saved $10k on underground gas leak repair

my tenant in vegas messaged me saying there was a gas leak in the kitchen and a contractor quoted $10k because they will have to dig inside the kitchen and break down a wall. i fixed it myself for only $150 and half a day's worth of work. i will show you how i did it.

i drove from palm springs to vegas, bringing all the tools i need.

just like in life, the journey is just as fun as the destination. i slept overnight in one of the scenic rest stops in the middle of the mojave desert just for adventure.

i bought a gas pressure test gauge in home depot for $11, a 3/4" X 3" black steel nipple for $2.3 and a yellow teflon tape for $11. i pumped it to 15 psi using the portable pump i use for my car tires, airbed, and rubber boat (in the philippines).  it went down from 15 psi to 5 psi in 2 minutes. that's a huge leak !!!

 then i did a soap and water bubble test on all the joints, using a mixture of dish washing soap and water. i also tested the joints on the roof.  but there was no leak. that means the leak is in the underground pipe that goes across the kitchen floor.

so i condemned the line and plugged the section that was cut. then i did another test and this time it held up 15 psi for 15 minutes (the city inspector only requires 10 psi for 10 minutes).  now i just need to run a 220v line and replace the gas oven with an electric oven, which i could easily buy in craiglist for $200.

but while i was leak testing the lines in the roof, i realized i could just tap a gas line on the roof and run it down through the roof and through the wall behind the oven in the kitchen. i saw a video in youtube where they used a flexible and more durable CSST pipe to install a gas line. it's UV resistant so it is safe to run it on the roof. unlike the steel pipe, there is no need to connect the very cumbersome and time consuming elbow couplings. it's also safer if there is an earthquake unlike a steel pipe which could break and cause fire. i went to home depot and bought a 25 ft CSST pipe for $59. the CSST to black steel coupling was $23.

i made some holes on the dry wall so i can probe where the hose will run. i drilled a 1" hole using a spade bit through the roof and dropped the flexible CSST pipe through the wall behind the oven. the amazing thing was the lenght of pipe i needed was exactly 25 ft. so i never had to cut and there was no surplus. amazing coincidence !!!

i then went to youtube to get a crash course on drywall repair. the spackle cost $4, dry wall tape $6, and the paint cost only $3.50 because it was a sample size. home depot scanned the piece that i cut out and the computer automatically created a mixture of the exact color.

i pressure tested my work and it passed with flying colors. the inspector only requires a pressure of 10 psi to hold for 10 minutes. but i tested it on 15 psi and after 30 minutes it still held up.

however, when i decided to relieve the pressure by opening the gate valve for the gas stove, there was a burst of air that came out but after a split second nothing came out. i was afraid an insect got in the pipe while i was working on the dry wall and now the pipe is clogged. oh crap !!!  then i thought maybe that was just a safety mechanism that closes the system if the pressure is too high. it makes sense because the gas pressure coming in to a house is only 1/4 psi and i was letting out a humongous 15 psi. so i lowered the pressure to 3 psi by pressing the shrader valve on the pressure gauge. when i opened the gate valve of the stove again, this time there was a continuous hissing sound. it was music to my ears. WHEW !!! scared me there for a while.

the CSST pipe i installed is UV resistant and flame retardant. local code states that it just needs to be protected from mechanical damage using a metal casing if installed outdoors in case it gets hit by an errant chain saw or the resident practices archery or throwing ninja stars. but this is on the roof so the only danger is drunk republicans shooting their AR-15 rifles to the air on new years day, and in this case not even a metallic conduit will help.

it's bonding time !!! note that electrical bonding is different from grounding (google it). lightning can damage a gas line in the house and cause fire, even if the lightning strike is just nearby. the lightning strike does not even have to be a direct hit to cause damage. when lightning strikes a house, the electricity often surges through a home's wiring or plumbing system, searching for the quickest possible route to the ground.

so to minimize the damage, i bonded the gas line to the ground bar in the breaker panel. i went to home depot to buy a 25 ft 6 awg grounding wire ($20 and 2 clamps ($2.5 each). i then drilled a hole on the roof beside the conduit going to the HVAC. i then dropped the wire and connected it to the ground bar of the breaker panel. i received an unpleasant jolt of electric shock because i forgot to turn off the main breaker switch. so i turned it off.

the ground wire going to the ground rod looked too thin to me so i replaced it with a much thicker 6 gauge.

i clamped the other end to the brass fitting of the CSST pipe. i then sealed the hole i drilled with roof sealant.

the inspector required me to create a ventilation for the laundry room  to allow gas to escape in case there is a leak on the gas dryer and water heater.

the inspector also required me to connect a vent outlet for the water heater.

so now the oven, furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer is working. i celebrated by baking a pizza in the oven.

that's all for my gas leak repair demo.

here are some bonus tips:

you might be wondering how in the world do you repair a section of a leaking or broken pipe that uses threaded couplings? i came across this problem in my parent's old house in the philippines that still uses lead water pipes. how do you even remove the section that needs to be replaced? if you loosen one end, the other end will tighten. the solution is to just cut it so you can unscrew both ends. similarly, you also can't just replace it with a new pipe because if you tighten one end, the other end will loosen. the solution is to use a union coupling or a compression coupling as you can see in this photo.search in youtube fore tutorials.

for water pipes, you can replace it with 2 pieces of pvc and connect the 2 sections with a slip coupling. in my case, the main gate valve had a leak so the solvent won't be able to dry. so i installed a gate valve so i can close it and allow the solvent to dry.

a dump truck ran over and broke the water pipe going into my cousin's house and there was no plumber available. so i did a quick fix by inserting a 3/4" hose into both ends of the broken 1/2" lead pipe and clamping it. this might look temporary but this is actually more durable in case a truck runs over it again it will just bend easily. although this can even be made much moredurable by lubricating the lead pipe with bike chain oil (or singer sewing machine oil) so the 3/4" hose can slide further and you can use 2 clamps on both sides. it's probably overkill but clamps are cheap. i didn't do it because i did not have any oil with me and i did not have enough strength to push the hose further.

(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)