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PLUMBING CONNECTION
AUTUMN 2015 79
various appliances in a gas installation work correctly – gas
at the correct pressure and volume, electricity and water.
When the regulator pressure requires adjustment, the
plumber/gasfitter must arrange for the distributor to attend
and establish the correct settings. If the plumber/gasfitter
has to leave the site while waiting for adjustments to be
arranged and carried out, this could mean additional costs
for the consumer.
The left hand does not seem to know what the right hand
is doing. How are plumbers/gasfitters supposed to ensure
that gas pressures at an appliance are safely tested and
adjusted (where the supply pressures are too low)? And who
pays for the process?
You can imagine trying to check every appliance in an
apartment building. Someone has to arrange access to
properties and get the distributor on site at the same time.
Co-ordinating that would be a nightmare, particularly if a
problem meant that supply had been withdrawn.
There has been no reply from ESV since I contacted its
representative in 2012 about these matters.
Additional confusion stems from the fact that any meter
installation after that time may be set al 1.1KPa in lieu of at
least 1.2KPa, and Gas Information Sheet No. 4 (distributed in
October 2013) covers “Allowable leakage rate for standard
installations operating at 1.13kPa”.
The ‘Explanation of terms’ section is quite specific that
the nominal figure for billing is 1.13kPa, and you should not
have anything less at the inlet to any appliance.
Because of pressure drop in a gas fitting line, it is hard to
believe that this would be achievable – unless the fitting line
was only 300mm long.
The term ‘nominal metering pressure’ crept into the
industry several years ago as the figure for billing purposes.
However, the word nominal is not associated with the 1.1kPa
outlet pressure from the gas meter in the Gas Distribution
System Code, so distribution companies have to supply only
that figure.
Unfortunately, it seems that the 1.1kPa outlet pressure
has become the norm, and the lack of gas appliance service
training in Victoria for at least 10 years does not help
matters.
Since natural gas became available, the outlet operating
pressure has been 1.25kPa ± 50Pa, as per the minimum flow
rates in pipe sizing laid down in AS/NZS 5601-2013.
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