The Youngs Plumbing & Gas office phone rang at 4.18pm last Thursday, and a exasperated home owner explained that she has come home from work to find that a company named ATCO have been during the day while she was out and turned her gas off!
Jenny explained that she has received a 'Notice of Defect' work order in her letter box /door after the supplier had come to do a routine gas meter change, and they had discovered that Jenny's gas pipework or appliances had a leak after a pressure test on her installation.
"What can I do Mr Young ? We can't cook, theres no hot water, the baby's sick and it's cold in the house."
Well firstly, call me Tony...
To explain, ATCO are the gas distribution company that runs gas infrastructure in the street for various gas suppliers. They connect and disconnect gas meters, and install and maintain gas pipe lines in the street and the authority side of the meter on your property.
ATCO also enforce the gas bylaws, one of which is that no installation will have a gas leak (no matter how small). In this case, no one was home so they have shut down and disconnected the meter so that it is not functional and cannot be turned on. Fines apply if use is resumed illegally.
So what to do?
The notice indicates that a licensed gas fitter is required to find and repair the installation so that it complies to the gas regulations and will have to fill in the defect paperwork or notice of compliance which is a statutory declaration that the service is compliant and safe.
Natural gas is methane, an invisible gas at between 1.25 - 2.75 kpa -- about the pressure of your outwards breath -- therefore gas leaks can be notoriously hard to find, especially when under ground or hidden in the fabric of the building. They often take several hours to trace.
Causes of gas leaks can be:
Jenny and her family had Chinese take away that night, and the Youngs Plumbing gas fitter located and fixed the gas leak on Jenny's hot water unit the next day. The paperwork was submitted and the gas turned back on.
Could it have been prevented ?
A gas leak test can be performed quickly and easily and would have prevented the authority shutting down the gas at an inopportune time for the owners.
We can perform a gas leak tests on your property for $55 inc gst*
If a gas leak is located, it must be repaired immediately by law and cannot be allowed to continue so Youngs Plumbing and gas, or another gas fitter would need to locate and repair it before the gas can be turned back on.
*All repairs at extra cost to the testing of the system.
"What can I do Mr Young ? We can't cook, theres no hot water, the baby's sick and it's cold in the house."
Well firstly, call me Tony...
To explain, ATCO are the gas distribution company that runs gas infrastructure in the street for various gas suppliers. They connect and disconnect gas meters, and install and maintain gas pipe lines in the street and the authority side of the meter on your property.
ATCO also enforce the gas bylaws, one of which is that no installation will have a gas leak (no matter how small). In this case, no one was home so they have shut down and disconnected the meter so that it is not functional and cannot be turned on. Fines apply if use is resumed illegally.
So what to do?
The notice indicates that a licensed gas fitter is required to find and repair the installation so that it complies to the gas regulations and will have to fill in the defect paperwork or notice of compliance which is a statutory declaration that the service is compliant and safe.
Natural gas is methane, an invisible gas at between 1.25 - 2.75 kpa -- about the pressure of your outwards breath -- therefore gas leaks can be notoriously hard to find, especially when under ground or hidden in the fabric of the building. They often take several hours to trace.
Causes of gas leaks can be:
- corrosion
- faulty appliances
- loose mechanical fittings
Jenny and her family had Chinese take away that night, and the Youngs Plumbing gas fitter located and fixed the gas leak on Jenny's hot water unit the next day. The paperwork was submitted and the gas turned back on.
Could it have been prevented ?
A gas leak test can be performed quickly and easily and would have prevented the authority shutting down the gas at an inopportune time for the owners.
We can perform a gas leak tests on your property for $55 inc gst*
If a gas leak is located, it must be repaired immediately by law and cannot be allowed to continue so Youngs Plumbing and gas, or another gas fitter would need to locate and repair it before the gas can be turned back on.
*All repairs at extra cost to the testing of the system.
