Thoughts on how to move a gas pipe suppling a hob

[Milleniumaire]

I need to replace an old oven with a new one, but all attempts to find one that will fit the cupboard space have so far failed. Apart from the cupboard being fairly shallow, there's a gas pipe in the way and so I may arrange for it to be moved, but how can it be moved without ripping out the cupboard to the right of it? Here are some photos. Any thoughts?

The issue is twofold; first the length of pipe from half way down the cupboard reduces the depth to only 540mm, then there is the connection to the hob, which reduces the depth further to only 470mm. A lot of ovens have a "cutout" on the top of the back of the oven, to allow for gas pipes, however, this pipe connection seems to take an awful lot of space, and extends 65mm down into the cupboard space.

The pipe itself is around 35mm from the back wall and this is due to the piece of wood forming part of the cupboard structure and with which the cupboard is screwed to the wall. If this wood wasn't there it would allow the pipe to be moved 20mm further back, providing a depth of 560mm. Unfortunately, this piece of wood is screwed into each side panel so can't easily be removed!

20230129_144349[1].jpg

• Milleniumaire
• 29 Jan 2023

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• Milleniumaire
• 29 Jan 2023

20230129_144442[1].jpg

• Milleniumaire
• 29 Jan 2023

20230129_144942[1].jpg

• Milleniumaire
• 29 Jan 2023

 

[HERTS P&D]

By the look at the soldering and the burnt cupboard, it wasn't fitted by a gas engineer.

Andy

 

[Milleniumaire]

By the look at the soldering and the burnt cupboard, it wasn't fitted by a gas engineer.

Andy

That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest as the guy who owned the house before us (we have owned it since 2015) was a complete diy botcher as I'm still finding out!

I suspect he also fitted the kitchen units.

 

[Ltnman]

Go electric and get an induction hob.

 

[Milleniumaire]

Go electric and get an induction hob.

I have considered that, but it is a rental and replacing the perfectly working gas hob is an expense I can do without. Plus the tenants have expressed a desire to stick with a gas hob.

 

[kidgreen61]

The piece of timber can easily be cut with a multitool, the gas pipe can probably be put in a chase cut in the wall (fiddly), or relocated so that it comes through top of cupboard.

 

[Milleniumaire]

The piece of timber can easily be cut with a multitool, the gas pipe can probably be put in a chase cut in the wall (fiddly), or relocated so that it comes through top of cupboard.

I agree, a multitool would probably cut out the wood. I seem to recall cupboard units tend to use special screws, which are quite short, so it would be possible to cut close to the edge with the multitool. I assume as the cupboard is in place, removing that back piece won't really affect the structural integrity of the oven housing unit.

I also wondered if the gas pipe could be modified so that it is routed in the cupboard to the right of the oven unit. However, I'm not sure how to remove the plywood back of the cupboard to get access without cutting it out!

I'm going to have a chat with my heating engineer today and send him the photos, in the hope he's done this before.

I have just found this oven, which looks like it would fit in the existing space, but is around £150 more than the £200 oven I originally found (well, actually a few ovens around this price), before realising they wouldn't fit due to the depth issue. I guess it depends how much I will be charged for moving the gas pipe!

 

[denso13]

in the hope he's done this before.

It's a common problem with ovens/hobs, there should be a simple enough solution.

 

[johnny2007]

If the pipe runs horizontally across the back of cabinets, if you're lucky there will be the start of it visible from the other end or the other side of a wall.
A gas engineer could remove that completely and replace with one running below the cabinets where he can access by removing the plinth.
It all depends how far it stretches, where it goes and whether there are bends that can't be accessed.

 

[Milleniumaire]

If the pipe runs horizontally across the back of cabinets, if you're lucky there will be the start of it visible from the other end or the other side of a wall.
A gas engineer could remove that completely and replace with one running below the cabinets where he can access by removing the plinth.
It all depends how far it stretches, where it goes and whether there are bends that can't be accessed.

I'm not sure exactly what route the gas pipe takes. As you say, it appears to run horizontally along the wall and is fed from the right of the oven to the corner, where the boiler is situated. The big problem is how to access the pipe through the back of the units, without wrecking them. Yes, I could go in with a multitool and cut holes in the back of them, but then I would somehow need to repair those holes.

The back of each unit appears to have a high level piece of MDF that is screwed in from each side and this provides the structure of the cupboard at the back. Below that is some plywood, that I suspect is pinned in from the back of the cupboard. Both the plywood back and structural piece would need to be removed to allow the pipe to be re-routed to the top of the cupboard.

 

[Milleniumaire]

Job perfectly done leaving lots of room to fit the new oven:

20230211_155506.jpg

• Milleniumaire
• 12 Feb 2023

The cutout I made to the plywood at the back of the cupboard next to the oven unit, gave access to the gas pipe:

20230211_155454.jpg

• Milleniumaire
• 12 Feb 2023

 

[Agile]

I have occasionally used a short length of 10 mm soft copper tube behind an oven when the space is too small.