Gas Appliance Connection Check (IFGC 408.4 / 409.5 / 411.1.3.1)
Three rules meet at the last three feet of gas piping, and one category cuts across all of them. 409.5 puts the shutoff in the SAME ROOM, within 6 ft, and UPSTREAM of the union or connector -- a valve downstream cannot isolate the part most likely to fail. 408.4 wants a sediment trap downstream of that shutoff, unless the appliance has one built in or is on the exemption list. 411.1.3.1 caps a connector at 3 ft. The pattern worth seeing: ranges and clothes dryers are exempt from the trap, get 6 ft of connector instead of 3, AND are deemed accessible with the shutoff behind them. The code has a coherent idea of a MOVABLE appliance, and spotting it predicts all three answers instead of memorising three lists -- the same furnace that fails on a missing trap and a 4 ft connector passes as a dryer.
Formula and source
shutoff passes when it is in the same room, within 6 ft of the appliance, and upstream of the union or connector; a sediment trap is required unless the appliance type is excepted or a trap is incorporated in the appliance; connector length limit is 6 ft for ranges and domestic clothes dryers and 3 ft otherwise.
IFGC 409.5 (appliance shutoff valve location, and the allowance treating a shutoff behind a movable appliance as accessible), IFGC 408.4 (sediment trap, with its exception list), and IFGC 411.1.3.1 (maximum connector length).
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