You will need an Edmonton plumber for a gas line bbq hookup.  Even though you can actually pull a gas permit and install the gas line for your bbq yourself this may not be the smartest thing in the world to do.  Afterall we are talking about natural gas is which a highly explosive fuel that can cause you many problems if don wrong.  Even when you do get an inspector to take a look at the job does not mean you are safe.

The plumber you hire in Edmonton should size the gas line in your house at the moment and size the gas line going to your bbq.  A gas line needs to be sized based on the load of the bbq as well as the load of the other fixtures in the house.  If for some reason your gas line is too small to handle the bbq then your plumber will have no choice but to go back to within two feet of the gas meter for the hookup.

Many bar-b-ques now can be almost as large as your furnace and almost always larger then your water heater.  When I say larger I am talking about the btu’s of the unit.  Most furnaces are around 90,000 BTU’s and water heaters are between 36,000 and 56,000 BTU’s depending on the size.  The BBQ’s that I have hooked up have been anywhere between 45,000 and 110,000 BTU’s.  That is a lot of cooking power!

Materials used to pipe a gas line to a BBQ can be type K copper tubing, black iron, plastic for underground, or a flexible gas line.  Any material that is used has a different load capacity than the other materials.  Your plumber will have a chart in his or her natural gas code book.  Except for the flexible gas line.  These charts are found in the spec books provided by the type of flexible line your plumber uses.

If you are running a gas line under ground you can use copper tubing or plastic under ground tubing with steel risers and a copper locating wire to find the location of the pipe in the future.

You will need a gas permit to get the gas line inspected after the work has been done.  Your plumber can do this here in Edmonton.

If you need a plumber or gas fitter for any reason at all please give me a call at 780-264-0878

and remember that you get what you pay for…

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878

If you are doing any sort of building work do you need a permit?

I was on a forum last night that people were talking about the costs of gas lines.  Everybody was saying they hire guys off of Kijiji because those guys were the cheapest price.  And better yet it these guys will do the work without a permit.  Great!

First of all I am not knocking any plumbers that are using any form of online classifieds to promote their business.

But, do you really want to save a hundred bucks and not pull a permit?  I hope you answer no to that.  I know that if you are doing more than just a gas line the cost can be a lot more than hundred dollars for a permit.  But the cost is all relative to the size of job you are doing.  Which means you might have to pay $150 for permits for $10,000 in work.  Do not under any circumstance pass on having a permit pulled.

To do so is against the law and can land you in a lot of trouble.  The maximum penalty for a first offense is currently up to 15,000 dollar fine and 6 months in prison according to safety code penalties In that same article you will see that they are trying to get this raised to a maximum of $100,000.

Do you think there is a reason for this or is this just a money grab from the municipalities throughout Alberta?  Yes, Edmonton makes a lot of money from permits, but this is not just a money grab.  I have been plumbing for 22 years now and I have seen some really bad plumbing and gas line work out there.

The plumbing and gas code books are exactly that, code, just like the criminal code is law so is every other kind of code book.  Always pull a permit.

If you go and buy a big fearsome looking BBQ for $2000 does it make sense to break the law to save $100?  Would you put $40 tires on your $60,000 SUV?  You could, at least that is your choice.

Enough ranting.

As a homeowner you can pull any permit that you want and then get an inspection when the time comes.

If you are hooking up a sink or faucet you do not need a permit, only if you are moving the fixture away from the original location.   The same is true for other plumbing fixtures within your home.  The one fixture that does require a plumbing permit is if you need to install a new water heater.  The same is true if you are installing a new furnace.

Check with the city as the rules may have changed since I have written this article.

Please remember you get what you pay for.

If you need a plumber or gas fitter in Edmonton, Sherwood Park or St Albert please give us a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878

Which system would you rather have in your house or garage forced air or radiant heat?  Most people would say radiant heat based on efficiency and comfort while others will say forced air based on initial cost.

There is two types of forced air heating systems.  The most common is using a standard furnace.  The second type is using a fan coil or water furnace.  Both of these use the standard duct system to transfer the heat from the medium to the room being heated.  The reason the forced air system with the standard furnace is the most common is because of the cost to heat each room.

