter, and around here if you request more than a ½ pound service the gas company will laugh at you and walk away unless it is a commercial building with an engineers stamp on the plan.

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kevjob

In my state you can't touch a gas line if your not a master plumber. Hire someone who is licensed and have it inspected or don't touch it.

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Bill

here you have to be licensed for gas fitting

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flashheatingand

Once again, I stand corrected. Yes, you are correct that the meter itself does not make regulate the pressure. There is a pressure reg. upstream of the meter. One could simply adjust the regulator, but the gas company doesn't want that. For whatever reason, the gas company will change the gas meter. If you say the gas company will decline higher pressure, I believe you. Around here, it's no problem. Just be up-front.

flashheatingand

get licensed, if you have a plumbing license, a gas license should be a cakewalk, probably just a multiple choice test.

Don't get me wrong. If you have plenty of work with water-lines and waste lines...good for you. However, having a gas fitting license couldn't be a hinderance.

Hey, I was merely bouncing off an idea. The guy probably should not be involved in that project he mentioned, but thats his business. The reason I threw out that idea was to see what other plumbers thought. Some think I'm a dumbass giving another dumbass a dumbass idea. So-be-it. I just wanted to hear what other plumbers would do.

flashheatingand

Lets disregard the credentials of the original question. The guy wants to install a tankless waterheater and needs piping to support the btu. load. He wants to use 1/2 inch pipe. Could the 1/2" pipe support the btu. load by turning up the gas pressure?.....Yes, he could. However due to potential dangers, there are proper steps to take (inspections, gas reg at each appliance, pressure test...etc.).

I don't understand why the gas company would be such hardasses. They want to make things easy for their customers. They shouldn't care weather to set the pressure at 7" or 28", they just want things to be safe.

Grumpyplumber

Oh yes, in a five hundred hours of school, five year apprenticeship cakewalk kinda way.

Grumpyplumber

I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear the reaction from a gas company hearing a residential request for 1psi service.
We don't even to high pressure on commercial here anymore.
Also... typo there...7" wc is 1/4 psi

22rifle

I regularly got 2 psi sets done for residential.

Grumpyplumber

Won't happen here, I promise.

Quite frankly I wish we could, having to repipe gas mains to accomodate new fixtures is a pain in the ass, but in the same respect..we don't have too many in-home explosions or fires here as a result of gas leaks.

Grumpyplumber

The most common cause for gas explosions here has been the utility co's accidentally increasing house pressures, second to excavators hitting lines...last one I can recall is here:

House explodes in Groton - The Boston Globe

There was another disaster a few years back where almost an entire town had to have their regulators replaced when the gas co made the same mistake on a gas main.