# Roof top 2 inch gas



## dkonrai (Oct 19, 2019)

The kid and I, total of 8 hours install. Two half days we ran 200 feet of gas, 6 off sets.
Gotta love that megapress. The m18 is much faster than the rigid RP.









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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

nice and clean..me personally have my doubts about the long term stability of mega press on gas lines, especially any gas lines that bake in the sun to trust a thin rubber seal to last, but time will tell.....


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> nice and clean..me personally have my doubts about the long term stability of mega press on gas lines, especially any gas lines that bake in the sun to trust a thin rubber seal to last, but time will tell.....





Especially if expansion joints are not put in properly or the proper straps to allow for expansion in summer.


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## dkonrai (Oct 19, 2019)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> nice and clean..me personally have my doubts about the long term stability of mega press on gas lines, especially any gas lines that bake in the sun to trust a thin rubber seal to last, but time will tell.....


Agreed, 
Was told a 20 to 30 year shelf life? And yes threaded pipe will last almost eternity. Labor wise? I used to figure two men, four days for the gas run. Those off sets kill labor factors. 
Time will tell if the seals last. Viega has been around a long time and don't see them going away soon. The only leaks we have had were user error.

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## dkonrai (Oct 19, 2019)

justme said:


> Especially if expansion joints are not put in properly or the proper straps to allow for expansion in summer.


Proper straps? Is there something I don't know? Open to suggestions. Roof supports and clips is the way I was taught. We use cush a clamps for copper. Will flex in the boiler due to California no solid connections anymore.

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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

dkonrai said:


> Agreed,
> Was told a 20 to 30 year shelf life? And yes threaded pipe will last almost eternity. Labor wise? I used to figure two men, four days for the gas run. Those off sets kill labor factors.
> Time will tell if the seals last. Viega has been around a long time and don't see them going away soon. The only leaks we have had were user error.
> 
> Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk



I could probably do 200 ft and off sets in a long day 2 at the most, I use a rigid 300 machine with the quick dies on a cradle, that makes quick work of threading...
whats the cost for the press and how much for each fitting? do you use standard gas pipe or is it special pipe for the mega press?


then how do you take apart a pressed fitting if it leaks for repair or replacement?


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

dkonrai said:


> Proper straps? Is there something I don't know? Open to suggestions. Roof supports and clips is the way I was taught. We use cush a clamps for copper. Will flex in the boiler due to California no solid connections anymore.
> 
> Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk



Megapress has a whole section in their 50 page book about expansion. If what you installed is legal where you're at then that's good. But on long runs where are the expansion joints? We over size our pipe straps on gas on the roof to allow for expansion and contraction, so if you are running 2" pipe you install a 2.5" pipe strap or unistrut clamp to allow the pipe to expand and contract.


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## dkonrai (Oct 19, 2019)

justme said:


> Megapress has a whole section in their 50 page book about expansion. If what you installed is legal where you're at then that's good. But on long runs where are the expansion joints? We over size our pipe straps on gas on the roof to allow for expansion and contraction, so if you are running 2" pipe you install a 2.5" pipe strap or unistrut clamp to allow the pipe to expand and contract.


The good thing? All of our projects are engineered and city approved. Lol I guess the engineers figured the flex is the expansion joint? 
We have done them at expansion joints for garages and breezeways. Interesting about using oversized clips maybe we should swap them out for cush a clamps?

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## dkonrai (Oct 19, 2019)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> I could probably do 200 ft and off sets in a long day 2 at the most, I use a rigid 300 machine with the quick dies on a cradle, that makes quick work of threading...
> whats the cost for the press and how much for each fitting? do you use standard gas pipe or is it special pipe for the mega press?
> 
> 
> then how do you take apart a pressed fitting if it leaks for repair or replacement?


Sold off my rigid 300, also our shop machine was a rems auto unit. Used the funds to buy the mega dies.
Full set 2 thru 1/2 was 2400.00. Plus the cost of the press.
The bad, it isn't easy to get the fitting off. Nope no way. I've tried the sazall trick per the instructions, but that was a fail.
As for leaks? The only leaks we have are user error. So far I've been lucky.
Pipe is standard schedule 40 T and C, pipe. 
As for install? Your pretty dam fast, if there guys can install this run in a long day. Our labor would have been less, but the moved the boiler 50 feet and had to get fittings and pipe supports which is why we went back today. Fittings are costly 55.00 a 90, 95 per tee, 38.00 a coupling. However labor was actually 4 hours for the original run. Another 4 to lay another 50 feet. 
Last job I laid 200 feet of 1 1/2 buy my self in less than 2 hours. Straight run no obstacles vs this roof.
I find labor is at least half if not more using the mega press. Ymmv


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> ..... do you use standard gas pipe or is it special pipe for the mega press?....





