What's this on my gas line?

Factual Questions
1

On the outside of a building, right next to the gas meter (and inline with it), there is always a circular device. I’d say maybe 8 or so inches in diameter, fairly flat, but in the center it slopes outward towards you to form a “nipple” of sorts. What on earth is this?

A web search for “natural gas” and “round thingie” yielded no useful results. gasp LOL

Off the top of my head I can think of no useful purpose this device would serve that couldn’t be included in the meter itself. Especially as large as those meters are already. This has been bothering me for quite some time. I hope to hear an answer soon, else I shall have to go outside and remove/dismantle my own to see what’s inside. Although I have a feeling that approach might be detrimental to my health, the neighbor’s house, and the common good.
Related question:

I’ve lived in the midwest my entire life, and have always had natural gas. It’s my understanding that natural gas is not a nationwide standard, it depends on in which part of the country you happen to live. Rurual areas aside, for obvious reasons, but:

It seems there’s either natural gas, propane, or “heating oil” (?) depending on where we’re talking about. Sure, some residences around here have LP tanks in their backyards in lieu of a NG connection, but it’s certainly not common. For those locales that do predominately use propane, do they pipe it straight from the supplier via an underground grid, or does every household have to have a tank and deal with the troubles associated with having it filled?

As for heating oil, there I’m totally clueless. I just don’t see how an entire area could economically use that for much of anything. I’m assuming we’re not running pressurized liquid pipelines to everyone’s house, but hell I guess why not. Might be convenient to have gasoline in our driveways though while they’re at it, eh? At any rate, this last option sounds little better than having the coal dealer show up periodically. (Nothing against coal; if it weren’t for Blue Coal [tm], I never would have had the pleasure of hearing The Shadow radio programs.)
Anyway, first question is legit, I think. Second one I think I can do my homework and piece together eventually on my own. Although I am eager to hear more personal accounts of how the stuff gets delivered in other parts of the country/world.

2

I’d guess you’re looking at a pressure regulator. Dismantling it would not be a good idea.

I’m not really sure I understand your question about heating oil. It’s similar to diesel fuel, and widely used here in New England, where it seems to cost less per BTU than gas. It’s delivered by trucks into tanks of about 300 gallons, usually found in the basement. Current prices are around 1.12/gal.

3

I’m not a “utilities troop”, but I’ll give it a shot.

Sounds like you’re descibing the regulator. The pressure in the service main is at “X” PSI (pounds per square inch). The regulator helps keep the pressure inside your house at a regular, constant PSI: “Y” PSI. If you take a look at other gas-fired appliances, such as a propane grill, you’ll notice a similar looking device.

I would highly discourage dissasembling said device, lest you leave what was once your beautiful home a smoking hole in the ground. I’m sure you would be quite unpopular around what’s left of your neighborhood, too. . .

Tripler
Hell, even on construction projects, I subcontract out that kind of work to the local utility company.

4

Thanks goes out to Xema and Tripler. Now that I know what term to search for, I can get some research done. (The first question is why can’t that huge meter regulate the pressure too?)

Anyway, Xema, although you may not have understood my question, you sure answered it. Trucks driving 300 gallons of heating oil to your house and somehow pumping it into the basement? Now granted I don’t know how long 300 gals lasts, but I have enough trouble being home for the cable guy between 9-5 once in a while. I know how often my S.O. has to have her LP tank filled, and it sounds like a royal pain in the butt! Sure, you’re independent as long as there’s heating oil in that tank, but then again you’re relying upon a company to come to your house and fill it. My natural gas pipes may “dry up” if something goes wrong, but then again everyone else’s in the city will as well, so eventually it will likely be repressurized. But most of all no dealing with employees who may or may not know what they’re doing, lugging around hoses filled with heating oil. I dunno… I’d just rather rely upon a highly-paid engineer or two than a few people in a truck who service my immediate area.

5

My answer to this?

[list=1]
[li]If your regulator crapped out, would you want to pay for a whole new meter? Easier and more cost-efficient to seperate parts in case one goes south.[/li][li]Regulators regulate so the meter can track a constant volume of natural gas. IIRC, the pressure doesn’t matter, but the volume of the gas does. There’s an impeller in the meter that ‘reads’ the amount of volume that goes through the meter. Imagine it like your water meter: water pressure doesn’t mean diddly squat (not to the meter, that is), it’s how much water passed through the meter. I could be wrong on this, but then again, I’ve been wrong before.[/li][/list=1]

Tripler
Again, I am not a utilities guy.

