This diagram is of the natural gas plan I created for the house. The diagram was for completing a gas fireplace install from a few years ago. There were nonsensical rules and regulations to do the new black pipe install myself and get the gas turned on. Though I did an excellent job 15 years prior on reworking an existing install, I don’t have the proper certificates. So Robyn and I made a nice diagram for ‘HVAC’ crew to send out unlicensed plumbers anyways, do it improperly, then drag it out for several months to get the install completed as on the diagram.

The approach of the black pipe install is some of the best methods I have found to plan for future improvements with utilities. On this setup, the gas line install, meter base, and sizing of black pipe in the crawlspace allows for all ‘optional’ fixtures to be installed. I may never install any of the options, or maybe only one.

There is significant benefit to pre-planning expansion spots with only a minor detriment of slightly increased cost on the initial install. The major benefit is that nothing installed needs to be removed to add an additional fixture. There is essentially no backwards. Speed significantly increases as the ‘option’ install is now that much faster.

Each ‘option’ branch on the gas line has ball valve and a cap. The ball valve allows the branch of the gas fixture to be isolated in the future if there is a problem. It’s also not a big deal if there are black pipe install issues on the ‘option’ expansion, as one can keep the ball valve off and add the cap back on wherever the stopping point is.

This type if pre-planning should absolutely be done on an infrastructure level in a city or town. The area closest to the utility like a power plant or sewage treatment plant should be large enough for its capacity and consider all potential expansion avenues of branching. This will decrease expansion cost and time in the future.