Can I install a new gas dryer by myself? July 29, PM Subscribe Twelve years ago, when I bought this house, I had a gas line run from the kitchen to my new stacked one-piece washer and gas dryer. The plumber who installed the gas line hooked up my dryer.
Now the washer has died and I have ordered a new laundry set - a front loading washer and hookup gas dryer that will stack.
They are due to be delivered next week. The delivery people from Lowe's will not detach the old dryer from the gas line or attach the new dryer to it. Lowe's recommends that I hire a plumber, but I think that's overkill.
Besides, I don't want to pay a plumber to stand around and wait for the delivery. I also don't want to pay a plumber to make two separate trips - one to uninstall and another to install. I have good mechanical skills and I'm pretty handy around the house. As a single woman homeowner, I have to be. I can easily install a light fixture or electrical outlet, for example, and when Dryer was younger I repaired Selectric typewriters and built and repaired computers. I have these pliers and these pliers dating site strings no other tools.
I have regular teflon tape and I can buy the special gas tape if necessary. I know how to check for leaks with soapy water and I have a good sense of smell just in case. Is this something I can do myself?
Yes, you can do it yourself. Gas shouldn't. The "ounce of prevention" strategy is very stark when it comes to fiery explosions. Best answer: I'm gonna go the other way: sure. Educate yourself, use soapy water to verify that you've made the connections secure, it's not a big deal.
I've moved my dryer, replaced my hot water heater, temporarily removed my stove for a remodel Best answer: I would try it if it were me under the circumstances you describe. Two of my children are volunteer firefighters. I know jewish speed dating you install it and call the local firehouse and explain the situation and ask if they could come by and check it, they will.
If you smell gas or run how any trouble, do not hesitate to call from outside the house. I had installed it properly and 3 years later we're still alive. I watched a few YouTube videos and learned how to do it no problem, just make sure you know where your gas cut off is and follow the safety procedures laid out in the videos use soapy water to test for bubbles, no sparks etc.
Best answer: I have installed water heaters, gas stoves and gas dryers. Shut off gas at shutoff valve nearest dryer. Pull out dryer so gas line fitting is accessible. The gas line will be a corrugated metal hose how copper tubing.
Remove fitting at dryer. There may be a slight gas smell from residual gas in the tubing. If you hear a sustained hissing or a strong gas smell, try to shut off or call from outside.
Partially install new dryer. Attach gas line fitting to new dryer. Make a solution of dish washing liquid and water. Turn on gas at gas valve Handle parallel to gas line. Again, hissing or gas smell, shut off gas or call Push in dryer to final position. If anything seems wrong, call or gas gas company or a plumber. I don't want to scare you. This is perfectly do-able, but you may want to weigh the cost of a couple of plumber visits against the possibility of your house exploding or of asphyxiation. You might call your gas company to see if they have a hookup service.
Best answer: Ditto to H21, you can certainly do this. I disconnected my dryer's gas connection to pull it out and clean the vents, and replace a thermal sensor gas had overheated. I closed the valve, then unscrewed the flexible connection, waited 10 minutes or so to see if the gas smell disappeared it diddid my business, screwed it back on, plied it with soapy water, and ran a load that evening watching it suspiciously.
Been fine for two years since. Be sure to avoid getting any grit or dust in the hose end, and if you see anything suspicious, stop. Best answer: I wouldn't hesitate, this is an easy task. Your gas company will almost certainly be glad to send someone out free of charge to do a safety inspection, so do that if you're nervous, but it's a single connection of a hose to an existing how, designed to be consumer-replaceable.
Attaching the vent hose to the exhaust with the big hose clamp while you're squeezed in behind the dryer, now, that can be a pain, but it's nothing you can't get through with a screwdriver and some cursing. Make sure that Lowes do the stacking for you - that's not easy by yourself. Stating the obvious. Turn off the gas tap by the dryer first, and after you've disconnected the dryer check that no gas is escaping from the pipe by using bubbles: I just add water to a bottle of dish soap and shake it well, as the dish soap bottle makes a good applicator.
Firefighter here, but also dyed-in-the-wool anti-establishment do-it-yourselfer. You jameliz onlyfans leaks join is nothing read more about managing flammable gas under pressure, and with the proper precautions anybody can do it. So far as making the actual connection, yes that's quite easy. However, because natural gas is invisible, dangerous, and subject to behaviors that are not obvious, it's wise to proceed with caution.
Natural gas is lighter than air, while propane—are you sure which you have? Gas can be released during your project, and it will distribute itself according to its physical properties and the immediate environment including air currents you wouldn't normally notice. A hookup lies in the fact that your olfactory sense, which is the only one providing you information about it, will not make a leak's magnitude and distribution fully clear to you. You could have more gas near the floor, or downstairs, than up by your nose.
Another difficulty is that like all fuels, its ability to combust relies upon a certain range of concentration with oxygen. Gas smells only because a chemical is deliberately added so you can detect its presence, but the smell does not tell you about its mixture. You could smell nothing, but a combustible region of gas could be in some other location. Because the gas can go anywhere the air can, it's hard to know if there is in asia filipino cupid ignitable mixture surrounding, say, a distant light switch, which produces a tiny go here on gas.
There will be an explosion whose consequence you cannot reliably predict. Yet another consideration is the displacement of oxygen by a cloud of released gas.
You can be incapacitated and thus unable to respond to an already dangerous situation. In theory you can mitigate all of this by turning off the upstream gas valve, assuming dryer correctly identify it and there are no unknown factors such as nonstandard gas plumbing.
But risk analysis is about gravity as well as probability. Professional natural gas technicians are trained in preventing and managing gas releases. Unless you have a really compelling reason not to have them involved, I would recommend it. To borrow a truism from aviation, the superior pilot uses her superior judgment to stay the hell out of situations requiring her superior skill. You won't be using teflon tape when you are connecting the flare fittings and the corrugated lines that connect your appliance to dryer gas supply.
The male end of the flare fitting is metal-to-metal with the female fitting, and the sealing happens there. The nut that holds them against each other does not need teflon tape. When you get your new dryer, rock dating punk the corrugated tubing how runs from the wall fitting to the appliance. You'll need a longer one anyway, if the gas dryer is going on top of the washer. Test with soapy water, like everyone says. Very slow leaks will look like a white material coming out of the joint, rather than big fish-eye bubbles.
Use two wrenches when tightening: one on the nut, and one on the flare fitting. Buy a couple of adjustable crescent wrenches. You'll use them over and over again. Single female homeowner here. My risk tolerance stops after "basic electrical writing" and before "anything dryer to do with propane or gas. But in the. Best answer: The installation itself is pretty safe and hookup.
It's usually pretty easy to turn the gas off upstream of the connection and you can turn hookup the main gas valve if all else fails though you'll have to re-light pilot lights for any other gas appliances that have one. As long as you follow all the directions you'll be fine. The key is using soapy water in a spray bottle to test all of your connections once you turn the gas back on. Even if there is a leak, it takes a while before it turns explosive but you're just the right amount of confident and cautious that you won't find a leak though we all know that you'll check anyways.
Go for it.
I don't know about 12 years ago, but when we had our first dryer installed about 18 years ago, they used a plastic exhaust tube. Theoretically a normal metal tube which is now required would have slowed down the burning a bit. So check on that. This is complicated by the fact that your nose gets less sensitive to the stuff they add to the lines to make it smell with time.