Minimum Gas Pipe Size - 6 mm Microbore - Is It Too Small?

[Deleted member 36384]

Hello,

I have a Force 10 cooker, 4 x ring, oven with grill, 6 burners in total. It is the only gas consumer on the boat. I am having difficulty running 10mm pipe in one go and do not like the number of joints in the pipe.

I am considering changing the run and was wondering if 6mm micro bore would be too small and cause too much resistance to flow; it's the flexibility that would make the run easier. I have looked at the the Force 10 website and the instructions are for around 8 / 10 mm. Overall length would be about 6m.

What do you think, far too small a diameter or something that could work at full flow rate?

Thanks,

BlowingOldBoots

 

[pvb]

Too small; follow the instructions. It would be annoying to fit the smaller pipe and then discover the cooker's performance was compromised!

 

[Giblets]

You need to size the pipe run to suit the appliance and pipe run length. This will need to be sized to ensure a maximum of 2.5 mbar pressure drop and to ensure the appliance receives the correct gas pressure when burning with all burners running on full load.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I'll just leave it at 10mm. My gut feeling is that 6mm would be too small anyway and as the manufacturer states 8/10 mm. It just has a lot of compression fittings because of the contorted run.

 

[Topcat47]

Could you re-run the pipe along a different route? New 10mm coper isn't that hard to fashion, did mine by hand.

 

[colind3782]

The spring benders are cheap and easy to use.

 

[jdc]

The Force 10 Gourmet Galley 4 burner with the oven and all 4 rings on, but not the grill takes 7.4kW. Using a calculator for installers http://www.gb-gas.co.uk/clc/pipesize/GAS PIPE SIZING 2016 WEB.htm 8mm is the smallest they consider. Putting in a length of 4.25 metres of 8mm dia pipe with no bends or elbows already gives 2.0 mbar loss with Butane. Since 2 mbar is the maximum loss which is 'allowed', it seems that you're pretty much going to have to stick with at least 8mm and probably 10mm pipe.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Thanks JDC, that's the hard facts then. The new run is 10mm so I'll stick with that.

TopCat47 the run is new, the old run was behind the fat cabin paneling and completely out of site and not accessible. I actually found the original copper pipe almost corroded through in the lazaret. The new run is higher up, fully accessible but the new run does require a few bends and I can't do it in one run as the elevation changes around the centre cockpit.