Buried Gas Piping

It is time to bury a new gas (propane) line. What do I want to use: Black iron, Copper, or PE?

Depends on your area. In my area, I would use copper and a dual stage regulator.

I don't think that you can buy PE for gas yourself...and you have to have a riser so that the PE doesn't get exposed to sunlight.

Black iron works fine but does rust eventually.

Copper will react with the soil in some areas....not sure about your area though. It's fine where I live though.

Gastite.

Ask the propane supplier what they recommend. I *think* new installs around here are getting the flexy yellow stuff.

The negatives I had already come up with in my research were:

Black pipe will rust in a blink. (I don't believe it.)

Copper has to be sheathed so that it won't react with soil (really?).

PE is best but you cant buy it.


I really like the last one. The industry will tell you that PE is the best and the safest. The same industry will also do everything in its power to prevent you from buying it.

I posted before reading your reply, but what you say is definitely the conventional wisdom.

If you look, there are places to buy PE. It just irks me to have $50 of poly with $300 of risers.

^^^ this.

ar-jedi

My wife's daughter's house had to get new black iron underground. I'm gonna guess it was about 20 yrs old. Copper would still be fine...at least in my area.

I'd find out what they recommend for your area and use that. If you use black iron, I'd probably paint it and then wrap it with some sort of tape to help preserve it.

Piff, we'll make it up in the length you want, put risers on both ends, pressure test it and sell it to you.

Isn't Gastite CSST? CSST is hated by many. I didn't even list it as an option because of all the negative anecdotal evidence.

If only you were SW MO.

Or, do you ship?

I have used black iron before. I didn't even bury it.

When we sold the house 8 years later, the pipe still looked like new.

Not supposed to be buried underground. Hate the stuff personally, way to many people can't take the time to cut the ends correctly and it leaks. It's great for really hard to pipe areas, for the rest, it's a lazy pipefitters easy way out.

It doesn't ship well unfortunately.

Gastite specs that it can be installed in NM conduit of a dia 1/2" larger than the CSST OD.

ar-jedi

Unfortunately, most of what I see, including installation by those who SHOULD know better, isn't in conduit, they just bury it exposed.

Some local codes don't allow it to be buried at all, conduit or not.

well you shouldn't blame the product for that problem.

ar-jedi

It will still be a few weeks before I have to get it in the ground. I haven't even plumbed the house for gas yet.

Even so, I am really starting to lean toward some redneck engineering (after all, I am a Hillbilly). I am thinking about sleeving the black iron with PVC and filling the air gap with hot asphalt (or something similar).

I could also sleeve copper - but black iron is less than half the cost.

i remember you now.

ar-jedi

Where did you find my photo?!

Remember, you have to mount the tank upside down to get the proper flow.

Hold tight - in a few months my DIY project will be a 30-40 foot observation tower.

I agree, but what I see in the field is how it's really being used. Inside is just as bad, ran thru floors, ran thru walls, everything the manufacturer say not to do gets done. Part of that is the cost of the fittings which makes it a whole lot cheaper to cut corners.

In north Missouri they (propane company) ran flexible copper that was sheathed with some kind of tough yellow plastic. They weren't careful about the plastic above ground.

They don't have to be careful if the plastic is just used as sheathing for corrosion resistance,

However PE gas lines are plastic only. And, like most plastics, PE is degraded by UV from the sun.

Just like PEX water line. With PEX, both direct and indirect sunlight is a no-no. Exposed PEX should be wrapped if it will be outdoors or in a windowed room.

At least one manufacturer does make a PE gas line that will withstand at least one year of sunlight.

When i worked for the local utility all we installed was PE (under 6"), and i replaced alot of iron/steel.

The code for distribution lines (before any meters) is nothing like the code used inside buildings (the rules are differnt for plumbing & electrical before the meters)..

PE is not allowed inside at all.

You have to switch to another approved method, and then sleeve it though the foundation.

.

Gastite also makes a direct burial PE product.

1" xh fusion bond epoxy coated, no screw joints below grade.

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This is for texas, different climates vary.
I think you are over thinking this. I've hooked up 100's of housed with gas and here is what I went by. Black pipe is cheap, but labor is expensive. If you don't mind the elbow grease you can do that. Sleeve it anywhere it come in contact with concrete because it will rust out super fast if you don't. It will leak but they all will, I would guess 20-30 year lifespan, simply my guess. Copper is the go to for us if the length isn't to long. Lays quick and easy, fittings are cheap, if done right it will last longer than you will, but long lengths get expensive quickly. Poly is great if you are running lots of feet, the connections are crazy expensive so you better have it planned out exactly before you start. Laying it in the trench don't pull it straight. Let it sit wavy or you'll risk it pulling out of the slip connectors. They say its not necessary but poly is cheap and I've never had one pull out so that's what I do. If its less than 75 feet I would run copper and be done with it. Know your BTU ratings for the home appliances to decide if you want to 2 stage the setup. I prefer to use a larger size if possible instead of staging, you double that parts that break, and if you don't replace your regulators when they say, your home insurance can fight you on paying a claim. Its not to hard to stage a system later if needed. IM if you need more.

Thanks for the input. Yes, I am over thinking it. I (purposefully) over think almost everything.

I am going to run copper and sleeve it in PVC conduit. The conduit is to protect it against Yutes driving random pieces of rebar into the ground (and similar).

Waste of time and money unless you are gonig to use a metal conduit since a piece of rebar will bust PVC.

You can puncture sch 80 PVC electrical conduit with rebar, but it would take a lot more determination than puncturing soft copper.

I am not sure that you would even know that you hit the copper line. You would definitely get some feedback from the PVC conduit.

On the other hand, I know a guy that drove a tent stake (big tent, 3' stake) through the top of a septic tank. He thought it was just a tough rock.

I wouldn't try and sleeve it either. You have a much greater chance of kinking the line trying that. Best to just hook the copper roll up at the tank and roll the entire roll in the trench to the house pushing down the entire time. Good thing about copper is some jerk cuts it it can easily be fixed with 3 fitting and 2 wrenches, worst case it would take 6 fittings and a few more minutes and cost less than 10 bucks. Asked a guy from the railroad commission one time about sleeving and he said it would shorten the lifespan of the line because it would hold standing water. I don't know if I believe that or not. Best of luck

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