HOME ELECTRICAL GENERATORS - Gas Meters and Regulators

[mtnelect]

Gas meters and regulators are typically sized for a specific cubic feet per minute flow at the time of installation, based on the amount of British Thermal Units (BTUs) required by the appliances in the dwelling. When our pool was being built, the contractor determined that our current gas meter was too small for the pool heater. So, he had it increased in size to handle the load.

Is this required in the code ?

 

[LarryFine]

Is this required in the code ?

Not in our code, but in the plumbing/mechanical code.

 

[gadfly56]

Not in our code, but in the plumbing/mechanical code.

The same dance would be had for running a generator on gas.

 

[hillbilly1]

Generators hate being starved, I’ve seen several that would shutdown at a fraction of full load. Distance from the meter also makes a big difference in the line size.

 

[R&T Jimmy]

Line size and pressure are critical in generator applications, lots of " mechanical contractors" do not understand this. Just because the genset will start and run unloaded does not mean all is well, I have seen gensets fall on their face at 50% load because of low pressure/ insufficient BTU input.

 

[mtnelect]

On HVAC service calls, I also ran into what is called "Flame Rollout". This is usually caused by low gas pressure; the burners have a delayed ignition. Which results in a loud bang.