Galvanized Pipe for Natural Gas Piping

Steel is too brittle. Use iron or go BANG!

Black pipe! See Building Codes for Orange County or state of NY.

Strength of iron - v- steel - and I do not believe galv is to code for NG or LP anywhere for that very reason - even in "seemingly low PSI like 10 PSI". If they are concerned about rust, it'll take 75 years for it to rust through, if it's not painted, so paint it - gray since they like that galvalized look .

Must be an old time NY engineering company design

In Orange County, California you would be subject to jail for using galvanized pipe for gas lines. Reason Galv.(zinc) deteriates and causes flakes of zinc (small enough to flow with the gas) to travel "down stream" potentially clogging burner/valve orffices pressure regulatirs and such. A friend from NY told me most of their gas, at that time was "manufactured" coal gas without the same corosive/reactive properties of petrolium sourced gas. MY UNDERSTANDING IS NY is now principally supplied from oil field transmission lines. Check local Plumbing codes Here, same pipe as BLACK PIPE is used but has to be "wrapped" if underground. MR. GUY

The black iron (actually steel) pipe currently used inside for gas and the galvanized iron (steel also) pipe commonly used for water supply in older homes are essentially the same except for the surface treatment. I believe the following applies to these pipes...

"ASTM A53/A53M-01 Standard Specification for Pipe, Steel, Black and Hot-Dipped, Zinc-Coated, Welded and Seamless
General service carbon steel pipe is electrical resistance welded. This grade is typical Schedule 40 and 80 pipe. It is well suited for fabrication, and may be used for pressure vessels with pressure and temperature limitations. Often used for oil, water, gas and petroleum products."

At least one opinion FOR galv for gas...
http://wiki.answers.com/Q

You should check your local codes and ask your inspector for REAL information since there appears to be a lot of anecdotal information about zinc flakes causing problems with gas appliances. This may be true, but I find it interesting that the copious rust flakes I've seen in some old black pipes were NOT a problem.

I agree with mjb1962853 and ASTM. The galvanizing only occurs on the outside of the pipe, therefore there's little or no chance of flakes obstucting orifices. As long as the gas line was above ground and outside of the building, I would have no problem using it.

This thread really piqued my interest. I was a carpenter and general contractor in Palm Beach County,Fl. Always heard about black iron pipes, we were interested in it for use in pipe clamps. The galv. pipe would let the clamp jaws slip. I don't ever remember seeing the non-galvanized pipe. All the gas piping we saw was galvanized, flexible soft copper or the utilities yellow plastic. More than once we found what appeared to be direct burial galvanized pipe , corroded through enough to leak and kill nearby shrubs.

These locations were in soils in areas probably subjected to salt spray or salt laden atmosphere. These were natural gas installations. Propane is used here in some neighborhoods, isn't as common, I think that piping is soft copper, don't remember seeing a problem with it.

All these installations were in locals with very strict building code inspection and compliance.

I live in Nova Scotia and work in the PVF Supply field. All jobs done here that pretain to NG are piped with Galvanized pipe. Don't know if this helps but up here in Canada it is code.

all- i really appreciate all the info you have all given! the local codes here do allow the use of galv on the exterior/above ground. I have only been in the field for 15yrs and was always told not to use galv pipe for any gas use, really only use it to make stands or railing. i will continue to do such as i have never been let down by black iron but have replaced miles of galv pipe (water use, again because that is the only place i've ever seen it used). since the code here allows it and thats what the customer is asking for then i will use it but will have my doubts about it. in all my research on this i can say this....everyone has their opinions and preferences, but the the customer wants it and the code allows it, and if i can't talk them out of it, then ultimately it is what they want and we are in bussiness to make the customer happy while keeping them safe. Again, thank you all for taking the time and helping me out. everyone please be safe and never be afraid to ask that which you are uncertain on.

If I were you, I'd contact the Natural Gas provider having jurisdiction and inquire what they require in your situation. They may have to perform an inspection of your installation prior to approving a tap onto their gas main......is that Central Hudson Gas & Electric by chance in Orange County?

