Options to cap old gas pipe

[pgtips]

Hi,
Not a new topic, capping off gas pipes but this one is me asking what my options are.

My flat, haven't had gas supply for maybe 30 years now but I have this old pipe jutting out behind where my cooker goes.

It's a pain, it juts out over 3 inches so I'd like to cut it back and re cap it.
I've unscrewed the top and 110% no gas.

So what do I do. It's been painted a lot which I can start to scrape off but ideally I'd like to cut it right back and seal it up again.
Many thanks,
Kevin

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If you definitely have no gas in the property, then you can do what ever you like with the pipe. An easy solution would be to cut the pipe flush with the plaster, using an angle grinder, then fill.

 

[opps]

110%?

Sorry, just me being a pedant...

Can you lift floorboards and get Gas safe plumber to terminate it?

I appreciate that you say that you don't have gas at the moment but are you able to confirm that the supply in to the property from the meter has been terminated/removed? If yes, do whatever you want.

Worst case scenario- you move out, someone turns the gas on and a leak starts a fire and kills people.

 

[muggles]

Have to wonder what you'd have done if you'd unscrewed that cap and there had been gas there, because just screwing it back in again definitely wouldn't have re-sealed it

 

[pgtips]

Thank you. I'll cut it and reseal.

 

[Madrab]

I've unscrewed the top and 110% no gas.

Amazes me how some people just don't seem to care where gas could be involved.

Worst case scenario- you move out, someone turns the gas on and a leak starts a fire and kills people.

I'll cut it and reseal

It should really be traced back so it can be confirmed it's no longer connected to anything so the risk of the above scenario is removed. Cutting it and re-sealing it (if you can be sure it is re-sealed) is just potentially creating risk to others where it doesn't need to be.

 

[pgtips]

Amazes me how some people just don't seem to care where gas could be involved.

I said in first post, no gas. supply for over 30 years....

 

[opps]

I said in first post, no gas. supply for over 30 years....

Fair play, but do you want terminate it safely or leave it for someone else to , potentially deal with?

 

[HERTS P&D]

I said in first post, no gas. supply for over 30 years....

What, the gas has been removed from the building or just turned off?

Andy

 

[gas112]

where the pipe comes out of the wall that looks like another fitting just showing so unscrew that bit of pipe and stick the plug back in

 

[Madrab]

Fair play, but do you want terminate it safely or leave it for someone else to , potentially deal with?

What, the gas has been removed from the building or just turned off?

As above .... You have no way of knowing if that pipe connects to a live service somewhere that may just be turned off at the moment but could then be turned on at some point in the future. That pipe was capped and left there for a reason, if it was disconnected then it would probably have been removed at the time as it would have been redundant.
If you cap that pipe yourself and it is connected (or reconnected) to a gas supply somewhere and it's then turned on, there is the potential for a gas leak that could explode when someone enters the room and turns a light on.

I'm not suggesting any of this will happen and if there hasn't been a gas supply for 30 years then chances are it probably wont, all I'm saying is why take the risk? If it is known the pipe is disconnected then fire away but I don't think that's the case.

 

[gas112]

who would be re fitting a meter recommissioning the gas without testing up

 

[Madrab]

who would be re fitting a meter recommissioning the gas without testing up

I've been into a location before where the gas was live but capped at the ECV, they would uncap and connect the gas up without a meter (free gas), needless to say that was dealt with and the service was disconnected but they had been doing that for years.

My concern would be if it's actually decommissioned to start with, never a good idea to assume anything with gas surely and easy enough to have checked

 

[gas112]

I've been into a location before where the gas was live but capped at the ECV, they would uncap and connect the gas up without a meter (free gas), needless to say that was dealt with and the service was disconnected but they had been doing that for years.

My concern would be if it's actually decommissioned to start with, never a good idea to assume anything with gas surely and easy enough to have checked

YEP and we all have been there so what would make the illegal connection anymore safer than a plug without paste put back into a fitting

 

[Madrab]

None but that's not what this is about, this is about someone inadvertently turning something on and making a pipe live that hasn't been live for 30 years and since forgotten about.

I don't see the issue with getting it checked by a gas engineer just to be sure. How many mistakes have been made with gas when assumptions were made that ended up in disaster.