Nicked a gas pipe

[Justin Passing]

I once saw a copper patch soldered to a gas pipe, possibly to repair something similar.
Could that be done to get the op peace of mind?
Or is it some sort of bodge?

Technically No, that's not an approved gas fitting.
MOst things like that are covered more or less well by "normative documents", like anything regulated really. Same way that you can't hammer a gas pipe closed and weld or braze or solder it up, it's not an approved procedure.
That one would be a British Standard or maybe its EU replacement.

A better bodge/easyfix, in that nobody would find it, would be to cut the pipe and use two soldered slip-couplings; one to go over where the damage is and one to rejoin the pipe.

 

[ChrisJP]

The downside of replacing the "polished" bit is that you'll then need two couplers - one at each end of the replacement section of pipe. This will mean 4 new pipe joints, and such joints have a greater risk of leakage than plain pipe. Unless your "nick" is really deep I'd be tempted to leave it.

 

[Ray1000]

If a person would feel better by doing something, what would be wrong with a perfectly applied blob of solder from a soldering iron, then forget all about it?

 

[mike42]

If a person would feel better by doing something, what would be wrong with a perfectly applied blob of solder from a soldering iron, then forget all about it?

Clean (wirewool/whatever) and then flux just around the hole then apply the patch?

Not sure - normally soldered joints in fittings are mechanically fixed inside the barrel of the fitting (the solder floods the gap inbetween). Does layering a bit of solder hold water (or gas) so to speak ?

If you were really bored one day you could test it on your own pipe (using water or air under pressure instead of natural gas).

 

[Ray1000]

I understand Mike, most of my similar soldering has been on slot racing cars and I’ve never seen any solder separate from the brass, copper or steel.

In this case there is no hole just a scrape maybe a twentieth of the way into the pipe thickness.

Ray

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Clean (wirewool/whatever) and then flux just around the hole then apply the patch?

Pressure in the home gas pipes, is only 20mb, or 0.3 psi, as referenced to atmosphere, which varies at around 1000mb. For instance, if the atmosphere were 946mb, the gas would be at 966mb, if referenced against a vacuum. For comparison, car tyres normally run at 30 to 40 psi.

So basically, there is very little pressure in a gas pipe, in the home. I'm not suggesting doing this, but a single turn of electrical tape, over a leaking gas pipe, would seal the pressure in - trouble is, the tiniest of leaks, can allow a lot of energy potential to escape.

Getting back to the OP'ers issue, I personally would feel safer - with the area of damage cleaned back to bare copper, and a simple blob of solder applied. That feel is preferable/safer than cutting the pipe out, and adding four extra joints to the pipe.

 

[mike42]

Pressure in the home gas pipes, is only 20mb, or 0.3 psi, as referenced to atmosphere, which varies at around 1000mb. For instance, if the atmosphere were 946mb, the gas would be at 966mb, if referenced against a vacuum. For comparison, car tyres normally run at 30 to 40 psi.

So basically, there is very little pressure in a gas pipe, in the home. I'm not suggesting doing this, but a single turn of electrical tape, over a leaking gas pipe, would seal the pressure in - trouble is, the tiniest of leaks, can allow a lot of energy potential to escape.

I don't speak from professional expertise but you're definitely not wrong. Get a U-guage and see how hard it is to blow 20Mb. Then rig up some water pipe with 3 bar pressure and try and blow against that !

If you want some real pressure fun, install an air sourced heat pump (aka aircon) and notice the pipes are pressurised to many hundreds of PSI.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Get a U-guage and see how hard it is to blow 20Mb.

No need, I have such an item. Just blowing across the end, rather than directly into it, is enough to register 20mb of pressure.

As I said, the risk is not from the pressure in the pipe, but from the extremely concentrated energy, within the gas, should a tiny amount escape.

 

[Justin Passing]

I'd say the danger - though tiny but somebody a tad neurotic might object - is mechanical.
The roughness at the end of a copper pipe can be bigger than that if you use an ordinary hacksaw. There's nothing anywhere definig how to deal with a cut pipe except to remove burrs from the inside.
If an RGI wanted to hide it, it would only take minutes and a one slip coupling. The hardest bit would be deburring the inside of the pipe in situ!
I a pipslice were used and the pipe were only feeding a cooker, then the extra resistance would be negligible to the burr would doubtless be left.

If a flame/solder access there were a problem I have an electric pipe heater as I imagine most plumbers would.
Then one of these:

 

[Ray1000]

I’m probably missing something JP but I don’t understand this in relation to the original question.
Ray