Doing my own gas hookup

[Melissa2007B]

I've had the same electric washer & dryer for 34 years now, so I figure I'm due an upgrade?
( Whirlpool washer and dryer - still running, though the washer is making some sounds lately. Can parts be gotten for these? Can they still be repaired? )

Never had a gas dryer before, but I understand they save a lot on energy, and we have a gas water heater and gas forced air heat, here in Colorado.

So I researched Consumer Reports, found some highly rated models that were on sale last month, got a good deal at Home Depot and paid for the gas hookup with them. Scheduled delivery for today. Figured we were all set.

When they arrived, they told me that the "hookup" didn't include running a line and shutoff valve over to the dryer area, which is literally 2 feet away. It apparently only includes hooking up to such a line, if it's already there. But this house was built in 2004, it's modular, and it has a gas water heater next to the dryer, but no hookup yet, for a gas dryer.

So they said I needed to reschedule delivery and get a plumber to do this. <sigh>

So I'm reluctant to hire anyone on CraigsList anymore, being there are tons of shady types, ex-cons, etc, who will tell any lie to get cash work, possibly casing my house when they're here. SO I went to Yelp! and looked for plumbers in my area. I asked for 4 quotes but two of them weren't in the area, though Yelp! said they were. One of the other ones wants $150 for the first hour and a little less after that. ( OMG! Should this TAKE over an hour?! ) Whew. I already paid $100 more for the gas dryer instead of electric.

The other one wants me to pay for them to come over and give an estimate, which I imagine will be the same as the first one's. They claim that they have to make sure that the gas capacity will work with this, which doesn't sound right. I mean, we have pipes going to the furnace and water heater already. Could they seriously be talking about having to increase the whole capacity of the system for this? In that case, I'd be canceling this whole thing and keeping my 34 year old appliances!

So how hard can this be? Can I just go to Home Depot and get the stuff and do this myself? Yes, I'm aware of safety concerns.

Below is a photo, showing the existing gas pipe to the water heater, on the lower left. The existing electric dryer is right there on the left, on the other side of the drywall. This is a UBC modular house - built in 2005. Don't know if that makes a difference - doubt it.

Don't freak out on me or anything. I'm waiting for your input before even thinking of doing this myself, which is why I'm posting. I just cant afford an extra $300 for a half hour's work by a plumber.

Maybe a pro handyman from Yelp!?

 

[Cacher_Chick]

Where I am, $300 would be a fair price for that. Unless you have the tools and experience to cut and thread pipe and do the job as well as a licensed gas fitter, you would be better off paying one to do the job.

Little tiny gas leaks blow entire buildings up. It is not something I would suggest to the average do-it-yourselfer.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Erico]

Do you have access below in a crawl or basement. It would be better if you can "T" off underneath and come up behind the dryer.

I would save the install charges and do it myself. Especially if you are running a gas line yourself.

A buddy of mine paid to have his stove installed even though I told him we would have to pull the stove out several times when the Quartz went in and when the backsplash went in. But he "just wanted it done" so he paid.

The clowns forgot to plug the stove in and didn't even use, IMO, proper tools - they gnawed on the fittings with junky channel locks rather than use a proper wrench. We had the new floors covered but they were pretty nonchalant about dragging the stove around. It's not like they hire crack plumbers. Kids with strong backs and a pair of pliers. Oh yeah, they did a half assed job on the refrigerator - we had to pull it and re-level it anyway.

If you want to be sure, you can get the BTU rating on your gas meter. Then add up the BTU rating on the furnace, hot water heater and new dryer. Also, the approximate distance from the meter to your appliances.

It looks like you have 3/4 inch service so you are probably ok.

The parts at Home Depot will be cheap. Use black pipe not galvanized. Buy the good quality blue monster thread compound and yellow gas rated Teflon tape. Also get a bottle of leak test solution.

Home Depot will cut and thread pipe out of ten foot lengths for free (you have to buy the 10 foot piece obviously). That can be cheaper than buying several 3 or 4 foot pieces (but more time consuming).

Turn off the gas at the meter. Make all your connections tight and leak test everything.

I would add a shutoff to the water heater. Use ball valve type gas rated shutoffs. You will have to break the water heater hookup aprart and reinstall if you tee underneath anyway. Or if you tee there and go up and over? Probably not across the front? Of course they have the front of the heater all jazzed up with pipes blocking the entrance if you need to replace the water heater. What's another pipe? LOL. Still I would go under or over or maybe very low across the front but that would still require disassembling that riser and joining whatever it is connected to below grade.

 

[Jadnashua]

Your meter probably has enough capacity to also fire the dryer, but it would depend on where you can T off the line as to whether the individual line itself has the capacity you need. So, it is possible that the pipe size is not large enough. Where and how you can tap into the gas line will make a difference in how easy it is to do. It's not all that hard to determine if you have any leaks.

When you convert Kw to BTU, you'll find out that a typical gas dryer has nearly twice the heating capacity, so it will dry the clothes faster. The price of gas/BTU is probably a lot less than the cost of electricity, too.

