I’m doing major landscaping work which includes dropping the propane tank about 4’ and putting in a retaining wall behind it.  While slowly digging with the shovel and excavator....  I hit it anyway.  On Saturday when everyone is closed.  We are about 60 miles from a metro area, but any specialty suppliers were closed anyway, and as I found out today, they won’t sell to me anyway.  Liability they say....

So I’m writing a $300 check for someone to show up Tuesday morning and spend 10 minutes installing a splice.

And that’s just fine.  After bad propane installation costing me nearly everything a few years ago, I’m not going to complain about the cold showers for the last three days.  If that other jackass had known what he was doing nearly two decades ago, my life would be very, very different.  Possibly not for the better, so I’m not complaining.

But freezing cold showers sure suck.

Ouch.  With gas explosions blowing up peoples houses in the news, I'm not surprised they want only qualified contractors to touch a gas line.

No fire pit or camping stove to heat water on?

These work great if you have clear skies and leave it in the sun for a few hours. I've taken more than a few "warm/hot" showers by my car after a long day of fishing.



These work perfect too, but take time for delivery. You'll probably be up an running before it shows up.

I don't know if a 20 pound barbecue tank is capable of flowing propane fast enough to fuel a water heater running full-tilt -

But if so, there's your redneck solution.

For your 300 bucks I'm assuming they will check the line at the house to make sure you didn't pull it loose. Worth the money but it sounds like you know that...

Already posted, but I will second the solar shower. If you have a camp stove or grill or something like that you can hurt it along.

Particularly with poly lines. The splicing technique involves some stuff that you have to be trained in and signed off for to have it be "installed as recommended by the manufacturer" which is basically what most areas and insurers require. Our guys get re-certified constantly to keep up with all the various products that require being certified. Usually it's pretty pro-forma stuff but it keeps all the organizations involved in approving this stuff happy. Some of it is not immediately obvious and not easily described. I do love the poly connectors though. They're basically fancy shark bites.

Can’t get what you need at Lowe’s or Depot?  I bought everything I needed to run a gas SST gas line from Lowe’s.

Was wondering the same thing.  Didn't realize you needed a license to work on your own gas lines.

Draw a bath.  Let the water reach room temp.  Boil a bunch of water.  Dump water in bath tub.  Enjoy a luke warm bath.

They expect you to take online training and print out a certificate, which I did.  And I actually was asked once about it by the cashier!  But didn’t have to show proof.  I think that flag was only on the tubing SKUs.

Anyway, training is as simple as watching a video and then you too can install gas lines.  

The real irony was my original gas contractor was too high on a bid.  Previously he did work for me that received solid praise from the inspector, so I was bummed he gave me a high bid.  After taking the training to DIY it, I realized his work was actually not up to spec!

This is the part from Home Depot.  It’s not even close to correct, but all I have is 1/2” direct bury poly pipe.  Apparently there are multiple types?  This stuff isn’t even close.

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I also hit this same line two years ago and the local-ish propane sales place sold me this type of splice, but won’t do it again.  There’s really no complexity to installing it.

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We tried that yesterday.  None of the fittings were correct so I’d have to do a fair bit of plumbing and add a valve in to keep it from back-flowing outside.  It just didn’t seem worth it....  till I got in the shower.

I’ve got a brand new Eccotemp propane powered water heater, with shower, that will run off a BBQ tank and garden hose ill sell ya.

My propane water heater died a couple years ago. Still haven't gotten around to replacing it. Cold showers aren't the worst things ever.

Dang dude, you might consider marking your lines better.

So this is at least the third time you've had some type of situation with the gas line to your home, and you're bitching about having a pro come out and check your Bob villa connections for a few bucks. Right. Cool.

You couldn't have taken a Dolly Parton bath?

Wash up as far as possible.
Wash down as far as possible.
Then, wash possible.

A quart of stove warmed water and a wash cloth; you're all set.

Yeah, no kidding.

When we bought the house it wasn’t marked and I hit it as I was trying to dig up a gigantic rock with my mini and the teeth slipped off and went through the lines.  This time the line was about 3’ from where I expected it, bad luck.

