Gas lines
The new range is on the truck and the gas stops at the water heater. New runs, extensions, resizing and repairs, sized for everything on the line and not only for the thing being added today.
This page is the piping. If you can smell gas right now, or you think there is a leak, that is gas leak detection, it is a different job, and it comes ahead of everything on this page.
What it covers
Running gas where there is none, extending a line to reach a new appliance, resizing a run that cannot feed what is now on the end of it, moving a line so a kitchen can change shape, capping one that is no longer needed, and replacing pipe, fittings and shutoffs that have had enough.
The part most people do not expect is that a gas line has to be big enough for everything it feeds, not only the new appliance. A tankless water heater or a generator can need far more gas than the range or the tank beside it. So a line that was fine for years can come up short once one of those goes on the end of it, and the appliance that suffers is often the old one furthest from the meter.
That is why a gas job starts with a look at everything already on the line, not only at the appliance in the box.
It also covers the runs that leave the house. An underground gas line out to a pool heater, a standby generator, a fire pit or a built in grill is the same job with a trench in it: sized for what sits at the far end, buried and protected the way gas piping outdoors has to be, and tested before it is covered.
What the job involves
- Looking at everything on the line. What the line already feeds, and how far the gas has to travel to reach the new appliance.
- Sizing it properly. The pipe sized for everything it will feed, not only the newest appliance, so nothing runs short later.
- Planning the route. Where the pipe can run and stay reachable, with a shutoff where you can turn off one appliance without shutting off the house.
- Running the new pipe. Cut, joined and supported, with a shutoff at the appliance.
- Testing before it is closed up. The new pipe tested under pressure before anything is connected and before any wall or ceiling is closed over it.
- Connecting and checking for leaks. The appliance connected, then the joints checked for leaks.
- Lighting everything, not only the new thing. The appliances on the line lit and watched together, because a line that is too small shows it when everything is running.
When you need it
- A gas range or cooktop going in where an electric one came out
- A tankless or combi unit replacing a tank, which usually wants more gas than the tank had
- The range burners dip when the dryer or the boiler lights
- A capped line in the basement that the last owner left and nobody can explain
- A generator going in on the side of the house
- A grill, a fire pit or an outdoor kitchen you are tired of feeding from cylinders
- A pool heater that needs gas run out across the yard
- A flexible connector kinked behind a range that has been pulled out one time too many
- A shutoff that has been painted over, or will not turn
- A kitchen or laundry changing shape, with the gas appliance moving with it
Why it matters
Gas piping is licensed work in Massachusetts for a plain reason: the failure mode is not a puddle. A joint that was not tested, a line that was not sized, or a connector crushed behind an appliance can sit quietly for years and then stop sitting quietly.
An undersized line is the subtler problem, because nothing obviously breaks. An appliance that is short of gas burns poorly and wastes fuel, and a tankless unit or a modern boiler may shut itself off and show an error that points somewhere else.
How Connerney handles it
- Licensed and insured. Licensed and insured in Massachusetts. Gas work is done with the required permits.
- Sized for the whole house. Sized for everything on the line, not only the appliance being connected today. Certified with WardFlex and TracPipe, two of the flexible gas piping systems used in houses here.
- Tested before it is closed up. Pressure tested before the wall goes back, checked for leaks after it is connected, and the appliances on the line watched running together.
- Owner run. Bill Connerney owns the business, answers the phone and books the jobs, and our team of experienced plumbers does the work. Rated 5.0 on Google across 20 reviews, and BBB accredited since 2018.
Questions people ask
- Can a line for a range be added without touching the rest of the house?
- Often, and sometimes not. The new branch to the range is the same either way. What decides the rest is whether the main line it connects to, and the meter, can carry the range on top of everything already there. If they can, it is one new run. If not, part of the main line has to be made bigger too, or the appliance furthest along starts running short.
- Why does a tankless water heater need so much more gas than the tank did?
- Because it has no stored hot water. A tank heats its water slowly with a small burner. A tankless unit has to heat the water in the seconds it takes to pass through, so its burner is much bigger than the tank's. The pipe that fed the tank was not sized for that, and sometimes the meter was not either.
- There is a capped gas line in the basement. Can it be used?
- Maybe. Three things have to be true: the pipe has to be sound, which a pressure test shows; it has to be big enough for what you want to connect, which a capped line for an old dryer often is not; and nobody has to have done anything creative to it since it was capped. If all three check out, it is a shutoff and a connection. If the size is wrong, it is a new run that happens to start where the old one did.
Related services
Where we work
Based in Natick, working across MetroWest Massachusetts.
Plus the surrounding MetroWest towns. If you are nearby, call and ask.
Call us, or request service
Tell us what is going on. If no one picks up, leave a message and Bill will call you back as soon as he can. If it is easier to write it down, the form reaches the same place.