Outdoor Kitchen and Fire Pit Gas Lines in La Vernia and San Antonio

What a patio gas line can feed

• Outdoor kitchens: a built-in grill with a side burner, griddle or pizza oven on one supply under the counter.
• Fire pits and fire tables, piped up through the base to the burner.
• Patio heaters hung on a wall or patio ceiling, at the clearances their manual lists.
• Rolling grills, through a wall outlet that seals itself when the hose is unplugged.

Each rating plate gives the input in Btu per hour. CPS Energy sizes meters by adding every burner that might run at once, pool heaters and gas lights included; we size the outdoor branch the same way, out to the farthest burner. Long country runs may need larger pipe.

Buried in the yard or run along the wall

The branch tees in where the house piping has room to spare. Close to the house, steel pipe is strapped along the wall or patio beams, painted, and dropped to a heater or grill. Across open yard, polyethylene gas pipe goes in a trench beside a tracer wire for later locating, then comes up through a riser at the island or fire ring.

The model code sets 12 inches of cover (8 inches for a single outdoor appliance if the code official agrees), and cities can amend that, so depth is confirmed with the permit. Plastic pipe may cross under a patio or walkway, never under the house, and CPS Energy's standards keep the trench open until the pipe is inspected and approved.

A shutoff you can reach at each appliance

Give every grill, burner, fire feature and heater its own valve within 6 feet, upstream of its connector and within reach: behind the island's access door, as a key valve in the fire pit's stone ring, or just above a heater. A valve where the branch leaves the house shuts off just the patio. If the line also serves a detached shop or pool house, CPS Energy's standards want a separate shutoff outside that building.

Propane to natural gas, or back again

Propane packs about 2,516 Btu per cubic foot; methane, the main part of natural gas, about 1,010. The two also arrive at different pressures, so an orifice suits one fuel only. On the other, flames run weak and unsteady or oversized and sooty.

• Read the rating plate: it names the fuel, usually as NG or LP.
• Use only the conversion kit the appliance maker sells for that model. If none exists, buy the version built for your fuel.
• Never drill out or swap orifices by guesswork.

On propane, the tank, regulators and refills stay with your supplier, who should confirm the tank can carry the new load. Flames and joints get checked at the appliance hookup.

Permit and pressure test

In San Antonio, an outdoor gas run is permitted through Development Services on the plumbing, gas and sewer permit. La Vernia, other towns and unincorporated land follow their own rules, so we check before starting. Where a permit applies, the plumber doing the work pulls the permit.

1. Rough-in: pipe, risers, tracer wire and valves go in while the trench stays open.
2. Test: outlets get caps, the new pipe is separated from the gas meter or propane regulator, which test pressure can damage, and the gauge has to hold steady. See gas pressure test.
3. Inspection wherever a permit applies.
4. First light: backfill, connect, purge the air, leak-check each joint and light every burner.

Working with your patio builder

• Call us before concrete or pavers go down, with every future gas appliance on the drawing so the pipe is sized once.
• Sleeve the line under new hardscape and match each riser to the island or fire table cutout.
• Give an enclosed island the vents its grill maker specifies. Leaked propane sinks and can gather inside a closed cabinet.
• Keep new slabs and pools off the CPS service line unless CPS consents, and never plant trees over it.

Call 811 before digging

State law says to contact 811 at least 48 hours before a trench is opened, weekends and legal holidays excluded, and there's no charge. Locators mark the member utilities' lines, not your own: the gas line past the meter, a well line, a septic line or buried propane pipe. Tell us where those run.

Outdoor gas line questions

Plan your outdoor gas line

Call (830) 475-2604 with appliance models and a yard sketch. Price depends on the run's length and route, any boring under concrete, the appliance count and the permit. New customers save $50 and seniors, military, first responders and healthcare workers save 10% (terms on the coupons page). Patio work is scheduled when it suits you. If you ever smell gas, leave first and make the 911 or supplier call from the yard; after that, phone us at any hour and we send our on-call plumber right away.

We do this work in east San Antonio, Schertz and Cibolo, Seguin, Floresville, St. Hedwig, Adkins and China Grove and La Vernia.

Office hours 8 AM–11 PM daily · 24/7 emergency service