Also, check with the local Building Inspector having jurisdiction regarding code requirements. He or she, if they're worth their weight in salt, will know right away what the requirement will be.

Good luck neighbor!!!!

i did contact Central hudson and they dont care but stated that typically it's black iron. so again i will just give them what they want.....by the way i never did mention this before but this is a government job as well so it is all our tax dollars once again being spent well! we had already installed black iron as we (techs in the field) were never made aware of this requirement and would have never guessed they want galv used, like is said we NEVER use galv pipe. now they want us to remove and replace with galv.

Galvanized does seem like it would be better for outside piping. Zinc flake anecdotes aside, galvanized is up to 30% more expensive around here. May be worth the added expense for exposed locations, but someone always gets upset if money is wasted on unnecessary materials. That's one good reason to use the black pipe, at least inside.

In this case, the designers specified galvanized pipe. The customer is always right, even on those days when they are wrong. If you were a contractor, you would be eating the cost of the new materials and reworking to specifications (doing the job twice). If that added cost is actually just passed on to the tax payers, thanks for reinforcing the common stereotypes for g-jobs and thanks for that short, but painful, chuckle.

Black steel piping is what you should use. Your plans come from a college smart designer or a field experienced designer? the college ones are usually morons.

REALLY NOW "GUEST", WERE THOSE REMARKS OF YOURS TRULY NEEDED IN THIS FORUM. I THINK NOT!!!! And yes, I'm yelling over to you in case you're not listening or my comments go through one ear and out the other, hence my use of the CAPS....

I'll tell you what Mr. Guest, in my 32 years experience in the US Army (as an Officer in the USACE), the USAR, and later in civilian life in the construction industry I've seen my far share of morons and boneheads who think they know it all, from middle rank to Senior NCO's and to all levels of civilian construction managers, each usually taking a seat of the pants approach whilst thinking they know much better than the college educated Architect and Engineer. Usually, they fall flat on their faces because of their guess and by God approach and attitudes don't cut the mustard one way or another. Unfortunately, most of these turkeys have rather large chip on their shoulder(s), often aiming their aggression and bad attitude towards the college educated guy or gal who become their target-of-the-week. I presume this is happening because they didn't have the financial resources to attend college, and therefore, maybe resenting people who did. Who knows, I'm not a "shrink", but it happens way too often. I'll also tell you that when it does happen it sickens me, because it did happen to me on more than one occasion when I too was a yound engineer.

But I will say this much, there are many fellows out there without a college education, who are smart, self-educated, and have solid common sense and experiences that could teach a thing or two to a young Architect or Engineer fresh out of school. No doubt about it!

Enough said. Guest, I think you owe a whole host of people in this forum a great big apology.

Totally from a non-expert perspective, my understanding of material specs for gas piping was related to not the piping itself, which is steel in either case, but more so to the fittings. Galvanized pipe fittings were typically cast iron whereas "black iron" fittings are cast from ductile iron which has much greater resistance to cracking and fracture.

My gas company ran black iron pipe and fittings to the interface at my house from the meter and I took it from there in for distribution with continuing "black iron" material.

The use of cast iron should be avoided for gas piping, although I always wondered why galvanized ductile (the so called "black iron") fittings were not readily available for cosmetic purposes of outdoor use. This may have been industry policy to prevent mixing up cast iron galvanized fittings with the ductile iron counterpart used in residential gas service. I suppose that industrial pipe and fitting suppliers can provide galvanized fittings in ductile iron material if requested to do so.

In Ontario, Canada, galvanized is forbidden by code. You can use either black malleable iron, copper or "gastite" or a similar product.

galvanized pipe tends to flake and will clog regulators ect..

From the 2009 IFGC(S) (Internation Fuel Gas Code Standard) Section 403 Piping Materials does NOT restrict the use of galvanized (zinc coated) steel pipe.

Copper and brass may be restricted based on the sulfur content in the supplied gas (more than .3 grains of hydrogen sulfide per 100 cubic feet). That content information will come from the supplier.