Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if locality
matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if locality
matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

You could have easily installed the dryer yourself. An employee in the
plumbing department at Home Depot could have set you up with the tools
and supplies that you needed. There is no reason that gas should scare
you. You do the work, turn on the gas, and if you smell an leakage,
you deal with it and move on. What can a plumber do that you can't?
Gas has to have a narrow ration to air to be flammable. You would have
to have quite a bit to be dangerous, and by then you would get sick of
the smell.

Really old gas appliances used to be hard-piped to the gas supply.
This might have inflated your cost if it meant modifying this. But if
there was an existing flexible connector, you could have just
transferred it to the new appliance, or maybe replaced the connector
with an updated one. The secret to a good seal is using gas-rated
teflon tape or a sealing paste. Again, someone at a hardware store
could have helped you, and watched you practice on a spare piece of
pipe if they had one lying around. One key to loosening or tightening
the connections is to hold one side stable with a pipe wrench or
another tool, while turning the other side with another tool; that way
you don't turn both side and loosen something else down the line.

"CJT" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if locality
matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.

That's interesting; around here you need a license for water, but anyone can
do gas.
Anyhow, it can't take more than 15 minutes to take the old one out, and 45
minutes to put one in. Even allowing an hour for transportation, that is
$220 an hour.
Shop around; if you can't find a better price, do it yourself.

Funny think about gas; it is actually easier than water since the pressure
is so low. Leaks are easy to spot with soapy water. And if you screw it
up, the odor is noticable at much lower levels than are dangerous. You
would have to almost try to do it dangerously.

Now... this all assumes you have a shut off at the dryer. If you don't, it
is rather more difficult.

In article .com, wrote:
Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

Get some other quotes. Maybe check out the supplier from
whom you purchased the new dryer.

Unless forbidden by local codes, you might as well do it
yourself. It's not hard. Get a new flexible connector line
(don't try and reuse the old one) with the right fittings,
some jointing compound (for gas) and a couple of wrenches.

Check for leaks using your nose and by painting each joint
with some soapy water and looking for bubbles.

Than take the wife out for a night on the town with the
$400 you just saved. I'm sure she'll find a way to thank
you ;-)

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Removal of my 10 year old dryer was very difficult. The sealant they used
was like glue.


wrote in message
oups.com...
You could have easily installed the dryer yourself. An employee in the
plumbing department at Home Depot could have set you up with the tools
and supplies that you needed. There is no reason that gas should scare
you. You do the work, turn on the gas, and if you smell an leakage,
you deal with it and move on. What can a plumber do that you can't?
Gas has to have a narrow ration to air to be flammable. You would have
to have quite a bit to be dangerous, and by then you would get sick of
the smell.

Really old gas appliances used to be hard-piped to the gas supply.
This might have inflated your cost if it meant modifying this. But if
there was an existing flexible connector, you could have just
transferred it to the new appliance, or maybe replaced the connector
with an updated one. The secret to a good seal is using gas-rated
teflon tape or a sealing paste. Again, someone at a hardware store
could have helped you, and watched you practice on a spare piece of
pipe if they had one lying around. One key to loosening or tightening
the connections is to hold one side stable with a pipe wrench or
another tool, while turning the other side with another tool; that way
you don't turn both side and loosen something else down the line.

On Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:09:44 GMT, CJT wrote:

wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if locality
matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.

On the other hand, he didn't break anything, didn't track tar
on your new white carpet, and didn't abuse your wife or your
dog. And you've got to remember that, no matter how it's
broken down on the bill, the first $100 is just to show up
in the first place. And the plumber is trying to pay for
a house and shop in Bethesda, too, so you can't really
expect Dixville Notch type prices.

CJT wrote in :

wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have
an old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a
matter of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No
extras, like hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close
to reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if
locality matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.



Lived in one area where final gas connection to anything had to be done
by the gas company only.

CJT wrote in :

wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have
an old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a
matter of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No
extras, like hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close
to reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if
locality matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.



Probably can get a cert course for $446.49