Should I Hire a Plumber for Gas Lines?
3 pros!
Check with your local gas company to see if they allow specialty plumbers to work on gas lines.
Plumbers can help with more than just water pipe problems. Some also work on natural gas lines. (Photo courtesy of Angie's List member Chris S.)
Sometimes something as simple as having your gas meter moved a matter of inches turns out not to be simple at all.
Or very affordable.
That’s what one Rockville, Maryland, woman found out when she was handed a $665 bill from Washington Gas for work that took less than two hours to complete.
"What I hope is they'll re-look at this and say we charged you too much to do this," Susan Schaefer tells WJLA.
Frequent flooding in Schaefer's basement led her to regrade her property. That, in turn, necessitated the raising of her meter about 10 inches.
Schaefer had wanted to hire a local licensed plumber for the job, but she says the gas company would not allow that. After some research, it turns out they were within their legal rights.
Gas customer learns expensive lesson
Washington Gas told the news organization that its “contractors perform work under [Department of Transportation] regulations and only DOT-qualified personnel can work on our facilities."
Although Schaefer can't get her money back, she wants to caution others about the costs associated with natural gas issues.
Schaefer was ahead of the game by thinking of using a plumber in the first place. Most people only consider using them for water pipe issues.
However, specialty plumbers can be used to work with natural gas lines, as well as other systems such as water sprinklers.
Usually, a natural gas plumber will have a license that states he or she is allowed to work on and install natural gas lines. They also may have a master plumbing license.
Just remember that dealing with natural gas lines is not for the untrained, as Thomas E. Clark plumbers in Silver Spring, Maryland, reminds their customers.
"If installed improperly the results could be devastating."
