Most houses in Boiling Springs went up between the 1990s and today, in subdivisions off Highway 9 and the roads that branch from it. Builders made different choices about gas. Some homes got a gas furnace, water heater and range from day one. Others got gas only to a fireplace, and plenty got none at all.
So the typical gas line job here is an addition to a fairly young house: a range in a kitchen that was built electric, logs in a fireplace that was framed for them, a stub on the patio for a grill, or a tankless heater replacing an aging tank. The pipe in the walls is usually in good shape. The question is whether there is enough of it, and whether gas is on the street at all.
Boiling Springs is unincorporated, so there is no town permit office. Every new gas line here is permitted and inspected by Spartanburg County Building Codes, and we file it as part of the job.
We are based in Spartanburg, a short drive down Highway 9, and we plan these jobs with you before anything is ordered. A range, a set of logs and a grill line are often cheaper to run together in one trip than as three separate projects over three years.
First question: is there a main on your street?
Piedmont Natural Gas runs distribution lines through the area, including along Highway 9, but not every subdivision was built with a main. If your neighbors have gas meters on the side of their houses, there is a good chance gas is available. If nobody on the street does, there may not be.
Piedmont can confirm service at your address and, if a main is close, set a meter and service line. That part is on their schedule, so it is worth asking early. Homes without a main can still run gas appliances on propane from a tank in the yard.
Checking what the builder installed
Builders size gas piping for the appliances in the original plan, with little room to spare. A house plumbed for a furnace and a water heater may have a main trunk that cannot also carry a range, logs and a grill without starving something on a cold morning.
We start at the meter and follow the pipe: material, diameter, length of each branch and what it feeds. In many newer homes that means yellow-jacketed CSST running through the attic or the crawlspace to a manifold. We add up the BTU load you have and the load you want, and size the new branch against the code tables.
Slab, crawlspace and two-story routes
The route decides most of the effort. In a crawlspace home, a new line can usually reach the kitchen or the hearth from below. On a slab, the line typically comes through the attic and drops down inside a wall, or runs along the outside of the house in protected pipe.
Two-story homes with an upstairs laundry or a second-floor fireplace add vertical runs through the framing. CSST handles those well, and every CSST system gets bonded to the electrical grounding as its manufacturer requires.
Trenching around a septic field
Many Boiling Springs homes are on septic. Before we trench a gas line to a grill, fire pit or detached garage, we need to know where the tank and drain field lines are, because a trench across a drain line can damage it and a gas pipe should not share that ground.
Your septic permit or as-built drawing usually shows the layout. SC811 will not mark it, since it is private, and it will not mark existing private gas lines past the meter either.
- Find the septic tank lid and the drain field area first
- Call SC811 to mark utility lines, free and required before digging
- Locate any private buried lines separately
- Route the new gas line around all of them
In Boiling Springs specifically
County permit, county inspector
Permits come from Spartanburg County Building Codes on North Church Street in Spartanburg. A county inspector sees the pressure test before the line is covered or connected.
Propane where mains stop
On the rural edges and in some subdivisions, gas means propane. The piping is similar, but appliances need propane orifices, and your propane company sets the regulator at the tank.
Gas-ready fireplaces
Many homes here have a factory-built fireplace with a gas stub or key valve already in place. Sometimes the stub was never connected to anything and still needs a test before use.
Meter capacity
A house that adds a tankless heater, a range and logs may outgrow its meter. Piedmont decides whether to upgrade it, and we flag it before you buy appliances.
How a gas line install runs
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Walk the job and add up the load
We look at the meter or tank, the existing piping and every appliance on it, and work out where the new line should tie in and what size it needs to be.
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Pull the permit
Gas piping is permitted work. We file with whichever building department covers your address, the City of Spartanburg or the county.
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Run the line
In the right material for each stretch, with a shutoff valve and a sediment trap at the appliance, supported and protected where it passes through framing.
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Pressure test
The new piping is capped and pressurized with air and held on a gauge. Under the fuel gas code the test is at least one and a half times the working pressure, never below 3 psi, for at least 10 minutes. Many inspectors ask for more. It has to hold with no drop.
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Inspection
The inspector sees the test on the gauge and checks the installation before anything is concealed or connected.
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Connect, purge, light and check
We connect the appliance, purge air from the line, light it, and check the flame and the connections for leaks. Every other appliance on the line gets relit and checked as well.
The full guide to gas line installation, and everything else about plumbing and gas in Boiling Springs.