But it’s going to be really well marked in about two hours!

Not necessarily a redneck solution...

I was living in Long Beach NY for hurricane Sandy and a zodi camping shower did it’s job perfectly and was my saving grace for a couple of months

When I left Nam the last time, I made a promise to my self. "I will NEVER take another cold shower as long as I live. I haven't.

Blah, I live in a part of Texas where we still have the freedom to blow ourselves up with our own home installations of all kinds.  Freedom can be dangerous, but it is freedom.  I live in the country, so no one has to be concerned about me killing anyone outside my family...LOL!

That said, OP, how were the parts "controlled" in a manner that the supply house or a Lowes would even know what you were doing?  I'd be able to fix, splice, or add propane gas line at my home with off-the-shelf parts that no one would say "boo" about.  What's your gas line made of?

There are some places in my state where if you were buying a hot water heater, they might have some regs or such, but how did your parts tip off the gestapo that you were up to no good?

Does it have a tracer wire with it so that it can be found with metal detecting equipment?

Nothing to screw around with.

Yup.  Wise on their part.  Sorry, OP.

Yep.  I will work on stuff with water under pressure, and electricity, but I draw the line at gas (except maybe my propane gas heater).

that's a permasert fitting

Not too long ago we had an extended power outage. No power no well. No well no water, well you get the idea.

Three bottles of room temp water and one bottle of just boiling water off my camp stove. Dump all into a small bucket. It’s amazing how little water you actually need to get clean.

My local supply house would sell me an atomic bomb if they had a SKU for it in their system.  Some places are just easier about those things than others.  Actually, they're kind of impressed that I even attempt to do it right when none of the contractors in town care about that in the least.

Turn the water on, rinse yourself. Shut it down, lather up and then turn it on to rinse that soap off.

That’s how I take them when I have to.

Some of the comments here about not tampering with your gas lines at your house, I'll throw this out.  Each of us should know our limitations when it comes to mechanical knowledge and the attached safety thereof.  I am not...am not...throwing shade on people who know they are not mechanically inclined.  It is wise to know when to or not work on your car, home, or other potentially dangerous items.

However, think about this.  Most people have had "work done by professionals".  In most all of those cases where homes or businesses blew up because of gas leaks, so-called professionals probably performed the work.  Now, that doesn't mean other factors don't come into play in some of those explosions that had nothing to do with a truly professional installation, but I'd bet in many cases the work failed because of "professionals".

When I work on an engine, an electrical project, gas lines, etc. at my home, I sleep well at night knowing the condition of that project and how it was done.  Everyone cannot perform all of their own maintenance or repairs, and that is logical, but not everything is NASA level complicated in terms of danger and repair capability.  Some of the idiots I've seen come out to places I've worked to fix or repair things could hardly be accused of being "professional".  There are companies and individuals out there who provide top notch service and skills, but I contend they are the minority.

Fixing your own gas line if you have the tools and skill to do so is not dangerous in itself.

Perhaps consider wrapping the line in yellow split pipe.

Oh and LOL I wouldn't sell gas parts to a guy who hit the same line twice, either.

Nope, just the poly line direct buried.

He just left, all fixed and will be torn apart and extended again in a few weeks.  But at least that time the outage will be planned.

Warm showers tonight!!

Our digging here is incredibly difficult.  When I hit the line the first time two years ago it was while I was digging a trench for a water line from the main at the street to the back yard.  I've got an acre outside of town up on the mountainside, and we can't dig a hole big enough for a small tree without an excavator.  I've got a 14,000lb mini excavator and I ended up giving up on my trench and hired a large excavator- do dig a 3' deep trench for the last 50'.  In the process he dug out a few volkswagen sized rocks.  Trying to get my propane tank lower I dug up a rock the size of the tank, big enough that I had to roll it around and was only able to lift it with the excavator after I broke some of it off and lightened it up.

In other words...  It's really, really hard to only dig a trench where you want to.

On the high side, I have plenty of rocks for a retaining wall.