Gas line pipe installer
lurker: i think it is the gas line issue. this conversation on here comes about right when they were sentencing those folks in the city to prison time for the gas leak and explosion (and deaths) some years back on second ave.
quite a number of years ago, i was interviewed for a job in a building and was asked “would you be willing to run a gas line?”. I am not a plumber and they knew that and i could not believe i was being asked if i would do such a thing. these were senior management willing to put unsuspecting lives at risk. i told them they needed a licensed plumber; the interview seemed to end right there.
Taking what gennady and chris petri and MP say, it is about time the authorities got serious about this and hold people at all levels accountable, from management right down to the guy doing the work; in the past when things went wrong in these situations, there would be a lot of finger pointing between the management and employee and if someone can pass blame, they will. but no more.
stevecym
in General Discussion 5 years and 9 months ago
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aqueenlee | 5 years and 10 months ago
Happy New Year everyone! Looking for vendor recommendations. I need to replace gas line pipes for stove gas and furnace gas from a 3rd floor apt to the basement. Right now the gas is shut off. Any $$ guesstimates would also be appreciated. Thank you for your help
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 10 months ago
That happy new year is actually quite ironic. The laws in the city changed this year (on 1/1/20) so the number of people who can legally do that work just plummeted and therefore the cost of it just skyrocketed.
And do you mean furnace or boiler? If it is a Furnace there is a lot of legal paperwork back-work to do as well.
hkapstein | 5 years and 10 months ago
Gas is getting ridiculous. You might consider switching to an electric stove and minisplit heat, especially if the apt is set up for forced air anyway.
cate | 5 years and 10 months ago
In the past, you would need a licensed plumber whose licenses include gas piping. Chris Petri, has that changed?
cate | 5 years and 10 months ago
How long has the gas been shut off? If it’s been a while, you may encounter difficulty getting gas service from National Grid.
GreenThinker | 5 years and 10 months ago
I second switching to electric stoves. I put in 3 induction stoves for a rental building. Works well, and if you don’t cook often, it saves you the 20-25 dollars a month you’d have to pay for gas service, even if you barely use any. Leave the Boiler/Furnace on gas though, electric is way too expensive to be heating up a whole building. But since the equipment is in the cellar, close to the gas meter, you won’t spend that much running a gas line.
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 10 months ago
Urbandad – Gas is not getting ridiculous, it is simply getting smarter. New York was one of the few places where the owner has to hold a license but any Joe Schmo could be the one doing the work. They are finally changing this.
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 10 months ago
Cat- It has changed. As said above: the company you hire needs to have a Master Plumber License and now the person doing the work has to hold a Gas Qualified License. Essentially the person doing the work has proven to worked five years minimum in Plumbing while also passing a test on Gas Code. There are not many individuals who have this currently.
hkapstein | 5 years and 10 months ago
@Greenthinker, I was thinking the furnace was on the 3rd floor the way it was described. Could be easy to put in a minisplit on the roof, and the new ones are pretty efficient, plus the tenant probably pays for heat if that is the case. If furnace serves the whole building from the basement, then I agree, but also the gas work will be much less anyway. Induction stoves are very good, and you won’t have to send the stove knob cover notice every year, and it’s probably a little safer. The drawback is you need a 40amp hookup, but you save dealing with gas line inspections, another new feature of the gas law.
@Chris Petri, in my opinion, the gas is getting dumber, not smarter. Not just any Schmo could do the work, that schmo had to be on the payroll for a licensed master plumber. No gas work done properly following these rules has ever resulted in an accident. On the contrary, serious accidents have happened where an MP was “covering,” ie (doing the paperwork), for other unlicensed workers. This usually happened because the burden of actually using a licensed plumbing con tractor was so high that unlicensed workers were used. Now with a gas card required, it’s basically certain that more folks will try to sidestep the rules, and either get the work covered, or just not file at all where a service change isn’t needed. I would also add, it isn’t that hard to do gas work safely, it’s been done for over a century in New York with relatively few accidents, and 5 years experience is completely insane.
