My gas meter is inside the house on a high shelf. Just after mains
pipe leaves meter there is a newer spur which heads down the wall. At
floor level that newer pipe divides again, one pipe leading along
skirting to gas boiler and the other going under floorboards. As far
as I can tell the pipe under the floorboards heads along in the
direction of the gas cooker in next room. It might then continue under
another room and on to the gas fire in my lounge (the boiler, cooker
and gas fire are all in a line against an external wall).

Would there be any easy way of me finding if they are all connected in
series to the one pipe without lifting floorboards (problems of eg new
vinyl on top of new 3-ply on top of old vinyl tiles on top of
floorboards)? Would any of these handheld pipe/cable detecting/tracing
devices work through this lot?

Scenario is that gas mains in street are being replaced and they’re
putting in a new external meter and pipe to house. Where our internal
pipe divides after the old meter the old pipe is embedded down the
wall and goes I know not where but there will be several terminated
connections under the floorboards where there was evidence of gas
connections when I got the house thirty years ago. Since we only now
need the boiler, cooker, and fire it would be good if this old
pipework could now be completely excluded.

Will the gas engineer have any easy means of tracing the two pipe
systems, or is it just a question waiting for them to do the new
connection and finding out then?

Any info appreciated
Thanks
Toom

Toom Tabard wrote:
My gas meter is inside the house on a high shelf. Just after mains
pipe leaves meter there is a newer spur which heads down the wall. At
floor level that newer pipe divides again, one pipe leading along
skirting to gas boiler and the other going under floorboards. As far
as I can tell the pipe under the floorboards heads along in the
direction of the gas cooker in next room. It might then continue under
another room and on to the gas fire in my lounge (the boiler, cooker
and gas fire are all in a line against an external wall).

Would there be any easy way of me finding if they are all connected in
series to the one pipe without lifting floorboards (problems of eg new
vinyl on top of new 3-ply on top of old vinyl tiles on top of
floorboards)? Would any of these handheld pipe/cable detecting/tracing
devices work through this lot?

Scenario is that gas mains in street are being replaced and they’re
putting in a new external meter and pipe to house. Where our internal
pipe divides after the old meter the old pipe is embedded down the
wall and goes I know not where but there will be several terminated
connections under the floorboards where there was evidence of gas
connections when I got the house thirty years ago. Since we only now
need the boiler, cooker, and fire it would be good if this old
pipework could now be completely excluded.

Will the gas engineer have any easy means of tracing the two pipe
systems, or is it just a question waiting for them to do the new
connection and finding out then?

Any info appreciated
Thanks
Toom

They will install the new meter outside and run a pipe from that to the
existing outlet at your current meter, that is to say, they won't remove
floorboards, skirtings or anything else, whatever is connected to your meter
now will be connected to your new one.
If you want the old carcasses removing, it's your resposibility to remove
them, although, if they aren't leaking, I can't see any advantage of having
them taken out at the expense of replacing floor tiles / laminate / etc


HTH

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

On 2 Aug, 16:51, "Phil L" wrote:
Toom Tabard wrote:
My gas meter is inside the house on a high shelf. Just after mains
pipe leaves meter there is a newer spur which heads down the wall. At
floor level that newer pipe divides again, one pipe leading along
skirting to gas boiler and the other going under floorboards. As far
as I can tell the pipe under the floorboards heads along in the
direction of the gas cooker in next room. It might then continue under
another room and on to the gas fire in my lounge (the boiler, cooker
and gas fire are all in a line against an external wall).

Would there be any easy way of me finding if they are all connected in
series to the one pipe without lifting floorboards (problems of eg new
vinyl on top of new 3-ply on top of old vinyl tiles on top of
floorboards)? Would any of these handheld pipe/cable detecting/tracing
devices work through this lot?

Scenario is that gas mains in street are being replaced and they’re
putting in a new external meter and pipe to house. Where our internal
pipe divides after the old meter the old pipe is embedded down the
wall and goes I know not where but there will be several terminated
connections under the floorboards where there was evidence of gas
connections when I got the house thirty years ago. Since we only now
need the boiler, cooker, and fire it would be good if this old
pipework could now be completely excluded.

Will the gas engineer have any easy means of tracing the two pipe
systems, or is it just a question waiting for them to do the new
connection and finding out then?

Any info appreciated
Thanks
Toom

They will install the new meter outside and run a pipe from that to the
existing outlet at your current meter, that is to say, they won't remove
floorboards, skirtings or anything else, whatever is connected to your meter
now will be connected to your new one.
If you want the old carcasses removing, it's your resposibility to remove
them, although, if they aren't leaking, I can't see any advantage of having
them taken out at the expense of replacing floor tiles / laminate / etc

HTH


Thanks for that. The point, however, is that if everything I use is
connected to the newer spur, which is very near the meter outlet, then
it would both easier and neater for them to connect direct to that.
That would mean all the old pipework would be disconnected. I wouldn't
bother removing the old unused (if that's what they are) pipes. What
I'm looking for is how to trace the route of the newer pipe and/or
check that all the existing stuff is connected to it, without lifting
the flooring.

Toom

To find out which pipe is which, I believe BES sell a hand-pump bulb &
Y-adapter for manometer.

The general rule is they will reconnect within 2m of existing
pipework, more than that requires a local gas crew - perhaps it is
different for a meter move. I assume you have checked where they are
putting the new meter - it could be at the front of the house and thus
you have both a long run and pressure drop to consider. 28mm Yellow
Ochre Tracpipe is ?35mm? outer diameter and going to look quite chunky
outside on a wall :-)

I think there is a "Tracpipe for burial" but it is USA, HK, Japan,
Canada only - I do not think it has UK approval?

On 4 Aug, 15:15, John Rumm wrote:

The obvious solution would be to break the connection between old and
new, and see what happens when you add pressure to just the new. If it
holds, and feeds each appliance, then you have your answer.

--
Cheers,

John.


Thanks. I expected it would need something like that. Just wanted to
be sure there wasn't any easy way an amateur could investigate it.
Meantime I've collared the foreman on the roadworks for the gas pipe
replacement and he's asked their fitter to come tomorrow and have an
early look. That might give me a few days if I need/want to get a
private contractor to investigate.

Regards
Toom