Propane plumbing

alemonkey · 12-21-2006, 02:10 PM

I'm planning on plumbing the two burners on my brew sculpture with hard line so I can run them off the same propane tank and regulator. I've seen where people use gas ball valves with natural gas in a setup like this to control each individual burner. Will that work with propane?

Also, what diameter of hard tubing is recommended for a setup like this? I'll have 2 170,000 btu burners.

**Gabe** · 12-21-2006, 03:16 PM

Alemonkey, this was my next ? exactly! I am hooking up 3 burners on my 3 tier stand. I am using 3/8 gas pipe that will meet T's at each level and each burner will have a Brass ball valve that will allow me to controll and shut off the flame. I havn't started this yet but I think it will be straight forward once I do . All hooked to a 20# tank and 30 psi regulator. Going w/ pipe for safty reasons. I would go with 3/8 as it is the common size. Cheers

ALPS · 12-29-2006, 01:34 AM

I'd use black iron pipe. It's cheap, readily available and you can find various length nipples on the shelf so you won't have to thread any pipe. Use teflon tape on all the threads covered with a light coating of pipe dope to ensure it won't leak.

170,000 BTU burners will use a lot of gas. You may need 1/2" pipe.

alemonkey · 12-29-2006, 01:37 AM

That's the other question I had - what type? I'd thought of black iron, but then I also thought maybe there's a flexible alternative that would be easier to work with.

Nate · 12-29-2006, 01:42 AM

Just to make things look good, I used brass gas valves and brass pipe... check the pics on my site.

alemonkey · 12-29-2006, 01:51 AM

Yes.....that's one of the sites I've looked at in the past, but I've looked at so many that I forgot about it. The flex tubing would work really well at the end of the black iron.

ALPS · 12-29-2006, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alemonkey

That's the other question I had - what type? I'd thought of black iron, but then I also thought maybe there's a flexible alternative that would be easier to work with.

With all the different pre-cut lengths of black iron pipe found on the shelf, it really shouldn't be too hard at all.

Copper tubing is an alternative, though a lesser quality and the price of copper is pretty high right now! You'll want a bender to avoid any kinks in the line. The type that look like a long spring are cheap and work well, just bend slowly and a little at a time.

And when running gas through copper, all you connections must be flared, no compression fittings!

Soapy water sprayed or brused on the connections is an easy way to check for leaks. Bubbles show you have a leak.