The Plumbing Saga drags on...

Gas pipe is the yellow flex pipe closest to the slab and entering the conduit installed within and terminating in the block wall.

The plumber has again violated the current building code and installed a gas piping line incorrectly to the Island in the kitchen

The piping was installed in a non vented conduit under the floor. The conduit used was originally installed for water lines. The conduit was installed UNDER the concrete slab.


Section 404.11 Florida Fuel Gas Code® 2007 FINAL DRAFT violations...

The space between the piping where the conduit emerges from the ground is not sealed, The conduit does not extend beyond the building and is not vented above grade. The conduit terminated in the West wall coming up out of the footer and and terminating in the block wall.

The improper installation of this gas line was putting the occupants and the building at serious risk and had to be disconnected to properly pass code. (Even though the building inspector never caught it we chose to follow the code for our safety)

Thanks to the keen eye of the plumber hired to fix all the bummer mistakes we averted a possible tragic event in the future.

But......

The island has now lost its ability to have gas appliances.

So far the island has lost gas cooking , the ability to have downdraft venting and decreased hot water flow because of the inadequate demand water heater installation.

The cost to repair the line was $255.00. The loss of usage of the appliances $900 for a gas wok and $600.00 cost of the down draft system . The island had to be completely redesigned.

The cost of installing a new and adequate water heater will be around $1500.00

Total potential loss on this 1 mistake $3300.00

The additional mistake of not terminating the vent line for the downdraft posed additional problems for the island. But then that is another story altogether.





Florida Fuel Gas Code® 2007 FINAL DRAFT

404.6Pipinginsolidfloors.Piping in solid floorsshallbelaid
inchannelsinthefloorandcoveredinamannerthatwillallow
accesstothepipingwithaminimumamountofdamagetothe
building.Wheresuchpipingissubjecttoexposuretoexcessive
moistureorcorrosivesubstances,thepipingshallbeprotected
inanapprovedmanner. As analternativetoinstallationin
channels,thepipingshallbeinstalledinaconduitofSchedule
40steel, wrought iron, PVCorABSpipewithtightlysealed
endsandjoints.Bothendsofsuchconduitshallextendnotless
than2 inches (51 mm) beyond the point where the pipe
emergesfromthefloor. Theconduit shall beventedabove
gradetotheoutdoorsandshallbeinstalledsoastopreventthe
entryofwaterandinsects.
404.7Above-groundoutdoorpiping. All pipinginstalled
outdoorsshallbeelevatednot lessthan31/
2inches(152mm)

404.11Pipingundergroundbeneathbuildings. Pipingin-
stalledundergroundbeneathbuildings is prohibitedexcept
wherethepipingisencasedinaconduitofwroughtiron,plas-
ticpipe,orsteelpipedesignedtowithstandthesuperimposed
loads.Suchconduitshallextendintoanoccupiableportionof
thebuildingand, atthepointwheretheconduitterminatesin
thebuilding,thespacebetweentheconduitandthegaspiping
shallbesealedtopreventthepossibleentranceofanygasleak-
age.Wheretheendsealingiscapableofwithstandingthefull
pressureofthegaspipe, theconduitshallbedesignedforthe
samepressureasthepipe. Suchconduit extendability less
than4inches(102mm)outsidethebuilding, shall bevented
abovegradetotheoutdoors,andshallbeinstalledsoastopre-
venttheentranceofwaterandinsects.Theconduitshallbepro-
tectedfromcorrosioninaccordancewithSection404.8.