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Gas Fitting · InstallGas Line Installation — BBQ, Stove & Garage
Gas line installation — a quick-connect on the deck for the barbecue, a range line into a kitchen that has only ever had electric, a run out to a garage heater — is licensed work in Ontario. A TSSA-certified gas technician sizes the pipe for the load, tests it under pressure, and signs off on it.
Sizing is the part homeowners never see quoted. Pipe diameter comes from the connected load in BTUs and the total developed length of the run, including every elbow, not from what happens to be on the truck. Add a 50,000 BTU barbecue and a garage heater to a house whose meter and main were sized in 1988 for a furnace and a tank water heater, and everything on that system starves the first night the furnace runs flat out. So we add up the whole connected load before pipe goes in, and if it exceeds what the meter and service can deliver, the meter upgrade gets arranged with Enbridge Gas first.
Materials and details matter as much as size. Threaded black iron and CSST both have their place — CSST is faster through finished walls and has to be bonded to the electrical ground properly, which is the step that gets skipped by unlicensed installers. An exterior barbecue line gets its own shutoff at the deck and a proper quick-connect so the hose can be removed for the winter. Anything passing through the foundation gets sleeved. Appliances get a sediment trap where the code calls for one, which is most of them. And a run to a detached garage in Ancaster or Binbrook is buried pipe with tracer and depth requirements, not a hose across the lawn.
The rules are not municipal by-laws, they are the gas code. Fuel-gas work in Ontario is done to CSA B149.1 and certified by a TSSA-licensed technician, and the certificate matters later: a home insurer looking at a fire, or a buyer's home inspector looking at a barbecue tee spliced into the furnace line, will ask who did the work. Where the job also touches the building — a new vent penetration for a garage heater, say — the municipal permit gets pulled as well. It is worth checking your basement before you assume there is nothing to work with: builders sometimes leave a capped stub near the kitchen wall for a future range.
The most common upsizing job we do is not a barbecue at all. A tankless water heater pulls far more gas at once than the tank it replaces, so an existing half-inch run frequently has to come up a size before the conversion goes ahead — the reasoning is in does a tankless water heater need a bigger gas line. For pricing on your run, see what gas line installation costs, or send us the layout and we will quote it.
Jobs we run gas lines for
- A barbecue quick-connect on the deck or patio, so the propane tank swaps stop
- A gas range in a kitchen renovation that has only ever had a 240V stove circuit
- A heater in an attached or detached garage or workshop
- A gas dryer, a fire table, a pool heater or an outdoor kitchen
- Upsizing an existing run because a tankless water heater needs more gas at once than the tank it replaced
How it works
We add up the connected BTUs, read the meter's capacity, and walk the run to see what it has to pass through. That produces a pipe size and a written price.
Pipe run, supported and sleeved where required, CSST bonded, then the section is capped and held under gauge pressure before any appliance is connected.
Appliance connected with a shutoff and drip leg, a leak check with solution at every joint, the burner set up, and the work certified by the licensed technician who did it.
Common questions
Can I run the gas line myself?
No. Fuel-gas work in Ontario has to be done by a certified gas technician, and TSSA certifies them in classes: a G3 works under supervision, a G2 handles residential and light-commercial appliances on their own, and a G1 is unrestricted. So the useful question to ask a contractor is which class is coming to your house, not whether the company is 'licensed'. How to verify a TSSA licence shows you how to check.
Do I need a permit for a barbecue line?
The gas work itself is certified under the gas code by the licensed technician rather than by a building permit. If the job cuts a new opening through the building envelope or involves venting an appliance, that side of the work may need a municipal permit, and we pull it.
How far can a barbecue line run?
Farther than most people expect, as long as the pipe is sized for the distance. Length and fittings both eat pressure, so a long run to the back of a deep lot simply means stepping the pipe up a size rather than abandoning the idea.
Will adding appliances overload my meter?
It can. Every meter has a rated capacity, and a house that has gained a tankless heater, a garage heater and an outdoor kitchen since it was built may be past it. We total the load first, and if a meter change is needed, that gets arranged with the utility before we start.
I can smell gas near the barbecue line. What now?
Leave it alone, do not use a phone or a light switch in the area, and get everyone outside — then follow the steps in what to do if you smell gas. Our 24/7 line is answered by a licensed technician, not a call centre.