Extending a Natural Gas Line: Cost?

16 years ago

I bought a NG grill for the deck. Have natural gas service in the house. I'd like to place the grill on the deck in a spot that's only about 10 feet away from the range in my kitchen. So all that's involved is inserting a T fitting into the gas line in the basement,running a line out to the deck and installing a fitting at the end.

I had a plumber come by for an estimate (this work seems to get done by plumbers) -- and he came back with $750! Seems ridiculous. I'm getting other estimates, but my question is, is $750 to extend a gas line a few feet either a mistake or a rip off? Does it sound about right? If that's the going rate, so be it, but something smells fishy.

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Comments (6)

Ron Natalie
16 years ago
By all means get estimates from more than one person.

However, teeing off a stove may not be a valid installation it may have to run further back than that. Further permits are usually required and if the plumber has to pull them, that will cost money as well.
hookoodooku
16 years ago
The problem with the notion that you can simply Tee the existing line fails to take into account the existing line was likely sized for only one outlet.

Regardless of what you PLAN to do, the plumber has to make sure that the gas plumbing can handle you running the gas stove at full blast and the grill at full blast at that same time. The existing line is likely not sized for doing that so the $750 likely includes running a new copper line from the gas manifold (where the line running to the stove originates) plus adding required shutoff valves.
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lazypup
16 years ago
In addition to what was mentioned above, when running a gas line underground we are required to use factory wrapped pipe, which is considerably more expensive plus all joints must be field wrapped to the same level of protection as the factory wrapped pipe. In addition, there must be a dielectric union on the line where it transitions from below grade to above grade and the above grade pipe must be electrically grounded.
sbphuntington
Original Author
16 years ago
Re teeing off the stove -- what I meant was from the pretty thick what looks to be steel pipe that runs to where the valve for the range is. It's the same size pipe as what runs to the gas boiler (I have baseboard heat). The guy who did the estimate showed me what he would be doing, and he did say he would cut the existing pipe, run a T union and then run new line out under the deck. He also said it would be 2 to 2 1/2 hours labor plus parts (but only the office could quote prices).

Since I figure $100/hour for plumbing is pretty conservative, I thought th e$750 sounded high.
brickeyee
16 years ago
Absent a calculation based on the nameplates of the appliances you may not have a good installation.

Did the person even look at the nameplate of the stove to see what its requirements are?

It is VERY rare for anyone to oversize a gas line.
patfro
16 years ago
I gotta agree with brickeye... Have it correctly sized.