Gas Stove, Dryer and Appliance Hookups in Spartanburg, SC

Every gas appliance gets its own manual shutoff valve. The fuel gas code puts it in the same room as the appliance, within 6 feet of it, and where you can reach it without moving the appliance or tearing anything out. Behind a range that usually means a valve low on the wall or in the base cabinet next to it, so the range can be shut off without pulling it out.

Downstream of the valve is the connector. It must be listed for gas appliance connections, sized for the appliance's BTU rating, no longer than the listing allows, and installed without kinks or sharp bends. It cannot pass through a wall, floor or cabinet or be hidden in the appliance housing. On a range that slides in and out, there has to be enough slack that the connector flexes rather than stretching.

Finally, every new connection is checked with a leak solution and an electronic detector with the gas on, then each burner is lit and the flame checked. A good flame on natural gas is crisp and blue; lazy yellow flame or soot means something is off with the setup or the fuel.

A sediment trap, also called a drip leg, is a short capped pipe nipple below a tee at the appliance inlet. Gas changes direction at the tee, and any scale, dirt or moisture in the line drops into the capped leg instead of into the appliance's gas valve.

The code requires a sediment trap at the inlet of most gas appliances, including water heaters and furnaces, as close to the inlet as practical. It makes exceptions for a few appliances, among them ranges, clothes dryers, outdoor grills and decorative vented appliances like gas logs. Manufacturers can still call for one, and their instructions control, so we check the book that came with the unit.

A water heater without a sediment trap is a common home-inspection finding. When we replace or reconnect a water heater, it gets one.

Natural gas and propane burn differently and are delivered at different pressures, so the orifices that meter gas into each burner and the regulator inside the appliance are set for one fuel. An appliance set for natural gas running on propane gets far too much fuel; one set for propane running on natural gas gets far too little.

Many ranges and dryers can be converted with a manufacturer's kit, and many ranges ship with the propane parts in the box. Conversion means swapping or adjusting the burner orifices, changing or flipping the regulator, adjusting the oven and broil burners and the low simmer settings, and labeling the appliance for the fuel it now burns. It is a job for a qualified technician, and the kit instructions are specific to the model.

Water heaters are different. Many gas water heaters cannot be field-converted at all and must be bought for the correct fuel. Check the rating plate before it is delivered. In much of rural Cherokee County and the edges of Spartanburg County, homes run on propane, so this mix-up is common.

A swap of a range for a range or a dryer for a dryer rarely changes the load. Adding an appliance does. A gas range where there was electric, a tankless water heater in place of a tank, or a second appliance teed into an existing branch can push the line past what it was sized to deliver.

When that happens, nothing leaks. The new appliance or the ones already on the line simply do not get enough gas when several run at once: a tankless unit that throws an error mid-shower, a furnace that short-cycles on a cold morning, a range burner that will not hold a full flame. We check the BTU load against the pipe size and length before connecting. If the line is too small, we say so and quote the line work separately.