We (most of us, anyway) tend to take a pretty cavalier attitude toward the energy sources we use, such as gasoline, electricity, and flammable gases. This was recently brought home to me, again, on a couple of jobs.
I got a call from a contractor who said one of his clients had hooked up some barbecues, and they weren't working. With a few questions, I found out that they had called the local gas utility, and the technician who came out hooked up a manometer to the gas line. I guess it shot the water from the manometer high into the air when he turned it on. So, stating the obvious, he said that a regulator was needed.
Fortunately, I know a little about this property, and I know that they have a large system of 5 psig natural gas lines going all over the place. Most appliances, including these barbecues, expect around 8" of water column, or 1/4 psig. Some have individual regulators bringing the pressure down to 5 inches or so. Whoever tried to light these barbecues is fortunate that he or she was unable to do so, as they were being supplied by approx. 20x the amount of pressure that they require. I was able to install a regulator in the cabinet, with the vent piped to the open atmosphere outside the cabinet. Since I had found multiple leaks on the piping inside the cabinets before I started, I also dis-assembled and re-assembled all of the gas manifolding in the cabinets. Realizing that these appliances use about 1/2 million btuh, which is easily supplied at 8 inches of water column, 5 psig is an enormous amount of gas supply.
We were working at a large retail complex recently, and noticed a smell of gas near the door we were entering. At first, I assumed that it was the regulators venting at some large meters nearby. However, it seemed kind of strong, and always present, so I had my helper get his soapy water spray bottle, and we took a look. We found lots of bubbles. There were several screwed joints leaking, and surprisingly, some flange gaskets leaking as well. This was outside our scope of work, so we notified the responsible parties.
Moral? 1) Don't hook up gas appliances unless you know what you're doing. 2) If you keep smelling gas near a meter, call the gas supplier.
It's kind of surprising that someone working in an area that has 5 psig gas lines would just directly hook up an appliance. That is a disaster waiting to happen.
I got a call from a contractor who said one of his clients had hooked up some barbecues, and they weren't working. With a few questions, I found out that they had called the local gas utility, and the technician who came out hooked up a manometer to the gas line. I guess it shot the water from the manometer high into the air when he turned it on. So, stating the obvious, he said that a regulator was needed.
Fortunately, I know a little about this property, and I know that they have a large system of 5 psig natural gas lines going all over the place. Most appliances, including these barbecues, expect around 8" of water column, or 1/4 psig. Some have individual regulators bringing the pressure down to 5 inches or so. Whoever tried to light these barbecues is fortunate that he or she was unable to do so, as they were being supplied by approx. 20x the amount of pressure that they require. I was able to install a regulator in the cabinet, with the vent piped to the open atmosphere outside the cabinet. Since I had found multiple leaks on the piping inside the cabinets before I started, I also dis-assembled and re-assembled all of the gas manifolding in the cabinets. Realizing that these appliances use about 1/2 million btuh, which is easily supplied at 8 inches of water column, 5 psig is an enormous amount of gas supply.
We were working at a large retail complex recently, and noticed a smell of gas near the door we were entering. At first, I assumed that it was the regulators venting at some large meters nearby. However, it seemed kind of strong, and always present, so I had my helper get his soapy water spray bottle, and we took a look. We found lots of bubbles. There were several screwed joints leaking, and surprisingly, some flange gaskets leaking as well. This was outside our scope of work, so we notified the responsible parties.
Moral? 1) Don't hook up gas appliances unless you know what you're doing. 2) If you keep smelling gas near a meter, call the gas supplier.
It's kind of surprising that someone working in an area that has 5 psig gas lines would just directly hook up an appliance. That is a disaster waiting to happen.