Gas Line for Stove / Range in Barrie

Converting your kitchen from electric to gas

What an electric-to-gas range conversion involves

Going from electric to gas cooking is really two jobs. On the gas side, we run a branch line from your existing piping to the range location, install a manual shutoff valve and a certified connector, then pressure-test the new pipe and leak-check every joint. On the electrical side, a gas range still needs a standard 120-volt outlet for the igniters, clock and oven controls, and the old 240-volt range circuit is no longer used. An electrician can add the outlet and deal with the old circuit. If the house has no gas service at all, Enbridge Gas has to bring in a service line and meter first.

BTU requirements: standard vs pro-style ranges

A typical 30-inch residential gas range has four or five burners, most rated somewhere between about 5,000 and 18,000 BTU/h, plus an oven burner. All together that usually comes to roughly 40,000 to 65,000 BTU/h, which a modest branch line can supply. Pro-style 36- and 48-inch ranges are a different category: six or more high-output burners, a griddle or grill and sometimes two ovens can push the total well past 100,000 BTU/h. That's comparable to a furnace, so the pipe gets bigger, and we check that the meter has room for it. We size from the rating plate or spec sheet of your exact model, so send the model number when you ask for a quote.

Routing a branch line to the kitchen

The easiest kitchens sit over an unfinished basement: the pipe runs along or through the floor joists and comes up through the floor behind the range. A finished basement ceiling means either finding a route through a utility room, bulkhead or existing opening, or cutting a few access holes that get patched afterward. We plan the route to keep cuts to a minimum and show you where they'll be before we start. Main-floor kitchens over crawlspaces, slab-on-grade homes and condo-style units each need their own approach, sometimes including a run along an exterior wall. Depending on the path, we use black steel pipe or CSST flexible tubing, which is bonded to the electrical system as the manufacturer and code require.

Rough-in timing during a kitchen renovation

On a renovation, the cheapest time for the gas line is after demolition and before insulation, drywall, flooring and cabinets. We run the pipe to the range location, cap it and pressure-test it while everything is exposed, so no finished surface has to be opened later. It helps to have the range picked out by then, because the stub-out position and pipe size depend on the model. Once cabinets and counters are in and the range is delivered, we return to install the valve and connector, leak-test, and light every burner and the oven.

Shutoff valve placement and code clearances

Every gas appliance gets its own manual shutoff valve. For a range, it's normally placed behind the unit, where you can reach it by removing the bottom drawer, or in the base cabinet next to it. A certified flexible connector runs from the valve to the range so the range can be pulled out for cleaning without stressing the pipe. The valve has to stay accessible, and the connector must be a certified type and the right size for the appliance. Clearances above and beside the cooktop, to cabinets, hoods and combustible surfaces, come from the range's installation instructions and the code, and pro-style ranges often need more room than a standard model. We check the spec sheet against your cabinet plan before the rough-in, not after the countertop is cut.