You need to run the vent outside, but you probably already have that from the existing dryer. If the pipe is plastic, you'll want to change it to metal since the outlet of the dryer will be hotter. Plus, the friction from a plastic vent line means even with what you have will not dry as fast as it could.

 

[Dj2]

"So how hard can this be? Can I just go to Home Depot and get the stuff and do this myself? Yes, I'm aware of safety concerns"


Nothing is too hard, if you know how to do it. If you have never done gas pipe work in the past, think twice before you start this project.

That being said, if you do go on, as long as you have your work inspected, tested, approved and signed off by a bldg dept inspector - you will be OK.

 

[hj]

quote;
as long as you have your work inspected, tested, approved and signed off by a bldg dept inspector - you will be OK.

And you REALLY believe he is going to pay for a permit, PRESSURE test it, and have it inspected? It will be interesting to see how he gets around the water heater and into the back of the dryer with rigid piping.

 

[Jadnashua]

How many BTU a pipe can provide depends on a few things: how long the run is, how many elbows, and the ID of the pipe along with the supply pressure (usually quite low). There are charts and tables that can help you figure that out. You need to know the BTU rating of the things it is supplying. If it cannot supply the needed gas volume, you can get very erratic performance once you exceed the system capacity.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Whew. Well do I know what I'm doing? No. I'm not a plumber. I can change my own air filter and spark plugs. But looking at the technical enormity of all the above, I'm wondering if even a local plumber would do all that. And pulling a permit? Do I really want to risk having an inspector coming into my house? We did that years ago in another house. Our furnace cracked and we had it replaced, then the inspector came into the basement and didn't like a switch box that was loosely mounted on a steel pipe that supported the concrete floor - said it needed proper fastening, and cited us! THEN he complained to the city about the fact that my sister Jennifer, who had been injured recently, was in a bed in the living room, because she couldn't use the stairs. So the city called us and asked her if she needed them to send the police to remove her from the house! She told them she was there voluntarily - she lived there.

Letting government inspectors into a house is like donning a "KICK ME" sign!

Given all the above, I'm thinking of just canceling the whole thing and keeping the old washer and dryer and seeing of 34 year old Whirlpool can still get parts and be repaired, if need be. This just sounds insane.

 

[Craigpump]

Handyman on Yelp...nothing says failed contractor like "handyman" or "plumbing guy" at HD.

The ABSOLUTE best thing you can do is hire a qualified, licensed contractor, $300 is cheap when you think about sleepless nights wondering if your work is going to fail and kill you...

 

[Dj2]

quote;
as long as you have your work inspected, tested, approved and signed off by a bldg dept inspector - you will be OK.

And you REALLY believe he is going to pay for a permit, PRESSURE test it, and have it inspected? It will be interesting to see how he gets around the water heater and into the back of the dryer with rigid piping.

HJ,
I know he wouldn't, it's his choice.
Just this week 2 buildings in Paterson, NJ blew up due to gas leaks. Google it, I'm not making it up.
Without a permit, he can become a statistic too.

 

[FullySprinklered]

My heart goes out to you Melissa. I could talk you through the job, but it would take me two weeks. Nowadays my spare time is measured in minutes. Takes me a lot of time to create a coherent post in the time that I have, and I'm not sure that I have done so in the two years I've been posting here.
Most of the advice above is well-intentioned and accurate. Screwing pipe fittings together ain't brain surgery, but no one here is willing to put their head on the chopping block for you if you're starting from zero. We are all concerned for your safety. Gas will come out and get you if you make a mistake.
The very best thing I can do for you is to put you on my prayer list, if you don't mind. Help is out there if you look for it.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Handyman on Yelp...nothing says failed contractor like "handyman" or "plumbing guy" at HD.

The ABSOLUTE best thing you can do is hire a qualified, licensed contractor, $300 is cheap when you think about sleepless nights wondering if your work is going to fail and kill you...

Yes, but see above. If this is going to increase the cost of the new washer and dryer by another 40%, I may just switch back to getting an electric one, or cancel altogether and see if my old machines can be kept in repair. I didn't figure on additional major expense with this.

 

[Gary Swart]

Why do you suppose the inspector found fault in your wiring? Could it possibly it was because the crappy installation was a disaster just waiting to happen? Or, maybe because he was a a hole and just wanted to cause you problems? The reason you pull permits and have inspections is to save your life, your health, your house, and sometimes even the life and health of others. If you followed this forum for as long as I have, you'd realize that there are many 3rd world countries that don't have codes and inspections and have raw sewage problems, fires, and etc. that would have been caught and corrected here.

 

[Craigpump]

Yes, but see above. If this is going to increase the cost of the new washer and dryer by another 40%, I may just switch back to getting an electric one, or cancel altogether and see if my old machines can be kept in repair. I didn't figure on additional major expense with this.

40% is a small price to pay to stay alive, and I bet your neighbors would agree

 

[hj]

quote; The reason you pull permits and have inspections is to save your life, your health, your house, and sometimes even the life and health of others.

WRONG! That is a secondary function of permits and inspections. The primary reasons for them are INCOME for the building department and upgrading your home's tax bill if you increase the value of the building.