propane gas lines in cellar near boiler legal or not?

R. Shaffer

copper lines are near boiler,legal or not?

Jackchips

What is

your concern? Copper is an appropriate piping method for propane and if it supplies the boiler it would have to be near it.

hr

Copper is an acceptable material

for gas and LP. Soft copper should have the proper flare connections. Always check with the code enforcers in your area they may have addedums to the national code they adopt.

LP suppliers in your area should be up to speed on the code in their service area also.
Here in Missouri we have a State LP association that trains and certify anyone that installs, sells and transports LP. Local inspectors require this license. Missouri uses the NFPA 54 codebook. Check under the State listings in your Yellow Pages for agencies that would cover this, also.

hot rod

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Duncan_2

Propane below grade.

Like in a basement, is usually illegal, because of the danger of heavier-than-air propane pooling on the ground if there's a leak.

Our local building department allows propane below grade IF there is a propane sniffer solenoid gas valve combination that can shut off propane to the entire house if a leak is detected.

They define below grade as 50% or more of the walls 50% or more below grade.

They make an exception if there is a door to the outside within six feet of the appliance.

Most national codes require an unobstucted (read rodent highway!) engineered propane floor drain at the lowest point of the equipment room for propane below grade. Typically a six inch PVC open pipe sloped downward 1/4" per foot. Sometimes hard to do with a below-grade basement!

Copper is OK, but not accepted as inside piping in new homes, at least in this jurisdiction. Some have it from pre-code days, and it's grandfathered in. I've heard propane used to have a higher sulphur content and occasionally was a problem with copper, but not anymore.

My point here is: YOUR LOCAL CODES MAY VARY. CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL BUILDING DEPARTMENT! That is the one thing you should get from this post.

An interesting note. I did a job on a home with pre-existing indoor soft copper piping. There was a leak that I located, fixed, and tested the piping at 50 p.s.i. for 24 hours. I was surprised when the propane supplier refused to hook up the propane. They wanted a 10"w.c. test for 24 hours. Their reason was that at 50 p.s.i., soft copper can swell slighly, it can balloon and seal at fittings that might leak at lower pressures. I re-tested at 10"w.c., passed, and they hooked us up.

Bill_3

Test

How do you test propane 10" wc for 24 hour's

antman

test

Install a magnehelic gauge or equivelent in the line, cap off all outlets, pum p up with a bicycle pump to reach 10".
here in my area we are required to test at 100" WC for gas lines.

Ant

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Duncan

My mistake

I may be wrong about the 24 hours at 10"w.c.

Honestly, it was about ten years ago, soft copper inside homes is rare here, and now that I think back on it, we tested at 10"w.c. while the company was there, so it must have been for a matter of minutes or a half hour or so, while they set up their equipment. They were converting from a rusty underground tank to an above ground tank; a leak in the house at the stove triggered the whole series of events.

At any rate, I used a manometer: either a simple water tube or a mechanical.