Introduction
You have bought a garage heater for your garage. But now you are confused about the size of the gas line for it. You can stop worrying about it. We wrote this detailed article to solve your problem.
What size gas line for garage heater?
To determine the gas line size for your garage heater, you have to take some things into consideration. Find out the BTU requirement of the garage heater first. Then measure the gas line length and pressure of your gas line. And with all that you can determine the gas line size.
Loved the preview? Let’s jump into the full process to properly determine the gas line size for your garage heater.
Proper Gas Line Size For Garage Heater
Heating your garage is pretty important when you live in a colder area. It is also a hard job to do so sometimes. But a garage heater makes it easier to heat up your garage and keep it warm.
Well, when you buy a natural gas-fueled garage heater, you need to think about the gas line first. Choosing the proper size gas line is important for installing the gas heater.
While installing your garage heater, you might be thinking where to install it. To organize your garage properly you might want to know about wall control vs omniwall. This should help you on that.
Determining the gas line size for your garage heater could be very confusing at times. Normally there should be an instruction book regarding installing the garage heater that should come with the heater. There you may find the gas line size.
If not, you should determine it by yourself by following some methods mentioned in the article.
How to Determine Gas Line Size For a Garage Heater
To support the BTU load of your garage heater it is extremely important that your gas line is properly sized. Otherwise, there might be some pretty bad problems.
Normally garage heaters have a BTU capacity ranging from 15,000 to 80,000 or more. So it’s pretty important that your system can handle the BTU capacity of the garage heater. And for that, you have to measure some things.
You have to determine the BTU of the garage heater first. Then measure the pipe length of your gas line. Then measure the pressure of the gas line. Watch out if it’s a detached or attached garage.
While working with the garage heater you might need Hazet tools. If you are wondering why Hazet tools are worth so much you can go through the mentioned article.
After taking all that into consideration you can determine which size gas line will be suitable for your garage heater.
Step 1: BTU of Garage Heater
Before you start working with the gas line pipe, you have to make sure the BTU capacity of your garage heater. And the BTU capacity should be ranging from 15,000 to 80,000 or more.
Depending on the BTU capacity of your garage heater you can determine the gas line size easily. Normally if the BTU capacity is lower than 35,000, a ½ inches diameter gas line should do just fine.
When the BTU capacity is more than 35,000 you can use a gas line that is ¾ inches in diameter. This sized gas line can handle a BTU capacity of up to 80,000.
To get the best from your heater, have a better ceiling. You can use R13 in your ceiling for a better result.
Step 2: Attached or Detached Garage
Well, in this step just determine if your garage is attached or detached from your house. If it’s detached the length of the gas line would be a lot longer than normal. If I’m attached things could be a bit easier.
Step 3: Gas Line Length
Measuring the gas line length is equally important as the other things. To determine the size of the gas line for your garage heater gas line length is one of the main factors.
If your gas line is not too long a ½ inch sized gas line should do just fine for your garage heater. If the length of your gas line is 10 or 20 feet you can easily use a gas line that has a diameter of ½ inch.
Things can be different if the length of the gas line is too long. When the garage is detached from your house you might need a longer gas line. In that case, the length of your gas line should be around 100 feet long.
While dealing with a longer gas line using a pipe size that is ¾ inch in diameter should do pretty fine. Even if the BTU capacity is around 80,000, you can use this sized pipe.
Step 4: Determining Pipe Size
After taking all the mentioned things into consideration it’s time to determine the size of the gas line.
If the garage is attached to your house, which means the length of the gas line is not long, you can use a ½ inch pipe. It will be able to handle up to 35,00 BTU. If the BTU capacity of your garage heater is above that, using a ¾ inch pipe will do a better job.
If the garage is about 100 feet away from your house, you’ll need a pretty long gas line pipe. For that, you should be using a gas line that is ¾ inch in diameter. Even if the BTU is high or low you can use this gas line.
Here are some recommended brass pipes for you to buy-
These are one the best ones out there.
FAQs
Question: How can I find the BTU capacity of my garage heater?
Answer: There should be a plate that will indicate the BTU capacity of your garage heater. You can also find it in the package of your garage heater.
Question: What type of pipe is used for natural gas?
Answer: Black steel is the common type that is used for natural gas. Copper, steel, and brass pipes are also used for natural gas.
Question: Can I use a PVC pipe for the gas line?
Answer: Well, the answer is no. You cannot use PVC or other plastic pipe or natural gas because there is a high chance of it leaking.
Conclusion
So here it is. We have given the answer on what size gas line for garage heater.
We have mentioned everything about what size gas line you can use for your garage heater. If you follow the step-by-step process you can easily determine which size gas line is suitable for your garage heater. Hope you get to the solution by following this article.
That’s all for now. Stay happy and safe.