6

I grew up in a house heated by heating oil. Periodically, the big truck would show up out front, the driver would haul a long hose to the filler pipe, which was in the yard, and fill up the tank. No one had to be home for this to occur - the filler pipe was outside (with a screw-on cap), and the driver would just leave the bill in the front door.

In 20+ years in that house, we never, ever, ran out of heating oil. The supplier knows how much you use, so they know, based upon the daily temperatures, when you’re going to need a fill-up. During some unusual blizzards, there have been supply problems in some areas, of course - if the roads are impassable, and stay that way for long enough, the oil trucks aren’t going to be able to get through. But, like I said, we never ran out, and that was in NY state (the NYC 'burbs) - plenty of snowy weather!

7

Core, realize that you often don’t have much of a choice with respect to methods of heating your home. My home uses heating oil. There is no natural gas hookup to any house in my neighborhood. (Which is ironic, as there is a high pressure cross-country line passing within a half mile from my house. Nevertheless, it costs big bucks to build the infrastructure necessary to get natural gas to my neighborhood, and that’s assuming the pipeline company has any desire to do so.)

Anyway, if I want a gas stove, my only real option is an outdoor propane tank. For heating the house, I could continue to use heating oil, or I could switch to electric. Electric heat is notoriously expensive. As for heating oil, there is a great deal of competition. I can pick from dozens of companies, despite the fact that my house is in a fairly rural area. With respect to the company I use, they have never let my tank get below 25% full. And, no, you don’t have to be home to get a fill-up.

8

The main reason for the pressure regulator is to prevent high-pressure gas from being shot into your low-pressure house system in the event that a failure of the upstream pressure regulation puts high pressure gas on your house line. IIRC, residential natural gas is delivered at around 4 PSI, while the gas in distribution lines can run as high as 1300 PSI (although neighborhood distribution lines are usually around 20 PSI). The regulator simply ensures that the gas entering your house is not higher than the regulated pressure because overpressure in your house might rupture your lines or damage your appliances (or your gas meter), leading to a dangerous leak.

Excess pressure may be vented off at the regulator, so you should avoid lighting fires near the gas meter.

9

Also, a lot of times there is no pressure regulator before the meter but on the roof (commercial buildings) at each air handling unit.

10

Oops…I meant to add that therefore you wouldn’t want the meter to have a built-in regulator.

11

As noted by others, there’s no need to be home. The fill connection is always on the outside of the house. These days, a vent fitting will be next to it, and it must have a “whistle” on it. The delivery guy must hear air escaping - it shows that the fuel is goint into a tank, and not, say, onto the basement floor. When the whistle changes tone, the tank is full.

If you have a regular oil company, they keep track of your usage and the weather, and will on their own come by well before you are empty. (Note that the truck holds a lot more than 300 gallons - probably several thousand.) The cheap way to go is to watch the tank gauge yourself - when it’s time for a fill, you call several outfits to get the best price. In a typical winter, a typical house will use something like 600-800 gallons (obviously depends a lot on the weather, and the house).

12

My rural relatives use propane, no chance for NG their area. (I recently saw a nighttime satellite picture of the lower US. Their county was the darkest.) It works out a lot better for them than heating oil as it can also be used for other things like cooking, hot water, etc.

The relative price/therm of NG vs. heating oil varies. Several years ago there was a glut of NG from Canada and people started switching over to NG. Then the glut dried up, oil prices dropped. Oops. Expect them to continue to zig-zag.

Another advantage of NG/propane over oil is that some appliances will continue to work when the electricity goes out. We were without juice for 3 days a few winters ago. At least we had hot water. (And if we had a furnace like my grandparents had, we could have had heat too.) Some of our neighbors had NG grates in their fireplaces and that gave them some heat. But I had wood which worked a lot better.

Note to robby: I live a whole lot closer to a high pressure NG line. The noise they make when they’re torn up by clueless backhoe operators is amazing!

13

Oh, I forgot:

My rural relatives do have tanks of gas, and diesel, in their “yards”. Up on stands for fueling equipment.

One of my grandfather’s kept a gas tank on his retirement acreage. Even though he didn’t qualify for tax-free gas anymore, buying in bulk saved him money. You gotta admire an old guy who climbs high up a ladder and checks how much gas is in the tank with a stick.