Capping gas line used for dryer

Hey everyone. Glad I found this forum. I want to cap off a gas line that goes to my current dryer. I'm getting an electric dryer soon. There is a shut off valve on the pipe. I'd like to do this myself if possible to save a few bucks. Basically, I wanted to know what materials I needed to do the job correctly. For now, I'd just want to shut the valve off, detach the line from the dryer and put a cap over the top where the dryer line attached. Thanks for your help. MJ

Is this a flexible line between the valve and the dryer? If so I doubt that you can find a cap to fit, and there wouldn't be much to gain anyway. The valve shut the gas off. If you want to remove the valve and replace it with a cap, then you would first have to shut off the gas main, remove the valve, and buy a black iron pipe cap. You would need to use either pipe dope or Teflon tape (Yellow for gas) to properly seal the connection. While this is not a technically difficult job, it requires pipe wrenches and some knowledge of how pipes fit together. From the nature of you question, you may not have these thinks and would be well advised to contact a plumber.

Most places MANDATE that an unused gas valve be capped, for obvious reasons. Assuming your valve has a flare outlet, to which the flex line was attached, get a FLARE CAP from any hardware or plumbing store. Make sure is it a flare cap, and not simple a similarly sized pipe cap, which will NOT seal. Although not required, I put a light brush of teflon dope on the flare, and on the threads.

Thanks for the help. I'm eventually going to have the actual pipe capped in the basement but in the meantime I just wanted to shut off the valve and cap it just for safety reasons. I'm pretty sure it does have a flare outlet. I've heard just shutting the valve off is fine as well but would feel better knowing there is a cap over the outlet. thanks again.

Out of curiosity, why would one go from a gas to electric dryer?

Well, I've talked with a few people about this and apparently there is not much of a savings. We got a great deal on an overstock electric dryer. I'd be interested in hearing some opinions on this. I'm not so sure myself.

Well, both gas and electric cycle by temperature, so these #s are probably wrong, since I don't know what the typical "On" time % is. Assuming they both run 30 minutes of the burner or element being on for a load:

Gas dryers I've seen are ~22000 BTU. Run that for a 1/2 hour and it's .11 Therms. Electric Dryer I looked at was 5600 Watts. Run that for a 1/2 hour and it's 2.8 KWH.

For me, gas is about $1.30/Therm. So a load of clothes in a normal gas dryer would be about 14 cents. I pay 11.7 cents/KWH, so a load in a normal electric dryer would be about 33 cents.

Lifetime of what, 10 years? If you did 4 loads a week, you're looking at .19 savings/load X 4 times a week X 52 weeks a year X 10 years = $395.20 savings w/ gas over electric.

BUT, that's $40/year difference. Less than 4 bucks a month. Not noticed at all by many people. You'll have to look at the figures for your dryers and your utility prices, as well as your usage. Those prices will definitely change over time, making prediction of savings/loss harder.

Oh, found a spreadsheet to better analyze this: http://www.jimcarson.com/a/gas_versus_electric.xls

A gas dryer, except in rare circumstances, is almost always significantly cheaper to run than an electric one. They cost more to buy, but depending on how often it is used, would probably be paid back in a year or so. If you have to pay someone to run new electrical supply to convert to electric, that could easily offset the cost of staying with gas on initial installed price.

Doesn't the electric company use gas to make steam at its generating plants?

Seems like a No-Brainer here!

Redwood said:

Doesn't the electric company use gas to make steam at its generating plants?

Seems like a No-Brainer here!

Click to expand...

May be a coal fired plant or nucular not that it makes any differance rates
still to high IMHO

Yea, I gotta love that Nuclear "To Cheap to Meter" electricity! Remember when they were saying that?

Sorry about the spelling my freind was talking to me as I was typing didnt catch
it untill you posted back Redwood

One reason to buy an electric dryer might be if your electric utility uses some alternative sources of power- i.e. solar, wind, or thermal. Or if you have your own panels, windmill, etc. Same argument for buying an electric car. Not sure what the exact trade offs would be for the dryer given the inefficiency of transporting electricity from the power plant. Also have to take into account the life expectancy of the dryer and how many non-fossil fuel sources your utility is likely to add.

kiteeye said:

One reason to buy an electric dryer might be if your electric utility uses some alternative sources of power- i.e. solar, wind, or thermal. Or if you have your own panels, windmill, etc. Same argument for buying an electric car. Not sure what the exact trade offs would be for the dryer given the inefficiency of transporting electricity from the power plant. Also have to take into account the life expectancy of the dryer and how many non-fossil fuel sources your utility is likely to add.

Click to expand...

Here in California. gas is still cheaper. I switched from an electric to a gas because electricity is expensive here. I also have solar, but there are catches to that. There are regs here that restrict the amount you can generate back since the power co's are required to buy it back at a higher rate. I think gas dries faster too. the bill adds up with a 3555+ watt drying element too.