The down side is each room is controlled only be opening and closing the register.  Another major downside is dust particles float through the air much more with a forced air system.

With radiant heat systems there is no air being moved around and therefore is less noisy than forced air systems.  If you want to isolate the temperature in each room you can do so as long as you put in a zone valve and thermostat for that room.

Radiant heat in houses and garages are often infloor radiant heating systems.  These can be placed in concrete, gypcrete or under the floor in a staple up system.  There is now another system that uses convectors under the floor to heat the bottom of the floor.  The best transfer method is through concrete.  The only thing about concrete is it takes longer to heat and then longer to cool.

Another radiant heat system is placing radiant heaters inside of walls.  This works the same as in the floor but radiates out from the wall.

Another system that is used often in garages that have already had the floor poured is a radiant tube heater.  These work great as the minute you fire one up you start to feel heat coming off the tube.  If you happen to work in your garage you turn one on before you start and let the tube heat the concrete, which will absorb the heat and become a large heater for you to work underneath a vehicle.  Just think of how the sun heats the earth and how the earth can keep the heat into the evening if it is cloudy out.

There are other hot water heating systems that people put into their homes.  Baseboard heaters use convection heat to heat the room.  The cool air drops to the floor and the warm air rises to the ceiling.  Once the process starts there becomes a low current of moving air.  Cooler air drops and moves to fill the void that is left be the warmer air rising above the heater.

Then there is the old cast iron heaters that radiate heat from the cast.  These heaters are more common in older buildings and can use hot water or steam from the boiler.   Baseboard systems can also be heated with hot water or steam boilers.

Back to our question of which is better Forced air or radiant heat?  Since I install radiant heat systems I am biased towards this, but for the most part if you want comfort and efficiency over cost then radiant in the way to go.

Always remember that you get what you pay for.

If you need any plumbing, gas fitting or hot water heating work then please give me a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Ever think about putting in a natural gas range or cook top in your house?  If you have used natural gas before then most likely you enjoy cooking with gas and will want another one if you should move one day.

How much do you think a gas stove will cost?  The price can vary quite a bit.  For instance I have just finished that installation of two gas lines in Edmonton for two different clients.  Both were more difficult then your normal gas fitting job.

The first one should have been super easy.  The kitchen was right about the furnace room and by the look of things I should have done that job in a couple of hours plus material.  Or so I thought before I got there to give the final price.  I get to the job, a past client of mine, and take a look at the size of the gas range they wanted.

Not the actual size, but the number of BTU’s that are required to for the unit to run properly.  Then we go down into the basement to discover that the original gas line was sized just larger enough to accommodate the existing fixtures.  Which included a water heater, furnace, and fireplace.  To make this job work we had to go back to within 2 feet of the meter and tie in at that location.  Which was on the front part of the house on the other side of the garage.

In total we had to run a new gas line 75 feet!  The cost worked out to around $1200 with material, labor and permit.  The homeowner said he wished that they would have known this before spending $2000 on the gas range.  UPDATE: Not to worry, I was just in his house fixing a toilet, and he is happy with his gas range and glad he went ahead with it.

The second gas line was for a lady that was renovating her kitchen.  Dustin over at High Grade Kitchens and Baths did a great job.  This job was tougher than normal because the basement was finished and had a drywall ceiling.  I measure about 6 times to make sure I was going to be drilling a hole in the right place.  Do not do this yourself.  I was able to drill a small hole, then get a light to shine down the hole to make sure there was no wires around.

I then took a longer drill bit and went through the floor all the way down and through the ceiling below.  Then downstairs I cut out a small hole just big enough for my hand.  I used flexible gas line to run from above and down into the joist space.  I then was able to get the line to slide a couple of feet over to the furnace room, and put up the hangers to hold it in place.  I then covered the ceiling hole with a return air vent that would now act as a access panel.

She was so happy that she did not have to patch the ceiling anywhere as before the job started I said I may need to cut out a few holes.

Always remember “You get what you pay for”

If you need a fair price on any plumbing or gas fitting work please give me a call at 780-264-0878

Thanks,

Kelly

Kramer Plumbing and Radiant Heat

249 Grand Meadow Cres.

Edmonton, AB

T6L 1W9

780-264-0878