Oil to Gas Heating Conversion

emma123

Hi, I was wondering if you can advise me on how to better word the following situation to explain it. I want to convert my home to oil to gas for 2 units. I need each meter to handle 200,000 BTU so that it can cover the gas heat, gas stove, and laundry. The concern is that the main gas pipe from the street to the wall on the front of the house is 1.5 in wide, but when it goes from the front wall to the meters (which are located in the back of the house), the main pipe is 3/4 in wide to each meter. I have stated the above situation to National Grid. But the person there says that the meter can handle 200,000 BTU per its records and see that there is no problem. The person keeps asking why we need to upgrade the BTU and if we need a riser instead. I don't think they want to send anyone out to the place to even check if it is ok. The conversion cannot be started because the contractor's concern is that the main pipe of 3/4 in wide is too small.

Can someone please explain to me what a riser is? Because I have called a couple of times leaving voicemails throughout the past weeks, but National Grid did not called me back and instead have been emailing me back and forth more than 10 times. Can someone also please explain to me why if the main pipe is 3/4 in wide would cause problems? It is so that I can understand better and hopefully explain it to National Grid. Thanks!

JohnNY

Why isn't your contractor dealing with National Grid to resolve this in a professional conversation?

emma123

Is National Grid supposed to be contacting my plumber about this instead? Because the person at National Grid doesn't pick up phone calls nor answer VM. Plus the person at National Grid has my plumber information on the request form but is choosing to talk to me instead of the plumber.

RobG

Your contractor should be handling the sizing issues. Meter capacity, supply pressure, pipe sizes and BTU load. If he cant do that then you need to find a new contractor. You will need to deal with NG if an upgrade is required, but he should be able to tell you what is needed.

Tim McElwain

Is the gas coming into your house low pressure or high pressure? If all you have is a meter and no regulator then it is low pressure and 3/4" is maybe too small unless you are talking about the pipe connecting the meter to the gas service coming into the house Then it is okay and what has to be sized correctly is the piping to the converted equipment. That is your contractors responsibility. It sounds like you have low pressure coming in through the wall from the street as it is 1.5" pipe. Then depending on how long the run of 3/4" pipe is it may be too small.

If you have a regulator before the meter then you have a high pressure system and should have plenty of gas available for the conversion.

Rich_49

What information are you basing the sizing of each unit from ? A gas dryer may be about 30,000 BTUh and a range is on the high side , 65,000 . Could be higher if it is a Commercial type like Viking or Wolf .

What type of heating and hot water will this be ? 105,000 BTUh is alot of cushion for most houses . As we all know however , you certainly could have 2 units that require 100,000 each .

j a_2

Lots of good info here..how did you determine its a 1 1/5 inch service? The riser is from where it comes into your house to the meters...If your in the Boston area let us know then I can tell you the process...If not then maybe someone here from your zip code can assist...take a pic of wher the gas comes into your basement,and post it, you may have a sleeved line..a pic tells all