Plumbing – How to run an interior gas (LP) line

gasplumbingpropane

I need to run a gas (LP) line from outside the house to a cooktop in the kitchen. Here's what I think I need to do:

  1. drill a hole in the exterior wall and the header (from the attic) of the same wall
  2. connect a 90° joint to Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST), drop it through the hole drilled in the header and fish it through the hole in the exterior wall
  3. connect a short piece of black pipe to the elbow, and connect it to the regulator installed by the propane supplier
  4. the other end of the CSST would run through the attic and down through another hole in the header of the kitchen wall
  5. connect to cooktop (I will, of course, use the supplied conversion kit)

This is the plan I've assimilated from research, much of it conflicting. So I'm sure it needs some adjustments. Here are my questions:

  1. from what I've read CSST is the way to go, but how do you protect it from fasteners going into the wall?
  2. I assumed short legs of black pipe should be used at the ends, since it probably looks better coming out of the wall, unless…is there some kind of wall plate/jack that could be used?

Is this approach generally sound? Anything else I should consider?

Best Answer

Corrugated pipe is generally intended only to be used as the last connection to an appliance, in a living space where it not vulnerable to banging or jostling (usually behind or in a space at the bottom of an appliance), but where it can be seen and accessed if work is being done. It is not intended to be buried in a wall, where it could be pierced by a random fastener driven blindly.

It is also only used where an appliance needs to be moved to connect or disconnect it to the supply line. In all other cases and places, solid black pipe should be used, not corrugated. Solid should be run to the connection right before the stove, a cutoff valve should be installed at that point before attaching a short length of corrugated between the stove and the valve.

Having said all this, I join in the various suggestions that you engage a professional plumber (pipefitter). I know how to do it, I have done it in the past, and I would NOT do it again. The risks are very high, and a simple oversight (common to many a DIYer) is disastrous. The pros avoid those oversights because of long practice.

Please stay safe.

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