Don't Call CenterPoint Energy First For Gas Leak

[Modernceo]

Cliffs notes :

Girlfriend smells gas, reports it to gas company

gas company comes out, shuts off gas and removes meter

$2200 later, plumber will fix everything, but then i have to deal with permits, inspectors, etc bs.

recommendation: call a good plumber and bypass all of the inspectors, gas company removing meter, etc and save yourself money and TIME!!

So my girlfriend comes home yesterday and finds that the house smells like natural gas.

She freaks out, calls Centerpoint energy, and calls me. I come home from work and check it out.

Centerpoint guy comes out immediately (to my suprise) and he helps check around the house.

Finds out that my fireplace gas valve is not closing completely and its leaking a tiny amount of gas.

He then checks out the hot water heater and furnace in my attic and finds that theres a few older valves and flex lines for gas.

Long story short, he pulls the entire gas meter off the gas line and caps the gas line and caps my house feed line.

So, in order to get the gas turned back on, Ive got to fix every single minute code breaking problem (all of these code breaking problems were from previous homeowners shoddy installations), for example:

replace older shutoff valves

replace older flexlines

replace faulty hot water heater exhaust vent

install a new hardpipe entrance pipe for the natural gas going into the furnace instead of having flex pipe going directly into the furnace.

pull the overflow line from hot water heater thats going into the ac drain pipe and run a new 30-50 foot section of pipe out of the house

replace several improper lines that arent angled correctly for drain, and or leaking, etc.

THEN, ive got to have the house pressure tested

THEN, IVE GOT to get the lazy ass City of Houston inspectors to come out and inspect the house and give the seal of approval

THEN IVE GOT TO GET THE GAS COMPANY TO COME OUT AND INSTALL A NEW METER

Basically, about $2200 later, and several days without heat, and no hot water, ill be back up to code, and HOPEFULLY HAVE HOT WATER AND HEAT AGAIN.

If I had just called the plumber, I could have had all this crap fixed, and not have to deal with gas "NAZIS", and city of houston inspectors, and probably could have saved myself at least $500 or more and lots of precious time.

Note: Im ALL for safety, and will have everything done properly. HOWEVER, I just hate the ineffeciency of dealing with city of houston inspectors, and setting up appointments, etc for gas company people.

Edited February 12, 2008 by Modernceo

[musicman]

yeah always call a plumber first. 2200 seems outrageous! when i had my plumbing redone, the plumber asked whether i wanted the gas lines replaced. he just charged an additional 200.

[Modernceo]

yeah always call a plumber first. 2200 seems outrageous! when i had my plumbing redone, the plumber asked whether i wanted the gas lines replaced. he just charged an additional 200.

Heres what work the plumber is doing.

Replacing gas shut off valve for fireplace

Replacing gas shut off valve for furnace

Replacing gas shut off valve for hot water heater

Replacing two flexlines for furnace/hot water heater

Installing hardpipe off furnace inlet line so that theres no flexline coming into the furnace

Installing new 50 foot run of pipe for hot water heater drain pan that vents outside of the house

Redoing hot water emergency release pipe from hot water heater

Replacing twin insulated exhaust vent for hot water heater

Replacing a few other various pipes/fittings that are leaking/improperly mixed between cpvc and pvc

Pressure testing the entire natural gas piping system in the house

Paying for two seperate permits from the city

He'll be here all day, so I know its not a quick easy fix.

This is a trusted plumber that Ive done business with before. They are doing everything neccesary to get this out of code house up to the code that I can get an inspector to sign off and get my gas meter installed and gas turned back on!

[jm1fd]

Wow. That's bad.

I needed to replumb a bit of gas line for an appliance and I had the gas company came out, shut off the gas, I made the changes, and they came back out, turned the gas on, watched the meter to make sure nothing was leaking, and that was that.

[Rhondavas77]

On 2/12/2008 at 4:09 PM, jm1fd said:

Wow. That's bad.

I needed to replumb a bit of gas line for an appliance and I had the gas company came out, shut off the gas, I made the changes, and they came back out, turned the gas on, watched the meter to make sure nothing was leaking, and that was that.

Was that here in Houston Tx? Because I'm having the same exact problem trying to get my meter back to turn on my gas in the middle of the winter here in Houston...its ridiculous! And highway robbery!

[samagon]

I had this happen to me. I had a home warranty. my gas heater wasn't working. they sent someone out who called centerpoint and removed my meter. the damage was done as far as getting my gas turned off, but after I found out from my home warranty that they weren't going to pay for any of the fixes, I fired the home warranty company on the spot, and the people they sent out. I had a different plumber come out, they fixed the heater issue (and the other things that were then required to get back up to code), and I paid an extra $50 to have a whole house shutoff installed.

 

My end result is I'll never get a home warranty again, and centerpoint will never be called first.

[Ross]

Any time you have gas lines replaced, extended, etc, the City requires a pressure test. All gas line work requires a permit. We've never had any issues getting an inspector to show up the 3 or 4 times we've had to go through this. The only time to call Centerpoint is when there's an actual danger. You should be able to shut off the gas inside the house out at the meter, if that's required.

 

We smelled gas outside one time, and called Centerpoint. They ended up replacing the line from the main to the meter, and had to do a new tap of the main, which was pretty interesting to watch. There was still a gas smell, which was from next door, so the neighbors got a new line too.