Natural Gas question

[Thechevyman122]

Howdy, I recently moved a gas line (1/2" black pipe line) it was a minor thing, Had to go back maybe 4 joints then tightened back to my furnace.

Long story, I soap checked everything and everything is good but I wanted to leak check. So I turned off the three valves to gas appliances I have (water heater, furnace, and range) and marked my meter. Looks like I am "losing" about 4/5ths of a cubic ft an hour.

Now I know this isn't a standard pressure check, and I ordered the gauge to actually pressure check my line per code, I also didn't do this test before hand so it's possible nothing has changed.

Just curious if any of you mathematical/plumbing people can answer if that's a dangerous amount? I tried to convert to weight and it seems like a minuscule amount, but my conversion could definitely be wrong. No smells of gas, but my gas lines are under my house and I understand gas is heavier than air so it would "settle".

 

[frodo]

you can not get a true test , testing up against valves. some valves leak thru. they also have a "packing" nut that will leak

only way to get a true test,,disconnect and cap. then you should not have a drop in pressure at all.

any drop is a leak

 

[Thechevyman122]

Thank so, I understand this. I guess my question moreover is does 4/5th a Cuft an hour seem like a substantial amount or no? I ordered a pressure gauge with Schader and should be able to test this week

 

[frodo]

not being an ass, a leak is a leak is a leak. gas is heavy, it settles into a pocket.

if you are leaking a "little bit", it will just take a "little longer" to fill a pocket up with gas

a gas test is ZERO drop in pressure

no excuses, no if's, no well it could be ambient causing...... ZERO drop or test is failed

when a as system is added onto, the WHOLE system must pass a test to be turned back on.

I suspect, because you only turned off valves.
if you were to disconnect and cap water heater/stove/ heat unit
you would get a good test. but intill gauge does not drop, you have a leak

 

[Thechevyman122]

I'm not debating its leaking: either thru my valves, my joints I redid or some old porous line, maybe an old joint. My question is, 4/5ths a cubic foot per hour, is that turn my gas off dangerous or is that wait until this weekend when I can pressurized my system and go thru it. Truthfully the house has a gas line run to every single room (it's a very old house that used to use floor heaters). So Underneath my house is a huge complex of gas lines that I can disconnect 90% of and I probably will. I'm just trying to establish urgency. I never checked it before, using my "redneck" method (the meter) so I don't know if that is a reasonable amount or blow up my neighborhood amount. Just trying to put 4/5ths a cubic foot an hour into perspective.

 

[frodo]

any leak is dangerous,,i cant make that call for you.

4/5 cf is not alot. is the crawl space ventilated?

the answer my license says, turn it off till it can be fixed

my redneck azz says, if their is plenty of ventilation, let it rip

your call, not mine