how many appliances on my 1/2?

tm

I am thinking of putting a propane unit heater in my small 1 car garage just to warm things up a bit as our back entry is there. I would only keep the temp out there at about 50 degrees.

I have a 1/2 inch soft copper L line from my tank to the only applaince (a gas stove). I would like to know if I can add 2 more appliances to this line. I would tee off in the garage to the new unit heater and tee off in the basement for the new dryer that I have ordered.

Any problems with this? The stove is and would still be at the end of the line. Total distance to the stove is about 40' from the tank. The propane company would of course bring a second tank.
Thanks!

PS - I could always change my order and get an electric dryer instead - any opinions on that?

Leo

It is in your best interest

It is in your best interest have the propane company or a plumber set this up. There is more than likely a permit process and God forbid you ever had a problem with an uninspected system. Plus the propane company may not change tanks without inspecting the system. I used to work for an oil company with a propane guy and he had a chart that gave pipe sizes for the given load.

Leo

bob young

lic. gas fitting project

how about getting a lic. plumber to size , install & test your new system. this way you don't risk blowing up your house & wiping out all the people that currantly are living in it. gas is to be respected at all times. a small leak can be fatal. don't be offended , this is merely a suggestion.

tm

I am not licenced but I worked for my uncle for a number of years and he was. I am very confident of my work. I did the original install. The propane co. came and put a pressure test on it - no leaks. I'm not saying I can't have a leak this time.
Here was my plan - I was going to pipe everything back to the capped flared tees I have in place. When the propane service tech comes, I will make the tee connection while he installs the dryer conversion kit which is part of their install fee for a second tank. After that he can run another test on all lines before firing up just like before. Any problems with this? I certainly don't wish to blow anyone up. I just want to be sure the 1/2" line is sufficient, the question which nobody seems to know the answer (so far), don't be offended.

big willy

presure test the gas line

> I am not licenced but I worked for my uncle for a

> number of years and he was. I did the original

> install. The propane co. came and put a pressure

> test on it - no leaks. I'm not saying I can't

> have a leak this time. Here was my plan - I was

> going to pipe everything back to the capped

> flared tees I have in place. When the propane

> service tech comes, I will make the tee

> connection while he installs the dryer conversion

> kit which is part of their install fee for a

> second tank. After that he can run another test

> on all lines before firing up just like before.

> Any problems with this? I certainly don't wish to

> blow anyone up. I just want to be sure the 1/2"

> line is sufficient.



This link has instructions and tables for gas line sizing. you cant cheat with propane the apliance will soot up and can cause unhealthy situation. If you follow the instructions and the table and make sure your gas line is presure tested and inspected by the propane co. and they do the conversion for the dryer you should be ok. Just dont under size the gas line apliances that are starved for gas die young.

http://www.noritz.com/pdf/n6369_gasline_sizing.pdf

Steve Ebels_3

Assuming

Assuming that you are referring to 1/2" O.D. tube, you can carry a load of 41,000 btu's at 40 feet with a pressure drop of 0.5 WC". You stove would likely use all of that with the oven and a couple burners turned on. This basically leaves you with no extra capacity for your garage heater or dryer. You have to go with a larger diameter tube.

A dryer is about 25-30,000, your stove will suck down up to 40 with everything on and an average garage type heater would be 30-50 for a total of 100-120,000 btus. This means soft copper tube of 3/4" O.D would be the minimum size required. It will carry about 145,000.

The other alternative is to build a "manifold" of sorts outside and run individual 1/2" lines to each appliance from that.

tm

Steve, Thanks for that great reply.
No, I am actually talking about 1/2" ID. 1/2" copper soft, L .
Will this be enough for a stove and dryer though? But maybe I would be OK if the dryer was running without the oven at the same time only? Would I need to tell the wife "no turkey and clothes drying at the same time"?

I could easily do a manifold for the garage since the garage is right where the tanks are.

lchmb

code

Tom, code will require that you upsize the line. Do yourself a favor and have the line sized to properly handle the entire load. Make sure a full safety and pressure test are performed. Good luck

tm

I never planned on the garage unit heater until recently, but the future gas dryer was in the original plan and I left a tee for future tie on.

It was my propane company rep that recommened the 1/2" line. So, does this mean he undersized me - or is it just borderline? Steve said that a 1/2" OD line can carry a load of 41,000 at 40 feet. How much can a 1/2" ID carry? Please remember also that the dryer will be teed in at about 1/2 way along the run.

Forget the unit heater for now - I can address that problem much easier.
Thanks!

tm

Ok, I have done some research and this is what I have found: The max load allowable on a 1/2" pipe at 20' is 119,000. A typical dryer uses 35,000 and range uses 70,000. So the load on this 20' section would be 105,000 with both appliances in full use. It seems to me that the 1/2 line should be OK. Some have said that I need to oversize to 3/4 and that code would support this. Can anyone state this code for me? Please tell me if I am incorrest in my calculations?
Thanks, Tom

brucewo1b

Tom you need to talke your longest run

and calculate the max BTU out then that will be the size of the section of tubing to the first tee, then you take the load from that point and recalculate to each appliance, but the first section needs to carry full load at max distance, hope this helps.

Frenchie

Call supplier

I would call your LP supplier. They may very well give you thier blessing to use the existing line for the stove and dryer. I used to work for an LP company and while I don't want to personally tell you to go ahead I will say this: If it were my home I would use the existing pipe. It would work with everything turned on at once, which incidentally is an extremely rare situation.I would Put the unit heater on a separate line.

tm

Thanks Jason and Bruce, I am still waiting to hear back from my propane rep. If he tells me that I am OK, I am inclined to try it as is and put the unit heater on it's own line. I assume I can leave the line at the tank and he will build some type of manifold, right?

Frenchie

Yes

Manifold would work fine. Or, just put a tee right off the tank and run both lines from that. You'll be fine with what you have. just make sure the piping is leak tested before put into service.