DIwYatt: Replacing a Gas Hose

So this happened back in May, but we are just now getting around to posting about it. Sorry for holding out on you guys…For a refresher on the incident of our gas leak and the mystery alarm, read this post, and this one.

So we told you about our gas leak here. Well here is the fix. The leak came from one of the fittings on a flexible hose that goes from the gas line to the furnace. The guy from the gas company came and used a gadget like below (this isn’t his). It basically sniffs for gas where ever you put the tip.

Make sure to turn the power off to your furnace before you start working on anything in the furnace.

I used two pairs of channel-lock pliers to disconnect each end of the flexible hose from each of it’s connections, one to the pipe coming in and the other connected to the furnace.

The most important thing here is that you only turn the connector from the side of the flex hose. The second set of pliers are only to hold the other side of the connection from turning.

I took it with me to The Home Depot to make sure that I got the right size. They didn’t have the exact piece that I had, but they did have what I needed. My hose was 24 inches and the only sizes they had were 36 and 48 inches. I bought the 36. Here is the old hose in the new hose package after it was taken off.

It comes with adapters to connect to the next size up, pretty handy, but we didn’t need it. I used the same method to put the new hose on as I took the old one off. Using one pair of channel-lock pliers to hold the non-hose connection, and the other to turn the connection on the hose.

And pretty quickly, the new hose was all hooked up.

It is pretty close quarters and a little bit dark, so having someone there to hold a flashlight is nice. Melissa’s parents were visiting, so I had a help from her dad.

Next we tested the connections for leaks. This sounds pretty difficult, but it was very simple. After turning the power back on, we took a small bowl, put dish soap and water in it, and made some bubbles. You take the soapy water and put it all around the connection. If there is a leak, it will make a lot more bubbles. If not, it’s good to go. (This also works on checking for leaks in car tires.)

We added some tape around the hose where it goes through the metal and into the furnace as a protection against the metal wearing a hole in the new hose. You can kind of see it in the photo above where the hose come into the furnace.

Put the door back on and you are good to go.

This turned out to be a pretty simple fix to a potentially scary problem, and while we were able to DIY our solution, make sure you always check with a professional if you smell gas or suspect you have a leak!