Lawrence wrote:

Smarty wrote:

At risk of sounding like a total novice (which I am)....I would very much
appreciate guidance regarding tightening gas pipe and connections:

Specifically........if a run of gas pipe is put together, in this case
roughly 65 feet total, with about 15 fittings along the way, and the
finished piping shows leaks in one or more joints once the line is
pressurized, how is tightening best accomplished?


Since you are a newbie don't be surprised if you have to take it apart
and start over. At least your pipe is all threaded and correctly
sized.

Tightening the pipe is not the solution to avoiding or correcting
leaks. You should be using pipe tape which is wrapped aroung the
thread on the male end . It is this tape which prevents the pipe from
leaking not tightening it more or less.

So if you use the tape correctly you will have far fewer worries since
the tape that does the job not the threads on the pipe. You cant be
too safe when installing a gas line so be sure to double check each
joint before leaving the gas on.


That is incorrect. Teflon tape that is designed for gas lines
can be used, but it is not the best choice for the job. Pipe
dope is best for a couple of reasons. Teflon tape has a
tendency to shred into the pipe and becomes stuck in orifices
which can cause failures in gas appliances. Teflon tape does
not seal as such, but actually makes tightening the fitting
easier due to the lubricating properties of teflon. The
actual seal is from the pipe threads tightening against each
other.

Pipe dope is your best bet, and a large pipe wrench.

Try this: take a piece of pipe and an old fitting. Using
large pipe wrenches, tighten the two together until something
breaks. You will find that this is not easy to do, if you can
do it at all. It is easier with the smaller sizes of course,
but still not too easy. Point is, it is VERY HARD to
overtighten a fitting. The major problem is getting the
fitting oriented correctly.

Having run miles of threaded pipe in my lifetime, I tighten
the hell out of everything and rarely have leaks. You can
test with the gas pressure itself. It is better to use an air
test, but there are a lot of things to do to perform an air
pressure test correctly.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX