serious gas manifold help needed

hey guys...

I have been delaying finishing up my stand. all is done except for the gas manifold which I am reallllllly having a hard time with. i have posted several times but still havent come up with the fittings and such and i am just plain frustrated. I am using hard piping. 1/2" black steel. I am including a few photos, with what I have on the stand and taken apart. I just cant imagine this being the best way. not to mention on of those little parts that connects flare to flare is $10 at lowes. geeeeezzz..

parts on the stand....obviously






parts off the stand....you get the way it connects from the previous pics.



all the parts separate.

elbow
steel 3" nipple
1/2" coupler
1/2" NPT - 1/2" flare
1/2" flare to 1/2" flare connector (the one that cost $10)
1/2" valve
1/2" steel nipple



at the top when it hit the elbow i then have to get over the burner and figure out yet another way to join NPT with flare. this is driving me a little nuts! I know...its probably simple...what can i say, i suck

do you have a flare tool? if not, you can get them cheap at home depot (usually 20 dollars or so). Then, use one piece of soft copper, from the flare connector on the valve to the flare connector on the orifice. bend it to fit. would be much cleaner than all those connectors.

flatulentfox said:

do you have a flare tool? if not, you can get them cheap at home depot (usually 20 dollars or so). Then, use one piece of soft copper, from the flare connector on the valve to the flare connector on the orifice. bend it to fit. would be much cleaner than all those connectors.

Click to expand...

I dont but i have noticed they arent expensive at all at lowes....i had pretty much said i didnt want copper but at this point i am game for anything to get my beast together and working!

instead of the connector do they make some sort of cap that you can use with the tubing?

thanks for your help!!

well first off why don't you ditch the ball flare ball valve. I have a female x female gas ball valve.

I would built it like so.

from the tee > close nipple > ball valve > close nipple > flexable gas line > burner.

less parts very flexible, and the most common way of doing it.

-=jason=-

EDIT: yeah your valve is completely wrong in this application.

My solution would be to use flexible SS gas line from the valve to the burner:

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/gasconnectors.html

Seems it would save you a lot of grief and the flex lines are relatively inexpensive.

Catt22 said:

My solution would be to use flexible SS gas line from the valve to the burner:

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/gasconnectors.html

Seems it would save you a lot of grief and the flex lines are relatively inexpensive.

Click to expand...

true, use a flare to flare flexible hose and connect right to the valve. I just know the hose I have was flare by MIP and I am not a tradesman so I wasn't thinking that the hoses might have different connections on each ends.


-=jason=-

The SS flexible lines typically have flare fittings on each end and are furnished with adapters to pipe thread. The sizing charts list the adapter options in the left most column on the link I posted above. The actual size of the line is listed across the top of the chart and the available lengths are in the rest of the field. Does that make any sense?

hmm....the SS line looks cool. why is my valve wrong in this application? i've seen a lot of people using these valves. they are made for gas....did i miss something?

Catt22 said:

The SS flexible lines typically have flare fittings on each end and are furnished with adapters to pipe thread. The sizing charts list the adapter options in the left most column on the link I posted above. The actual size of the line is listed across the top of the chart and the available lengths are in the rest of the field. Does that make any sense?

Click to expand...

yeah....that makes sense. i like the looks of it as well. sounds like a good option.

rhltechie said:

hmm....the SS line looks cool. why is my valve wrong in this application? i've seen a lot of people using these valves. they are made for gas....did i miss something?

Click to expand...

There is nothing wrong with the valve. The problem is that you are unnecessarily switching back and forth from flare fittings to NPT (pipe thread) and also changing sizes along the way.

The valve appears to accept a 1/2" flare on the end towards the burner. You should be able to connect the 1/2" flex line directly to that end of the valve. The burner orifice fitting probably accepts a 3/8" female flare, so you will need a 1/2" X 3/8" flare adapter (male x female). Alternately, you could get a different valve with 1/2" NPT x 3/8" flare and use a 3/8" flex line which should hook up directly to the burner orifice fitting. That would be the cleanest installation, but then you would have to buy a different valve.

Catt22 said:

There is nothing wrong with the valve. The problem is that you are unnecessarily switching back and forth from flare fittings to NPT (pipe thread) and also changing sizes along the way.

The valve appears to accept a 1/2" flare on the end towards the burner. You should be able to connect the 1/2" flex line directly to that end of the valve. The burner orifice fitting probably accepts a 3/8" female flare, so you will need a 1/2" X 3/8" flare adapter (male x female). Alternately, you could get a different valve with 1/2" NPT x 3/8" flare and use a 3/8" flex line which should hook up directly to the burner orifice fitting. That would be the cleanest installation, but then you would have to buy a different valve.

Click to expand...

thanks for all the replies. i think i am gonna go with the SS...and get the valves on the site, so i dont have to muck with this crap anymore! it does suck that i already have 3 valves....with no packaging..grrr..oh well. thanks for all the help. i think i can make my order and finally get er done!!

rhltechie said:

thanks for all the replies. i think i am gonna go with the SS...and get the valves on the site, so i dont have to muck with this crap anymore! it does suck that i already have 3 valves....with no packaging..grrr..oh well. thanks for all the help. i think i can make my order and finally get er done!!

Click to expand...

you should be able to use your current valves

just get flare to flare hoses.

not sure what size the burner is, but a reducing flare to flare ss hose would work just fine. if anything you might need a reducer if the correct hose isn't an off the shelf part.

-=Jason=-