The Move Towards Natural Gas Appliances

It seems like it wasn’t too long ago when hearing about someone having a gas stove, dryer, or other appliance was a rare occurrence. It may be that many people believed that having appliances that utilize natural gas were too dangerous because of the odorless smell the gas gives off, making it a silent killer. Throughout the years, however, many improvements have been made to the gas itself as well as the appliances that run off of it. More recently, natural gas has become more popular as a fuel for vehicles.

When you buy a gas powered appliance, you may be doing so for a number of different reasons. Gas power is the more “green” choice as compared to the use of electricity. Not only this, but it also is a lot cheaper than electricity, making it the more economical choice. Many of the homes on the market are equipped in a way that either gas powered or electric powered appliances can be installed interchangeably.

If you decide to have gas powered appliances, it is important to have the right connections to ensure that the appliance is receiving the gas energy it needs, without becoming a hazard to the people living in your home. These appliances can be hooked up directly to the gas pipes in the wall, but an even better way to hook them up is to use some sort of flexible tubing. This tubing comes in different styles and can be used for a number of different applications.

Most of the gas flexes that are available on the market are made from stainless steel, are corrugated, and are somewhat flexible. These basic flexes can be used to hook up water heaters, dryers, gas fireplaces, and other gas powered appliances. It is important, when using these types of tubing, to not bend them in a way that puts too much strain on them. Doing so can cause the flexes to crack, which means that as gas passes through them, it will leak out into your home which can cause bigger problems. Some gas flexes have the same construction, but have a protective rubber sheet around the pipe as well, to avoid these leaks that can be caused from cracks in the tubing.

When hooking up your new appliances to gas flexes, there are different things that need to be considered. One of these considerations is how big the appliance being hooked up will be. Each appliance will have different size connections, so it is important to get the right size of gas flex to hook each one up. Gas flexes rang in size from 3/8” to 1” and sometimes even bigger. Another thing to consider is whether or not you have the right fitting to get from the appliance to the gas flex tubing. If you find yourself in a situation where the fittings don’t match up, many supply houses fittings that can adapt from one size to another (a smaller size to a larger size, for example). When I’m looking for great selection and price on gas parts, I trust plumbersstock.com.