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Yard bird.
Pressure testing a residential underground gas line, house next door is using the utility easement as a chicken roost.
At first they scattered, but after about five minutes they were all clucking and circling around me. One really curious one kept pecking at my overalls and my tool tray looking for bugs. 
Better than the old men who watch and aren't even looking for a snack.
I assume the underground section is accessible or are you only testing the above ground? You got the spray bottle out so are you soap bubble testing everything or just what you installed? I miss gas fitting i hurt myself changing coils in a huge boiler so now i insulate
Underground is accessible here, and only about a sharpshooter deep. It's all old existing. This was just the start. The home actually has multiple issues all over - old gas-fired wall heaters that fell out of fashion long ago but the gas plumbing was just capped in the walls and abandoned but still live. Ten gas drops; 6 wall heaters, 2 water heaters, a stove drop and a gas furnace. The original was black iron but sections have fallen off their hangers and are lying in the dirt (pier and beam home) and have rusted over time. There's a mix of galvanized repairs and soft copper throughout. Soft copper is a mix of brazed and flared. The underground yard line is soft copper about 3/4 of its run then transitions over to galvanized under a big trampoline.
So far, the yard service line is being abandoned entirely and will be new HDPE, all the wall heater branches are being eliminated back to the trunk, all the black iron is being eliminated and replaced w galvanized iron.
I have a new apprentice and he wants to learn how to thread pipe so we are going to do it all w galvanized. I'll show him how to turn backwards threads so we can put it all together w/o unions. Unions are allowed here, but reverse threading one end of a joint is a better look and lasts longer w/o leaks. I'm the only guy who can do lead/oakum, thread pipe etc at my current shop, most of the guys are pretty young still. I learned from a real old school ball buster who did not cut corners and despite being terribly abused as an apprentice I'm glad I learned what I did. I can fix a lot of shit other plumbers will pass on because of it.
Out of all the plumbing work I do, I enjoy gas fitting, gas leak locating the most. It's what I'm best at I think.
huh.wav
i was a shop hand and the owner was like 'here's how you thread a pipe, now make me 20 nipples' and I did it without having to ask for another explanation. instant apprenticeship lol
Lot of the guys now use "Mega Press" fitting on steel, pex, or "Pro Press" copper fittings. It's a crimp system that allows you to speed up a bit, and spend less time sweating/brazing. hvac uses a crimp style fitting even with the new super slippery gasses. The days of brazing, using lead/oakum, or even threading pipe are dying out.
A guy I trained who just recently got his jman card said when he took his practical test they soft soldered ONE 1/2" cap to a piece of pipe, and threaded ONE 3/4" joint. Didn't even count threads on the pipe or pressure test the soldered joint, just wanted to make sure they guys know how to do it.
I've brazed brass fittings onto copper pipes... soft copper can handle brazing?? I didn't complete my apprenticeship in gas, just insulating.
I quite like mechanical insulation. Lighter material, cheap-ass tools, no overtime.
tbh getting hurt was one of the better things to happen to my career. I'm really good at geometry and don't have the work ethic of your average pipe-handler. I breezed through my red seal (journeyperson ticket) to the point of getting mad at my instructor after the exam for how much time I wasted studying.
ngl most plumbers around here are like that and when you say something they give you the ol' "Well my journeyman made me buy his smokes and wouldn't let me wear a jacket" or some other arcane hazing ritual. Bro if you do those things I'm quitting.
I had a really good mentor as my first JP as an insulator and the standards he taught me are what makes every criticism come with a caveat "He likes to kick out early a lot..... but he still [makes it looks really good/gets more done than buddy]"
not sure but context clues make me think... "High density polyethylene" or high density pex? Not confident at all
Oh yeah soft copper will handle it. Depending on type (L,M,K) wall thickness is the same rigid or soft. You can turn rigid copper soft just by heating it cherry red. Makes it easy to have offsets w no joints when you have to run something in an inaccessible spot like an exterior wall corner/stud package.
HDPE is high density polyethylene pipe, correct. I really like using it. Dead simple to fuse/couple and it outlasts anything else we either used to use or use currently whether you have good clean/dry gas or gas heavy in sulphur.
All the plumbers around here are old ball busters regardless of age. It's one of those trades that is definitely steeped in "I suffered for mine so you will too" traditions. I don't treat my apprentices the way I was treated. We are too short of good plumbers in Texas to be hazing folks out of the trade.
I'm the lead plumber due to years worked at the small shop I'm in currently, so I set the tone more or less but I'm not a manager or anything, I just happen to hold enough endorsements and I have a great grasp on code; I'm pursuing my masters license currently but once I get it my plan is to try and get on w the city as a plumbing/mechanical inspector. Im not too old to plumb but I feel it when I kneel down all day, and my back hollers a lot now when it used to not. A change of pace would be nice, I think.