The ridgid reps came to our shop and did a class a couple years ago. We called some other small, local guys to come too because we all play nice(then we held hands and sung kumbaya! jk lolz).


They say they are working on getting thin wall stainless pipe approved for megapress because schedule 40 is way overkill and of course can rust where the seal meets. I think they said in europe they already use thinwall stainless pipe. If they can get it approved it would be a real game changer. Imagine cutting gas pipe with a copper cutter that has a thicker blade. Imagine hanging a 21' piece by yourself.


Personally I am with you right now, threaded pipe is better 90% of the time. And a threaded joint will outlast their oring, not because of the material, the rubber is great stuff, but because of that small contact area and the pipe rusting. If we could use stainless pipe I would switch.


The major thing I don't like with press fittings is that fixing them later on is way expensive. If one joint is leaking than any others close to it have to be replaced too because you don't have enough nipple to work with. I have seen a 3" copper boiler manifold with 8 supplies and 8 returns done in propress xlc. One joint was leaking and cauliflowered bad. At 120$ a tee I would be so pissed if was the guy who bought that house. The boiler was like 5 years old.









.


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

dkonrai said:


> The good thing? All of our projects are engineered and city approved. Lol I guess the engineers figured the flex is the expansion joint?
> We have done them at expansion joints for garages and breezeways. Interesting about using oversized clips maybe we should swap them out for cush a clamps?
> 
> Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk



Different methods for different regions, if it passed where you're at then it's all good. Here in Texas it gets really phacing hot on roofs in the summer and a 200' run of steel pipe can expand an extra inch in 120 degree heat. Might not seem like much but imagine that kind of pressure on those megapress joints.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

BIPIKILATY said:


> Especially if expansion joints are not put in properly or the proper straps to allow for expansion in summer.





who are you? another handi hack with a key board??


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

BIPIKILATY said:


> Especially if expansion joints are not put in properly or the proper straps to allow for expansion in summer.


I have sent you a PM in regards to posting an introduction. Please do so. If not you may well be banned.

Thank You

https://www.plumbingzone.com/f3/why-post-intro-11368/


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

GAN said:


> I have sent you a PM in regards to posting an introduction. Please do so. If not you may well be banned.
> 
> Thank You
> 
> https://www.plumbingzone.com/f3/why-post-intro-11368/


I already warned him about 4-5 hours ago. I gave him the afternoon to do so. I'll wait after the news and eject.


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## MASTRPLUMB (Mar 22, 2019)

Back in the early 90's I had to run a 2" PSI medium pressure gas line up 
the front on single story building 200' across a flat roof and 1/2 way down
the backside to feed a combustion, device that burned the paint fumes 
coming out of Industrial paint booth, it left the air clean as new snow
because it burnt the paint fumes, after it got to temperature it became 
self sustaining :biggrin:


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## shortwiw (Jul 15, 2021)

You did a great job!


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

I will definitely stick to cutting and threading black steel gas pipe,to much liability to mess with anything different now


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## PhoenixRises (Jan 27, 2021)

sparky said:


> I will definitely stick to cutting and threading black steel gas pipe,to much liability to mess with anything different now


Couple of months ago I added a gas line for kitchen stove approximately 50’ in length. I used MegaPress fittings and everything went smooth. Tested it few times and it passed. However, with that being said I’m not too sure about MegaPress over black pipe fittings. It doesn’t seem very sturdy to last as long as black pipe fittings do.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

I prefer threading over press fittings too BUT as long as you clean the paint off the pipe it should be fine. Our guys have used a lot of mega press the past couple years, gas, water, steam, air, it's all been fine from 1/2" to 4".


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

dkonrai said:


> . The only leaks we have had were user error.
> 
> Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk


The only leaks we ever have is if they are shown on the blueprints 🚰🚰🚰🚰🚰🚰🤡🤡🤡🤡


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