A.1 General Piping Considerations

The first goal of determining the pipe sizing for a fuel gas piping system is to make sure that there is sufficient gas pressure at the inlet to each appliance. The majority of systems are residential and the appliances will all have the same, or nearly the same, requirement for minimum gas pressure at the appliance inlet. This pressure will be about 5-inch water column (w.c.) (1.25 kPa), which is enough for proper operation of the appliance regulator to deliver about 3.5-inches water column (w.c.) (875 kPa) to the burner itself. The pressure drop in the piping is subtracted from the source delivery pressure to verify that the minimum is available at the appliance.

     There are other systems, however, where the required inlet pressure to the different appliances may be quite varied. In such cases, the greatest inlet pressure required must be satisfied, as well as the farthest appliance, which is almost always the critical appliance in small systems.

     There is an additional requirement to be observed besides the capacity of the system at 100-percent flow. That requirement is that at minimum flow, the pressure at the inlet to any appliance does not exceed the pressure rating of the appliance regulator. This would seldom be of concern in small systems if the source pressure is ¹/₂ psi (14-inch w.c.) (3.5 kPa) or less but it should be verified for systems with greater gas pressure at the point of supply.

     To determine the size of piping used in a gas piping system, the following factors must be considered:

1. Allowable loss in pressure from point of delivery to appliance.
2. Maximum gas demand.
3. Length of piping and number of fittings.
4. Specific gravity of the gas.
5. Diversity factor.

     For any gas piping system or special appliance, or for conditions other than those covered by the tables provided in this code such as longer runs, greater gas demands or greater pressure drops, the size of each gas piping system should be determined by standard engineering practices acceptable to the code official.