Old steel gas pipe removal in 1930's house

[Tony59]

In a bedroom of a 1930's house there is what I assume is an old capped town gas pipe. I assume that it was for a gas heater which would have been removed many years ago. The house has a modern natural gas supply to the kitchen only (ground floor), feeding the boiler and cooker. The bedroom is upstairs. It is a 2 storey house with 3 bedrooms upstairs.
I want to remove this old pipe from the bedroom, or at least bring it below floorboard level so it is out of the way.
In the front garden there are the remains of steel pipes in the ground which are not capped. It is my guess that these are old town gas supply pipes.
Questions:
1) Is there a way for me to check if this pipe is live? I am fairly sure that it is not live, but what should I do to check? Perhaps turn off the gas at the modern meter, unscrew the old plug and try to detect a smell?
2) After confirming that it is dead, could I unscrew the cap, then try to find a joint under the floorboard to unscrew and screw the cap into that?
See photo to check what it looks like.
Many thanks.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Unless you have a current gas safe registration there is nothing you can or should do.
2. Get a gas safe registered engineer to do the work of identifying whether it is a gas pipe or not, and then:
2.1 Re-capping it somwhere below the floor boards. Nothing to stop you lifting the boards in advance.
2.2 Better, tracing it back as close to the meter as possible and disconnecting it and capping it.
3. Finding old steel pipes in the garden does not necessarily indicate a gas supply.
4. The original pipes were generally used when town gas was converted to natural gas. (Yes, I do remember it!)

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The original pipes were generally used when town gas was converted to natural gas. (Yes, I do remember it!)

They were in use much earlier than that. Our 1955 house had steel pipes, run along the back gardens, and quite leaky a just a few years ago due to rusting - For a few years leading up to them being replaced, we had Transco come along the back gardens regularly, with 'sniffers', inspecting for leaks.

 

[denso13]

1) Is there a way for me to check if this pipe is live?

All you can do is trace it back and see if it is connected to anything, you might find it has been disconnected. Other than that it needs to be a Gas Safe person.

 

[fixitflav]

They were in use much earlier than that. Our 1955 house had steel pipes, run along the back gardens, and quite leaky a just a few years ago due to rusting - For a few years leading up to them being replaced, we had Transco come along the back gardens regularly, with 'sniffers', inspecting for leaks.

I think you're misreading what OB was saying. Not that steel pipes weren't used before natural gas arrived (early 1970s), just that they weren't replaced at that point. Natural gas is less corrosive than town gas.
Reminds me of a Frank Muir story about that time. There's a knock on his door and 2 young men are standing there. They say "We're here to convert you" "Jehova's Witnesses?" "No, North Sea gas"

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think you're misreading what OB was saying. Not that steel pipes weren't used before natural gas arrived (early 1970s), just that they weren't replaced at that point. Natural gas is less corrosive than town gas.

No, read it correctly, it said 'generally used when town gas was converted to natural gas. That suggested to me that they installed the steel for natural gas. I just made it clear that steel had been in use long before.

 

[fixitflav]

No, read it correctly, it said 'generally used when town gas was converted to natural gas. That suggested to me that they installed the steel for natural gas. I just made it clear that steel had been in use long before.

I would think he meant re-used. He said "The original pipes were generally used when town gas was converted to natural gas." The pipes wouldn't be original if they were installed at the time of conversion. Perhaps OB will confirm.
Also after conversion for new runs it would be easier to use copper, no good with town gas.

 

[oldbuffer]

"the original pipes ...." meaning the pipes already in place.

 

[fixitflav]

"the original pipes ...." meaning the pipes already in place.

Thanks, that's what I thought

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Also after conversion for new runs it would be easier to use copper, no good with town gas.

We had copper installed, indoors, with town gas?

 

[fixitflav]

We had copper installed, indoors, with town gas?

When was that?
Town gas originally contained traces of acetylene which reacts with copper forming copper acetylide, a very temperamental explosive. I suppose it's possible that at some point the gas was treated to remove the acetylene, I wouldn't know. If anybody on here knows, perhaps they'll post.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

When was that?

!950's and I was quite young. The reason I remember it was, a bare earth wire had been run alongside it. There must have been some voltage difference between the copper pipe, and the earth wire, because it eroded a hole in the pipe, and ignited the leaking gas. This was run in the celler, by the front door.

I arrived home from school, let myself in, to be greeted by smoke, from the floorboards on fire. I was able to extinguish it with bowls of water, then turn the gas off.

 

[gas112]

50`s internal pipes would usually have been lead or iron/steel cant think of any houses predating mid 60`s that i have worked in that had copper internals

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

!950's and I was quite young. The reason I remember it was, a bare earth wire had been run alongside it. There must have been some voltage difference between the copper pipe, and the earth wire, because it eroded a hole in the pipe, and ignited the leaking gas. This was run in the celler, by the front door.

It had been a gas board install, of a new gas fire, not long before, with the pipe run in proximity to the existing bare earth wire.

My parents some years later, moved to another house, which needed an open vented gas water installed. They again got the gas board out to instal it, by now I think called British Gas. By when I had long since moved out, and living many miles away, working away most of the time. I would drop round very occasionally. Each time, I would smell a faint wiff of gas, where the heater was located, but I simply put it down to it being open-vented, but no one else could smell it.

One day, I decided to investigate the installation more closely, with a leak spray, and found every supposedly soldered joint, leaking. The British Gas engineer had used all chrome pipework, and fittings, and had tried to solder all the joints without removing the chrome from the pipes, before trying to solder. All it would need was a accidental knock to any of the pipework, and there would have been a major incident. I hit the roof with the local BG manager, but all I could get out of them was a written apology, and a promise that the engineer involved, would get 'some retraining'.

It defies belief, that any competent gas engineer, might assume it was even possible to solder chrome-plated pipe.

 

[fixitflav]

!950's and I was quite young. The reason I remember it was, a bare earth wire had been run alongside it. There must have been some voltage difference between the copper pipe, and the earth wire, because it eroded a hole in the pipe, and ignited the leaking gas. This was run in the celler, by the front door.

I arrived home from school, let myself in, to be greeted by smoke, from the floorboards on fire. I was able to extinguish it with bowls of water, then turn the gas off.

Quite an experience! It would be interesting to know if the gas board admitted blame, and whether the pipe was replaced, and with what, if you remember.
I still think copper wasn't allowed on town gas, but from your experience perhaps they were prepared to ignore the rules.