How are gas pipes usually routed from the meter cupboard?

[TheWrightStuff]

Hello,

I want to hang some heavy duty shelves in my garage and I am a bit nervous about hitting a gas pipe. The wall in question is an external cavity wall (brick outside, breeze block inside) and the gas and electricity meters are mounted on the outside of this wall. I'm not concerned about electrical cables because they come inside through the wall, and then run up the wall just cable clipped to the breeze blocks so I can see them.

The gas pipe is not so obvious, however - What I do know is this. It comes up the outside of the house (inside a plastic protective sleeve) to the meter, then through the wall to the garage. The copper pipe then runs (for some reason) vertically back down the wall for about 4 feet until it disappears back into the breeze block wall where the pipe is cemented into a hole, about a foot above the damp proof course. I've no idea where it runs from that point on.

I'm guessing it either runs down to the bottom of the wall and routes under the concrete floor, or else it travels horizontally along the cavity inside the wall. Any ideas which would be more usual? the house was built in the late 1980s. If it's in the wall, I'm pretty sure it would be too deep for a detector to find, in which case I wouldn't be drilling that deep anyway, so maybe I'm worrying about nothing. I'm assuming that it would be in the cavity, and not recessed into the breeze blocks for the inside of the cavity (there are no marks to indicate it has been chased from the visible side)...

Any ideas? Thanks...

 

[stem]

I'm not a gas installer, but I worked on a project with a friend a few years ago who was. He told me that if there was a gas leak from a pipe inside a cavity, it would fill the cavity with gas, no one would be able to smell it, and it would create the potential for a very dangerous explosion. For this reason, gas pipework is not allowed inside a cavity. The only exception is where it passes straight through from one side to the other, but the pipe must be inside a sealed sleeve so if there is a leak it doesn't enter the cavity. Sorry that doesn't help you know where yours goes, but you can be fairly sure it's not inside the cavity.

You would probably get a more comprehensive answer from the gas guys. They tend to hang out on the Plumbing and Central heating forum, so may not see your post here.

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[Newboy]

If you can't see a pipe chase, (block surface is untouched) then the pipe isn't buried in the wall and you are OK to drill (as long as you keep your screw length under 4" then even if the pipe is in the cavity you won't hit it!)

 

[BigSnoopy01]

It won't be in the cavity, drill away you will be fine.

 

[dilalio]

Do you have some photos you can upload? From your description, it doesn't sound like the gas pipe has been sleeved through the wall!

 

[TheWrightStuff]

Thanks all for taking the time to respond. Sounds like I'm okay. Will get a photo...