Natural Gas Leak in Emergency Shut Off Valve?

10 years ago

I'm doing some remodeling and moved a gas range over a bit. I made all of my connections using Rector Seal #5 and tested the joints using soapy water after turning the gas back on. Then I decided to pressure test all of the gas lines in the house. I shut off the gas outside by turning the shut off valve to the horizontal position. I disconnected the gas furnace and water heated and shut off the valves at the appliance. Finally, I put a 15 lb gauge on the line and used my compressor to bring the air pressure up to 15 lbs. The pressure started declining right away. I soapy water re-checked my connections and found no leaks. Then I went outside and found that the emergency shut off valve was leaking. I tightened the nut on the valve and the leak seemed to go away. But after re-pressurizing the lines the leak was slower but still there. I crawled through the fiberglass insulated attic spaces and checked every connection with the soapy water...no leaks were found. Note - this is a guest house...the gas meter is at the main house ...from the meter the line Tee's into the main house and to the guest house...they both have their own emergency shut off valve. When I went up to the main house to wash off the fiberglass my wife told me that the gas range had quit working. She said that it had come on fine for a short time and then quit. I went back to the guest house and let all of the air pressure out of the lines and left the emergency gas shut off valve in the off position. I went back to the main house and was able to get the gas range to work after trying for a few minutes. I also had to relight the water heater. It seems to me that the air pressure from the guest house pushed all of the gas out of the lines all the way up to the main house (about 75 feet away) even though the emergency shut off valve was turned off at the guest house. My plan for tomorrow is to shut off the gas at the gas meter...remove the emergency shut off valve from the guest house...cap off the line outside the guest house and re-pressurize the guest house lines to 15 psi. If that holds I'll replace the emergency shut off valve and retest. Any other ideas on what might be going on here? Thanks

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

randy427
10 years ago
Why are you pressurizing to 15 psi? i don't believe the valves are designed for pressures that high. Gas line pressure on the user side of the meter is closer to 1/2 psi.
0
stevelebard
Original Author
10 years ago
Removed old emergency shut off valve and capped the pipe off outside the house. Repressurized the lines inside the house and they held at 15 psi. Replaced the emergency shut off valve and placed it in the off position. Repressurized the guest house lines and everything is holding at 15 psi. I had to get the 1-1/4" valve at a plumbing supply house as Home Depot does not carry them. Moral of the story is these emergency shut off valves can leak internally.

As to the question of why I pressurized to 15 psi to test the lines is because most building codes require it or somewhere around this pressure. If it holds at the higher pressure then most likely if will never leak at less than 1 psi.
My problem is fixed...I hope this post helps someone else in the future.
0
Related Discussions
Gas Leak Emergency
Q
Comments (7)
Would a carbon monoxide (CO) detector make a difference? Typically CO detectors are for detecting incomplete combustion. In your case, there was no combustion present (thankfully). You need a natural gas detector for this situation. In my house, I have a combo natural gas and CO detector. (It doesn't work well, because it always goes off when I cook with booze.) My old gas stove had the standard "turn knob to certain position for ignition". I was surprised to see on the Bluestar that there is no such feature. Somehow there is a detector that turns on the igniter when there is gas and when there is no flame. I don't know how it works, but that design would have lit the gas. You would not have had the gas build-up. Instead you would have had a hotter home, wasted some gas and possibly gotten burnt from not noticing the open flame.
...See More
Gas shut valve & base cabinet placement
Q
Comments (18)
I have the same issue. I had to put a door base cabinet next to my range too. I made it narrow and will put things like cookie sheets in it. My cabinets are deeper than average. The gas valve will be at the back of it. I measured my arm vs the how far back in the cabinet the gas valve is located...There is no way I will ever use this valve because I will only be able to reach it with the tips of my fingers.... I also have a shut off directly below the area in the basement that is much easier access except for running down the steps. Interesting on the flex vs rigid. There is no way I can get rigid out of the cabinet and over to the range...just not enough room to get in the giant pipe wrench. I don't have the range yet...to be delivered in the next couple of weeks. Hope I don't run into problems with the flex vs rigid issue. I think the valve would have been better off behind the stove. I think we are going to have to modify the valve in the cabinet so I can reach it better....or at least service people can reach it....great. Something else to think about.
...See More
Do shut-off valves fail?
Q
Comments (13)
chris8796: Yup, I think that is the route I'm going to have to take. (I'm just tired, that's all.) I've never done any plumbing because my dad never did any plumbing: he always figured the price of failure was too high to mess around with for that area of home improvement (and electricity, too). I don't doubt I can do this, though. It is just one more line item on my list of things to learn how to do because I can't find anyone to not rip me off. suburbanmd: Actually, we ponied up for the plumbers report for Washington Consumer Checkbook. I called the top fourteen on the list and only got two callbacks. One was the $580 quote (of the two quotes I got, it was indeed lower than the other by about $100), and the other never returned my follow-up call (I wasn't home when he first called me). And Angie's list is basically useless. I think we are small and plumbers either won't bother or they jack the price up high enough that it is "worth" their precious time. Fair enough but I'm sick of it, and at best, it is either rude or disingenuous. There is absolutely no way I think removing two stupid cut-off valves will take almost four hours by a licensed plumber (which is what the $580 implies, given what that company quoted as their time-and-materials per-hour rate). And yes, I do understand that when they give you a firm quote, they are supposed to be trying to factor in the "mystery" part where they don't actually know for sure what is inside your walls or what they might encounter. But we have no drywall and they can see everything.
...See More
Gas shut off valve placement
Q
Comments (14)
It seems that it is pretty common to put it in a cabinet next to the range. When that cabinet has drawers, it might be behind a drawer with the drawer shortened to allow space for it. There is usually a a couple of inches of dead space behind the drawers so the drawer doesn't have to be shortened by much and it doesn't have to be shortened all the way across - the back of the drawer box could just step in to allow space where the valve needs it. A drawer (or a couple of drawers to allow shoulder room) can be taken out pretty quickly - probably more quickly than the range can be pulled out. If the valve can be behind the range right next to the cabinet wall, an opening in the cabinet wall could allow access without pulling out the range and without needing to notch a drawer. There was one person who had a valve with a flat face and a hole that operates with a key (like is often used in the floor to turn on and off gas for a fireplace) mounted in the face frame of a cabinet below her rangetop. I wonder if it would be acceptable to mount a valve like that on the wall so that it is operated from the other side of the wall. Our gas rangetop is in our island. We have a 12" deep cabinet behind the cabinet with the rangetop so we routed the gas pipe through that and put the valve there. It is out of the way not in our prime storage area but easy to reach. Once you are prepared with ideas, you should talk to your GC directly. If he is any good, he should know what the local code and inspectors are likely to accept. You can bounce some ideas around.
...See More
Related Professionals
North Druid Hills Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Wood River Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Citrus Park Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Chandler Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Charlottesville Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Durham Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Fort Pierce Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Idaho Falls Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Kuna Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Martha Lake Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Rancho Cordova Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · South Barrington Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Turlock Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Vancouver Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Hawthorne Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers

Natural Gas Leak in Emergency Shut Off Valve?

Comments (2)

randy427

stevelebard
Original Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Natural Gas Leak in Emergency Shut Off Valve?

Comments (2)

randy427

stevelebardOriginal Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

stevelebard
Original Author