Is it safe to cut this old gas pipe?

[Sismithin]

Hi all, I'm just renovating my downstairs pantry/store room. I have a strange very old looking pipe coming into the house that is capped. Above this pipe is the main gas pipe. Is it safe to assume this is the old gas pipe that can be cut? (See picture)
The house is a 110 year old cottage style terrace.
The neighbour has the same top gas pipe which he thinks was fitted over 30 years ago but no pipe below, what do you think? Am I safe to trim it out of the way back to floor level?
Thanks for the help

 

[Newboy]

Where's the cap?

 

[Agile]

Even old gas pipes should be capped for safety.

But there does not seem to be any cap there.

In that cause the correct procedure is to unscrew as much as you can and then fit a cap on the last screwed part.

Technically should be done by a gas reg but in practice...


Tony

 

[Sismithin]

Thanks for the quick responses. The very end of the pipe looks like cement has been pushed inside it, ther is not obvious cap its weird.
The only think I'm scared of is unscrewing it or cutting it and then having an unstoppable gas leak I can't shut off.
I'm pretty sure it is the old gas main but surely this would have been disconnected from the grid when the new one was installed...right? Haha

 

[Agile]

It would normally be disconnected at the street end but then a proper steel cap should have been put on it.

Tony

 

[FiremanT]

Are you sure that is capped? Looks like an open end to me.

 

[StephenStephen]

I had a similar situation recently - I poked around at the end of the pipe to clean off what I thought was a cap - turned out it wasn't capped, was open, and wasn't a gas pipe!

 

[FiremanT]

Thats weird, I'm sure your post about there beibg a plug of cement was not there when I posted, 2hrs after yours!

Anyway, it probably is dead. You could try phoning 0800 111 999 (emergency gas service), and explain you are worried about an open ended pipe, and they will probably send someone FOC to investigate.
If that fails phone a local gas safe guy, an explain the situation. He MAY agree to call at a reasonable cost.

 

[Sismithin]

Yeah it's a weird one, it's definitely cemented at the end and not capped properly. It can't be a water pipe as this goes into the rear where it has been since the day the house was built.

The strange thing is where it comes in was where the original Victorian era cold store was?

Good suggestions though guys thank you, I might give the gas people a call and see what they say and worst case scenario I'll call a gas engineer just to be on the safe side.
Bloody old houses!
Really appreciate all the help

 

[bernardgreen]

The pipe above appears to have a join between yellow pipe and metal pipe. If that yellow is the new gas pipe then almost cetainly ( but NOT definately ) the direction of flow is from yellow to metal which suggests the source of gas ( the main in the street ) is to the right of the photograph. Hence it is most likely the open ended old pipe would have been fed with gas from a pipe that was replaced with the yellow pipe.

 

[Sismithin]

Bernard good observations but it's the opposite way round. The gas flow pipe above comes from the wall so the flow is from left to right. A new pipe was placed outside the wall the other side which goes into the ground in the same direction as the old pipe.
So I'm hoping that the pipe below was disconnected when they installed the new one, as technically someone could have a unmetered gas main if they played around. I'm sure they wouldn't allow that. I might just try and knock the cement cap out and see if I hear or smell gas :-s I'll have some form of cap to hand just incase...
Here goes