Kitchen Gas Appliances - Gas Line Piep Size?

My furnace and hot water heater operate on natural gas and are fed from a main incoming line (after meter) which comes into the house via 1" black pipe.

I have recently added an addition to my home and want now to install a gas fired, vented fireplace. The output rating of the fireplace will be between 26,000 and 30,000 BTU's and running on an automatic pilot, thermostat controlled system.

I plan to hook onto the main feed line at/near the furnace area where the line now terminates.

My question is.....

What size black pipe will be needed to feed the fireplace? (Assuming I come off the 1" main feed line)

The distance from the furnace area (where new line connection will be made) and where the fireplace will be installed is approximately 45 feet.

Is there a rule of thumb or a schedule someplace that will tell me what pipe sizes to use?

Dave

Hello: Dave

Coming off the main one inch feed line with a half inch supply to the fireplace should not pose any problems for that footage distance.

Unless that one inch line is on the opposite side of the house and the yet to be installed half inch line to the fireplace will be a double back from there to get to the fireplace. Hope this is clearly worded. If not maybe the below paragraph is better worded.

The 45 foot run using 1/2' line should not pose any problems. Unless it is as explained above. A run back across the house from the supply line to the fireplace. If that is what it would be, best to tap directly into the one inch line closest to the fireplace.

A 1" houseline as they are commonly referred to is commonly used and can handle the supply in both pressure and volume. So that is not a concern.

The line at or to the furnace should not be directly tapped into, if possible. That line should already be a line unto itself or is shared with a water heater or dryer.

The point above is, the supply line to any exisiting appliance or appliances is already sized for the intended load only. Furnaces are one inch feeds even if the houseline is one inch.

Adding more load to the same line as the furnace supply line off the main houseline is not recommended. Adding to the main houseline is okay even if there is already several branches on it going to other appliances. Hope I clearly worded that too.

Recapping.
1/2 pipe for 45 feet distance to fireplace is okay.
Tapping into existing furnace supply line should be avoided.
Tapping off the end of the main inhouse 1 inch line at the end where it is closest to the fireplace, as you mentioned, is fine.

Additional Notes:
No increase in size of gas meter nor the houseline is needed.
26,000 to 30,000 btu's is equal to 4 top burners (average btu of 8-12 thousand each) running full on. No problem with fireplace btu load draw is expected nor assumed, all other info being equal.

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Regards & Good Luck. Sharp Advice.
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All info is related to natural gas as the energy source fuel.

This brings me a question..

Why does NG require such a larger pipe and regulator than LP?

You're talking 1" pipe, and I've seen the huge regulators on NG lines. My LP lines are 3/4" and the line between the tank and the regulator is only 1/4", the regulator is slightly smaller than your average TV remote.

What gives?

Hello: Pendragon

It all has to do with the chemical makup, product density, volume and pressures. Natural gas is light weight, low density. Liquid propane is denser and heavier. Natural gas rises while propane lays low until mixed with air and dispersed.

Based on the physical and chemical differences, each fuel must be regulated to control it's properties as a fuel source. There are several other factors to consider also.

Some of which are too complex to explain without having someone glaze over with indepth details, etc. Suffic it to say each fuel is not the same.

Natural gas is all natural, once cleaned by scrubbers and filters, while liquid propane is a man made by product. Each having their own properties & characteristics, etc.

wisconsincraft - you need to do a gas flow calculation to see if the if the install is feasible and if so what size pipe you would need. It is possible that installing the fireplace may cause the gas pressure to drop below the operating pressure on all the appliances. If this is the case you cannot install the fireplace. You need to get a qualified gas tech to do this for you. You can also do this yourself but you need to know and understand the gas flow tables or formula in order to do this. I've used the gas flow formula with an excel spreadsheet in the past to do feasibility calcs.

Pendragon - not all NG systems have large pipes. Both NG and propane can be either high pressure or low pressure systems. Low pressure systems require large pipes and high pressure systems (> 5PSI) have smaller pipes. A high pressure system for NG uses 1/2" pipes for distribution - not 1". Sounds like you have a high pressure propane and low pressure NG system.