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 10 months ago
I retract my opinion on the Gas Laws as it will not further the answer of the original post and I am not here to debate opinions.
Yes running new Gas Lines will be costly due to new legislation. You can find some great vendors using the Master Plumber Council website. I suggest beginning there.
hkapstein | 5 years and 10 months ago
Ok let’s move on to cost. Assuming no surpises, I’d guess it’s one day of work for a journeyman and assistant(who can’t touch the pipes), plus inspection and paperwork. Probably an LAA gets pulled. So let’s say the paperwork costs 500, and the labor 1k, and the profit and overhead and materials maybe 2k, that might put you around 3500. Then you’ll need some carpentry done to repair the drywall. That’s very rough, Chris how did I do?
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 10 months ago
Without seeing it, it is very difficult to say. Too many open ended questions to provide anything concrete. I am just saying that with the change in laws I would expect more than whatever any assumption would be.
Lurker | 5 years and 10 months ago
Not to be the frownstoner, but any of these elite plumbers have you over a barrel so I would budget conservatively. I had a plumber quote me 7500 to 10 grand just to clear up paperwork issues with an existing code-compliant install with little to no labor. Just to file an LAA my plumber charged 1250 which was pretty standard
cate | 5 years and 10 months ago
Urbandad’s estimate sounds in the ballpark to me.
Lurker | 5 years and 10 months ago
If you can find a plumber who will file paperwork for $500 I would very much like their number. And if you can find a plumber, most of whom charge several hundred bucks an hour (and sometimes travel time), to do black pipe work across multiple floors, for multiple outlets, and then sit for a pressure test and then show up again for an inspection, and then possibly a follow-up if they fail (and who knows, maybe another), for $1,000 plus materials, then I very much want to hire that plumber. If you are that licensed master plumber who is gas certified, please call me!
hkapstein | 5 years and 10 months ago
If the piping is complex, it could take more labor than I guessed. I had two of these done once and it took about half a day, but as Chris points out, you can’t really price accurately without seeing what is involved. I know you could pay a lot more than I paid, and there is definitely a learning curve with this stuff.
aqueenlee | 5 years and 9 months ago
Thank you all for the input, it is appreciated. I have a Master Plumber from Stanley Lewis P & H coming today to assess the situation. I will let you know the $$ quote. As an FYI. National Grid already reviewed my case & said that since the pipes from the 3rd floor go straight down with no complex pipe configuration this should be a straight forward job.
Has anyone dealt with Stanley Lewis? Any comments about working with them are welcome.
ellenlourie | 5 years and 9 months ago
That is an interesting conversation.
Chris forgot to mention, that work on gas meter piping now requires a federal license, and NYC plumbing license is not recognized by federal government.
Every single person in the company, working on gas meters and gas meter piping must obtain this license. These plumbers must have proof of 5 years experience working under master plumber and pass 1 practical and 3 written tests.
Also he forgot to mention that there are periodical mandatory gas lines inspections.
Plumbers with gas qualifications are subject to random drug and alcohol testing.
To be gas qualified, plumbers must work for master plumber minimum 5 years, be registered journeyman and pass written exam, but some of them can not read and write in english. So forget about these non english speaking plumbers. No more. That is a new reality.
To change any gas appliance from now on the homeowner will need to hire license plumber. Only licensed plumber or his gas qualified employee can turn on and off that gas appliance valve.
Violation of these rules are punishable $5,00 0 personally to employee and $12,000 for employer per violation, with follow up investigation of plumbers business practices, meaning going through all previous jobs.
OP, are you still looking for a bargain?
hkapstein | 5 years and 9 months ago
What about the limited gas work qualification Gennady? I’ve not heard about the federal requirement, sounds like it might not apply to this. I’m not sure the periodic inspections are required for 1-family and 2-families. But even all that said I recomended the OP consider going with an electrical system in an earlier post. The city and state don’t want us using gas anymore, and why fight them if you have a way out.
Stanley Lewis is ok. They probably won’t be on the cheaper side, but they have a decent reputation. They have 2.5 stars on yelp, which is pretty good for a NYC plumber.