Gas line inspection checklist: what Cave Creek inspectors check on fuel gas piping

The Town of Cave Creek posts a Fuel Gas Piping checklist on its Building and Fire Code Compliance page, beside its under slab, plumbing rough trade and plumbing final checklists. It is written against Chapter 24 of the 2021 International Residential Code, the fuel gas chapter, and the Town now enforces the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code as amended by Ordinance 2025-08. The checklist falls into eight groups:

• General. Every new gas appliance is listed on the permit. The main shutoff is accessible and ahead of the meter. Pipe is supported and sized by the code's methods, and used pipe or fittings are allowed only when clean and fit for the job.
• Where pipe may run. Never through air ducts, chimneys, vents, plenums, clothes chutes or a shared townhouse wall. Pipe under a floor or outdoors sits at least 3 1/2 inches above the ground or roof.
• Materials. Black or galvanized steel pipe is fine. Cast iron is never used for gas. Exposed pipe other than black steel carries a yellow label marked "Gas" in black letters.
• Joints. Steel pipe is threaded or welded. Copper is brazed or joined with listed gas tubing fittings. Flared joints are allowed on nonferrous tubing only, and no unions or bushings may be hidden in a wall.
• Tests. The pressure test, set out below.
• Underground. Cover depth, coating, tracer wire and risers.
• Under a building or slab. Gas pipe stays out of the slab unless it is sleeved.
• Shutoffs and connectors. Valves you can reach, and flexible connectors short enough and sized for the appliance.

The checklist asks for a test of at least 1 1/2 times the operating pressure, but not less than 3 psi, held for at least 10 minutes. Its line names LP gas, and the code section it cites, IRC G2417.4.1, sets that test for fuel gas piping in general. The test uses air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide or another inert gas, never oxygen. Appliances that are not part of the test are disconnected or capped off, and every outlet is capped before gas is turned on. Leaks are found with an approved detector or soap solution. Two lines on the checklist surprise people:

• Only new pipe is tested. Testing is required for new piping and for piping added to an existing system, not for the old lines it ties into.
• Bad pipe is replaced, not repaired. The checklist says defective piping is replaced.

When HQ hunts for a leak on an existing house, it caps every gas fixture at its flex line and pressurizes the system at the meter for a gas air test. Our gas line pressure test guide explains how the gauge is read.

At least 12 inches below grade. An individual line to an outdoor light, a barbecue or a similar appliance may have 8 inches of cover where it is not likely to be damaged and the Town approves it. Below ground the checklist also asks for:

• steel pipe protected from corrosion, with a factory applied, electrically insulating coating;
• a dielectric fitting where buried steel pipe meets steel above ground, and on LP gas between the above ground and underground runs;
• an 18 AWG yellow insulated copper tracer wire laid with any plastic (PE or PB) gas pipe, so the line can be found later;
• a steel riser where plastic pipe turns up out of the ground, unless its maker allows another ending.

Not bare. Gas pipe may not be buried in or under a slab inside the building. The one way through is a conduit of schedule 40 steel, iron or plastic pipe. Its inside end is sealed, its outside end stops at least 4 inches outside the building, vented above grade and closed to water and insects, and a metal conduit is protected from corrosion. Gas pipe may never pass through a foundation wall below grade.

Every building needs an outdoor shutoff, and every meter a shutoff on its supply side. Each appliance needs its own accessible shutoff in the same room and within 6 feet of it. A valve inside a fireplace firebox goes in exactly as its maker says. The flexible connector from the valve to the appliance may not run through a wall, floor or cabinet, may not be longer than 6 feet or its maker's limit, must be sized for the appliance's demand, and takes no pipe dope on its flare fittings.

• Operating pressure. The pressure the gas runs at in the pipe. The test pressure is set from it.
• CSST. Corrugated stainless steel tubing, a flexible yellow-jacketed gas pipe. The checklist asks that it be bonded to the electrical system and shielded where it passes through framing. Our CSST and black iron comparison covers the difference.
• Dielectric fitting. A fitting with an insulating break, so current cannot flow between two metal pipes.
• Tracer wire. A copper wire buried beside plastic pipe so a locator can trace the line.

Anyone running new gas pipe inside the Town of Cave Creek, or adding to a system that is there: owners building a custom home, owner-builders adding a casita, remodelers, pool builders adding a heater, and the licensed contractors they hire. It covers natural gas and propane alike, and the LP lines on the checklist apply only to propane. A lot outside the Town limits with a Cave Creek mailing address gets its gas permit from Maricopa County instead.

Ordinance 2025-08 adds Section R1008 to the Town's residential code. A fire pit, outdoor fireplace or other device that burns only gas is vented as the fuel gas chapter requires. A device that can burn wood must also stand at least 10 feet from any property line. Either kind needs a permit and inspections, and the permit application needs a site plan showing where the device sits and how close it is to the property line, any alley or public right of way, and every building on the lot. Our guide to running a gas line to a fire pit covers the line itself.

A gas line to a new pool heater. The line runs underground from the house to the equipment pad in plastic pipe. The inspector checks it is 12 inches down with a yellow tracer wire beside it, comes up on a steel riser, and holds 3 psi or more for 10 minutes before the trench is filled.

A new range in a remodeled kitchen. The cook top is added to the permit. A shutoff sits behind the range within 6 feet, the flex connector is under 6 feet and does not pass through the cabinet side, and the new branch is tested with the range capped off.

The edge case. The plan sends a gas line straight through a new slab to a kitchen island. Bare pipe there fails. It goes in a sealed conduit that is vented outside the building, or it is routed another way.

1. 1List every new gas appliance on the permit before the work starts. Work started before the permit adds a fee equal to the permit and plan review fees under Ordinance 2025-08.
2. 2Size the pipe for every appliance on the line. The Town's residential code adopts Appendix CA, the gas pipe sizing tables.
3. 3Leave buried pipe, tracer wire and risers open for the inspector, and cap every outlet for the pressure test.
4. 4Walk the job with the Town's checklist: labels, supports, shutoffs within 6 feet, connector lengths and anything passing under the slab.
5. 5Book the inspection through the Town's online permitting and inspection portal. A permit expires if the work goes 180 days without a passed inspection.

HQ Plumbing & Air installs and repairs gas lines in Cave Creek, pulls the permit and gets the work through the Town's inspection. When the gas company has shut a home's gas off, HQ finds and fixes the leak, runs the air test and gets it through inspection so the gas can be turned back on. See gas line repair and installation, gas leak inspection or our Cave Creek service area page. For the plumbing inspections on the same job, see the Cave Creek rough-in inspection.

• "The whole house gets retested." Only the new pipe and the pipe added to the system are tested.
• "A small leak can be patched." The checklist says defective pipe is replaced, not repaired.
• "Gas pipe can go in the slab like a water line." Only inside a sealed, vented conduit.
• "Any shutoff in the house will do." Each appliance needs its own, in the same room and within 6 feet.
• "A gas fire pit needs no permit." Under Ordinance 2025-08 it needs a permit, a site plan and inspections.