How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to call?

[MNPoolDreamer]

I just called our local furnace service people to see how much it would be to run a gas line from our meter to the potential pool site. I just about fainted when I saw the cost. 1300.00 for the line and fittings for a 400K BTU pool heater. It is a mere 1100.00 for a 300K BTU pool Heater. That is running it through the house instead of trenching outside. (plus that would be a lot longer run than through the house)

So do I call a plumber to do this kind of stuff for less money? I was hoping to only spend 500.00 on this. It doesn't make sense that to install a heater it costs as much as the heater itself. Cripes, I'd have to make that pool heater heat my home for this price!

We are in Minnesota, so I'm sure costs are a little higher since pools aren't that popular around here (we do have 10,000 lakes after all. I don't like swimming with fish).

Thanks for the help!

 

[257WbyMag]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

Did you try calling the gas company?

 

[Suziqzer]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

Wow.. that's a lot of money. Makes me glad I have a handyman husband!

I really don't know what the cost should be for something like that but with that quote, I'd be getting someone else to come take a look at it and get another quote.. or 2.

 

[JasonLion]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

It is common for the gas line for a large pool heater to be over $1000. The exact cost depends on a large number of factors, but overall it often adds up to quite a bit of money.

 

[Lershac]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

Ask a plumber. There are a couple of options on this. I have a 160 foot run to my heater location from my meter. The initial quote was to run a VERY large gas line in a trench around the pool and to the meter. After some reading and talking to the local plumbing inspection agency, I went back to the plumber with the idea of running a two-stage pressure setup... at the meter before the regulator they tee off and run a higher pressure (and MUCH smaller) line over to the heater, then add another regulator there to drop the pressure to house levels from street levels. I ran the smaller line myself through the attic sheathed in sched 80 pvc (the csst gas line run inside a sched 80 conduit for accidental crush protection) so all the plumber has to do is come out and make the final connections and testing for the permit. This halved my costs and will ultimately give me better performance at the heater. Long runs of low house pressure gas are known to cause problems at a high consumption device like a 400K heater, so doing the drop from street pressure to house pressure at the heater improves gas delivery to the heater tremendously. Thanks to the plumbing inspection guys for pointing me in the right direction on this! When I brought the idea to the plumber, he said that it was a smarter way to do it (not as much money for him though, which is why I think he didnt suggest it in the first place).

 

[Txmat]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

The key to keeping plumbing and electrical costs down is to find plumbers and electricians who are willing to let you do the manual labor part. How much of your Furnace Company bid is for work you or some high school kids could do? Take for example trenching - could a couple of high school boys with shovels do it for far less money than the Furnace Company paying skilled labor? What you really need the plumber or Furnace Company for is their expertise in design and final connections. Discuss this with them and also as Lershac did your City Inspectors.

 

[Speedo]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

My gas line is quite large, probably 3"-3.5" is my guess. It comes directly off the meter. The line is 120' long so it's quite far, after everything was done I thought, why didn't we run this through the crawl space...?

We did the trenching ourselves and still paid about $1k. About the same price as the heater itself!

I'm thinking the piping is higher quality and possibly some wasted money. O well, too late now. I still enjoy having the heater!

 

[Prav]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

I am considering somethiung similar for a grill. Have gas in the kitchen, so wonder if I could T off there, up through the attic, to the outside, then down to the grill. Different issue than somehting that consumes high volume (like the pool heater) - is that why you have to go thru the outside?

 

[wpbucher]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

I had a small high pressure (10 psi) gas line run to the pool pad area when we built our house. Everyone told me that hookup would be simple. I tried to get the gas company out here, but they were unresponsive. I found a plumber and this is what he wrote on the invoice:

CUSTOMER NEEDED 1" GAS MAIN FROM UNDERGROUND CONNECTED
AND HAVE PROPER REGULATOR INSTALLED FOR 400,000 BTU HEATER (
ORDERED ALL MATERIAL NEEDED)
(ONCE MATERIAL WAS IN)
CUT AND MADE PROPER TOOLING AND CONNECTIONS TO 1" UNDER
GROUND MAIN WITH SWING ARM (ALREADY THERE).
INSTALLED ALL NEW STAINLESS STEEL CONNECTIONS, SOLID BRASS
BALL VALVE, GAS REGULATOR, VENT ASSEMBLY, UNIONS, TRAP AND
CONNECTIONS TO POOL HEATER.
FILLED, BLEED AND CLEANED ALL OLD DEBRIS AND RESEALED AND
LEFT GAS BLEED TO UNIONS FOR POOL INSTALLER.

