live gas lines leftover from the olden days
We have been surprised by the existence of live old-school gas lines that once lit our nearly 100 year-old home. I’ve gotten several different recs from folks so far ranging from “it’s lasted this long without any problem,” to “get the hell out of there as fast as you can and rip up all of…
We have been surprised by the existence of live old-school gas lines that once lit our nearly 100 year-old home. I’ve gotten several different recs from folks so far ranging from “it’s lasted this long without any problem,” to “get the hell out of there as fast as you can and rip up all of the walls and ceilings until you can cap it at the source.” Has anyone else experienced this? Did you freak out (like me)?
Several years ago I had a problem. I’d hung a fan from the fixture in the ceiling and apparently disturbed the ‘live’ gas line. I got a gas smell and called in BUG/Keyspan who immediately cut off (and locked up)all service to the house.
I ran for a plumber who cut the feed from the basement and ran new piping to the kitchens. Problem solved.
You might not want this to happen in the middle of winter so my advise to you is attend to it.
Remember there may be no cheap way to get around this.
Actually, by the turn of the last century, gas lights with incandescent mantles (like those used on camping lanterns today) were quite bright. The fanciest installations had electric switches, so gas lighting gave electric lighting a run for its money for many years.
Yeah. in your basement there will be a tee or branchline that most likely feeds the whole house. Can you imagine how dark homes would have been at night back in the day.
When we bought our house the gas lines to the lights had already been cut off in the celler, so we didn’t have to worry about them. The GOOD thing about having [deactivated]gas pipes in the walls to supply the old lighting is that the ceiling gas fittings provide VERY secure support for heavy light fixtures.
Most everyone’s brownstone has these, just a matter of ensuring they are turned off and don’t contain anymore gas. Call a plumber.
It’s more common than you think. There are little pockets of gas left over in the lines. Get a plumber to check it out; they are very familiar with this.
Somewhere in one of our walls one of those old pipes developed a small leak. We had a plumber come in and run new gas lines to where we use gas today. We just left the old pipes in the walls, and only remove them if we uncover one. When we found out the light fixtures were haning from those old pipe, we were really glad we had the new lines.
Yes, I had live gas lines in my house that were once used for lights. I found out the hard way when I was installing an electric fixture in the ceiling. I took the cap off and was surprised to get a blast of gas in my face. You can have the gas in those lines shut off at the meter in your basement. Call a plumber and you won’t have to think about it again.