What will plumber do to find gas leak in house?

Question

I'm very anxious. Just bought a house, painted walls, carpeted, etc. Now the gas company tells me there is no gas leak at any of the appliances and none in the "yard line", but there is one in the house (along the pipes somewhere). Does this mean they have to rip through the drywall of the entire house, test every inch of pipe and I'm left with tens of thousands in repair of drywall/paint? Also if I have one gas leak does that mean, there going to be a lot more in the future? Should I convert everything to electric?

Please help me understand this. I'm anxious as the plumber isn't coming till the weekend is over and I don't know what to say is he/she tells me they have to start tearing the whole place down.

Answer 1

You didn't mention if your house is on a slab or has a crawl space beneath in which the utility pipes have likely been installed.  I dont believe that this is necessarily a big problem -- it could be one easy-to-access pipe.  I don't think you should panic yet -- it could be a simple fix.  Too early to give up on gas and switch to electric.  Just relax and wait for report from the plumber -- if he senses you anxiety he may pad the bill....best wishes.

Answer 2

They have a device with a sensor that detects the concentration of gas (it sounds sort of like a geiger counter when it finds the gas) they should be able to find the exact spot(s) that are leaking. Hopefully most of the gas pipe is in the basement where it is acessible. Note: not all plumbing companies have these, I would hire someone who definately has experience with gas pipes and has the necessary equipment, make sure they start with the easy to get at pipes first. I suspect the leak is at a fitting and probably near an appliance, where something heavy has been moved and hit & bent or cracked the pipe or when someone installed the flexible tube from the pipe to appliance bull-moosed on it and damaged something.

I borrowed one from work and used it at my brother's house, and I was able to not only tell him the exact elbow where the leak was, but which pipe connected to that elbow.

Added:

The gas detector won't work through walls, (it needs the gas to actually come in contact with the sensor).

If your house is on a slab, hopefully the the pipes are in the wall (so they don't have to bust through the slab). Sometimes, you can use a metal detector to find which walls the pipes are in, (if you don't have a lot of other metal objects interfereing) Sometimes they can carefully pull the baseboards off where they suspect the pipe is, cut out a small area of sheetrock (which will be hidden when baseboards are replaced) and use mirrors & flashlights and even special cameras to probe each stud space for the problem.

Answer 3

flying dragon and napper answered right-be calm its not going to be that bad-odds are its a fitting

Answer 4

Plumbers fix water supply and drain.  Pipefitters handle the natural gas line from the meter to the furnace and water heater.

If there is a leak and the gas is on, don't flip any switches or use the phone.  Go immediately to a neighbour's house and call the fire department & gas company.  Both should be able to use electronic sensors to figure out which branch is leaking, and roughly where, without ripping drywall apart.

Answer 5

A good plumber will go to suspect places on the pipe runs and squirt some soft soap over it... get bubbles and you have found a leak.

A bad plumber will strike a match and be blown up along with the house.  Try to avoid the match trick, it hurts...........

Answer 6

Plumbers in some countries like New Zealand are also gas fitters so don't be scared of people who say any differently.

In New Zealand the first thing wo do is shut off all appliances and test the main line from the meter in. Can't see these kinds of processes be much different anywhere in the world. If no leak detected by a pressure test we then one at a time check with a pressure test every appliance. untill the offending appliance is found. If walls have to be opened they are certainly not going to go stupid. we know it can cost a lot of money to repair walls as most of us also have our own homes. We try to be very sure before we start opening up wall cavities.

If it is the piping that may take a bit of time to find.

You don't need to panic. The chances of a fire or explosion is very very slim. Gas needs the right conditions before it will burn.

If the plumber thought it was that bad he would have been there straight away. We also have detectors that make it easier to find leaks.

Just don't stress it is just another day at the office for us.