The plumber and a helper (2 people) were at my house for not more than 1 hour. My bill: $710

Did I get taken for a ride?

 

[Isaac-1]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

Gas lines are not cheap, about 10 years ago I paid $250 to install a gas stove in my kitchen, the gas was tapped off a gas water heater line less than 10 feet from the stove location and was ran exposed through the back of a closet, just a couple of holes drilled through walls, piping and bracing.

 

[supercanadian]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

I just had a line ran two weeks ago. I believe the run length was 72' of 1 inch pipe and had to tunnel under a custom concrete walkway. Not cheap! With the heater 250k jandy lzr model I think total cost was 5k. I got multiple quotes, did not go with the cheapest one but the guy who was most professional.

I'll post pics and pricing later on....right now I'm pool side using said heater 80 degrees....in Canada. In may. Love it!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Speedo]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

If my gas meter and electrical weren't on separate sides of the house an alternative would have been to move the equipment pad.

Yesterday -- Got mine up to 85 and it was too warm! I thought 85 would have been perfect. It was windy and 88, mostly sunny. 82 would have been refreshing I'm sure.

 

[wpbucher]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

The $710 didn't include running the gas line to the equipment pad. It was in place. Plumber just had to cut line to attache riser, valve, and regulator. Then connect to pool heater.

I think I found the regulator for $51. http://www.pexsupply.com/Maxitrol-325-5ABL-3-4-3-4-Line-Regulator-550000-BTU

The kicker is that for $710 the bottom cap is not stainless steel....it is all rusty...like they dug it out of the ground. Looks like a "re-used" piece.

 

[Lershac]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

The $710 didn't include running the gas line to the equipment pad. It was in place. Plumber just had to cut line to attache riser, valve, and regulator. Then connect to pool heater.

I think I found the regulator for $51. http://www.pexsupply.com/Maxitrol-325-5ABL-3-4-3-4-Line-Regulator-550000-BTU

The kicker is that for $710 the bottom cap is not stainless steel....it is all rusty...like they dug it out of the ground. Looks like a "re-used" piece.

I think you may want to look for a less expensive plumber next time, who itemizes his bill.

Good gas plumber bills for $125-150/hr normal time (not OT) and fittings are stupid cheap.

Your rusty end cap, isnt stainless (none of that is, its galvanized) and it doesnt hurt except in the looks dept that its rusty, but you may want to paint all of the exposed plumbing to prevent the rusting of your fittings around pool equipment (the chlorine promotes rust).

 

[CB]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

No,those are stainless steel nipples and fittings in the picture,they are just in their natural state (not polished)The cap on the dirt leg is just a cast iron cap as Lershac pointed out.You never want to use Galvanized pipe on a gas line,the galvanizing can flake off and stick in orfices,regulaters etc...

 

[CraigMW]

Re: How much does $ to install a Natural gas line? Who to ca

The key to keeping plumbing and electrical costs down is to find plumbers and electricians who are willing to let you do the manual labor part. How much of your Furnace Company bid is for work you or some high school kids could do? Take for example trenching - could a couple of high school boys with shovels do it for far less money than the Furnace Company paying skilled labor? What you really need the plumber or Furnace Company for is their expertise in design and final connections. Discuss this with them and also as Lershac did your City Inspectors.

This is the route I took. My original quote for replacing an old galvanized line to our 400K heater was around $10K! When the guy told me this, I literally laughed in his face. He said it was a very long line (about 150 feet) and needed to be trenched under part of the decking (about a 5' span). I figured I could just buy the pipe and do it myself. However, not wanting to mess with something that could go boom if I didn't do it right, I decided to have some handymen come out and dig the trench for $500. Then, I called out a couple of other plumbers. One could do it in yellow PE pipe, which is what code calls for around here. They did it for $750, with me doing the actually pressure test and hookup. I had the city building inspector check it out and permit the work, and we were good to go. So, this was not cheap and a bit of work, but very much worth doing it correctly. I still saved a considerable stack of cash over the initial quote!