Gas Fitter in Edmonton
Whenever you buy a new appliance that you are changing from an electric to a natural gas appliance you will need a gas fitter in Edmonton or Sherwood Park to run a gas line for you. If there is an existing gas line you should still hire a gas fitter to hook up the appliance.
For a new natural gas line we will come into your home and determine the size of the gas line that is required for your new appliance. This could be for a new fireplace, cooktop, stove, bbq or a heater for your garage.
For us to determine the size required for your gas line we need to know the load of all of your existing appliances as well as the total distance from the meter to the furthest appliance.
With this information we can decide if the gas line can be taken from a branch off the main or if we need to run a gas line back to the meter.
Gas lines are sized according to load and distance, the further away the appliance with the same load the larger the gas line has to be.
In some cases during new home construction the gas fitter sized the pipe just large enough for the gas appliances there were going into the house at that point.
Code requires us to run the gasline from withint 2 feet of the meter if the current gasline can only handle the current load of the existing appliances.
In some cases homeowners are shocked at the extra expense.
The reason for this is if the gas line is not sized properly and you are running all of your appliances at the same time then you will have a problem. That problem being your appliances not running the way that they should be.
New Construction Gas Lines
Every new home build will require gas lines to all of the natural gas appliances. Most houses this is a minimum of a furnace, water heater, and possible a natural gas fireplace.
In some cases this can also include a stove, cooktop, dryer, garage heater, patio heater, and BBQ.
The size of the gas line will be determined by the total load of all of these appliances and the distance to the furtherest appliance. This is to size the main gas line from your meter to your first appliance.
Gas Lines During Renovation
During renovations you might not be installing a gas appliance but an existing gas line might be in the way and require being moved or removed.
In some cases if you are thinking ahead installing a gas line for future use while doing some renovations like basement development will give you the opportunity to buy a gas appliance in the future. While if you do not do this then after the renovation there might not be a way for you to get a gas line to that new appliance.
There are many times during a basement development renovation that I run a gas line out to the deck or patio for a homeowner for a future BBQ or patio heater. Otherwise they would be out of luck later on.
Natural Gas BBQ’s Dryers, Cooktops, and Stoves
Many times I have run gas lines for people that have wanted to buy a new natural gas appliance but did not have an existing natural gas line.
This happens when people upgrade from an electric or propane appliance to a natural gas appliance.
If you have read the other sections of this article you already know that we will have to size the gasline before getting started on the job.
In some cases a BBQ, natural gas patio heater, outdoor fireplace or a garage heater will require a gas line to be run underground from the meter or house to the appliance or an entry point to the garage. Click on hooking up a natural gas BBQ if you are just hooking up a new BBQ to an existing gas line that was already installed for a BBQ.
A trench will need to be dug at 18″ in depth. In most cases we use plastic pipe now for underground gas lines therefore a tracer wire needs to be installed with the gas line. It is not very often that we run gas lines underground in copper anymore, but this is still allowed.
For us the most common underground gas lines that we run are for garage heaters. Many older homes have a garage that is not attached to the house and will need a gas line underground if you want heat in the garage.
Gas Line Retest
A gasline retest is required when Atco shuts off your gas for 6 months or more. Before they will come and put your gas back on they need to see a retest.
A retest requires us to pull a permit, remove the meter, cap off all natural gas appliances and pressure test the gas line to 15 pounds for 15 minutes. We then call for inspection and once we have passed we can hook up all the gas appliances again, and install the meter. At this point you need to have Atco turn the gas back on.
Then if you like we can come back at light your appliances for you or you can do this yourself. Lighting your pilot lights yourself will save you a service call charge.
Conclusion
In all cases new gas lines need a permit, as does a retest. Please be informed that if you want a natural gas stove in your home you will need at least 18 inches of space from the top of your counter to the underside of the cabinet above on each side of the nartual gas stove or cooktop.
Thanks,
Kelly