Gas Lines: Safety First, Then Sizing
If you smell gas, this page is not the priority, get everyone outside and call your gas utility from outdoors. Everything below is for after that.
Do not switch anything on or off. Do not look for the leak. Leave, then call from outside.
Read this first
Suspected leak: what to do, in order
Leave the building, then call your gas utility from outside
Natural gas utilities in Georgia respond to suspected leaks at no charge, around the clock. That call comes before any plumber, including us.
- Get everyone out. People and pets, outside and upwind, away from the building.
- Do not operate anything electrical. No light switches, no thermostats, no garage door, no doorbell. Do not unplug anything. Any switch can arc.
- No flames, no phones indoors. No lighters, no matches, no candles. Make the call from outside, well away from the building.
- Do not try to find the leak. No soapy water, no sniffing at fittings, no leak detector. That is the utility's job with proper instruments.
- Only turn the meter off if you can do it safely from outside and know how. If not, leave it and let the utility handle it.
- Do not go back in until the utility says it is safe.
Signs beyond smell. A hissing near a line or appliance; dead vegetation in a line over a buried service; bubbling in standing water; a burner flame that is yellow and lazy rather than blue; soot around a vent. Physical symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness in more than one person or a pet) are a reason to leave immediately and call emergency services.
Carbon monoxide is a separate hazard. It has no smell. Fuel-burning appliances need working CO alarms on every level of a Georgia home, and if an alarm sounds, leave and call the fire service, not a plumber.
After the utility
How leaks are found and repaired
The utility's job is your meter and the service line up to it, and confirming whether gas is escaping. Repairs to piping inside the property boundary (house piping, appliance connections, buried runs to a grill, a pool heater or a workshop) are a licensed plumber's or gas fitter's work.
Testing properly. A section of pipe is isolated and pressure tested with a gauge, pressure held over time is what proves a system, not a spray bottle. Electronic detectors and combustible gas indicators locate the source. Where a run is buried, tracing and locating equipment narrows the dig.
Where leaks happen. Threaded joints in black iron that have been disturbed or poorly made up. Corrosion on buried steel, particularly where a line passes through soil at a slab or foundation. Appliance connectors, old uncoated brass connectors are a known failure item and should be replaced on sight. Valves that have been left unused for decades. Flexible connectors kinked behind a range that has been pushed back too hard.
Repair, not patch. Gas piping is repaired by replacing the affected section and re-testing the system, not by sealing a joint from outside. Anything else is unacceptable on a fuel line, and a plumber who offers it is telling you something about the rest of their work.
After any repair, appliances are relit and combustion checked, and the system is pressure tested again. If the work is inspectable, it is inspected before appliances go back into service.
Utility confirmed a leak on your side of the meter? That is our work, and it is urgent.
Call a Gas PlumberNew work
Adding gas where you want it
Range and cooktop lines
The most requested addition, converting an electric kitchen to gas cooking. Needs a correctly sized branch, a shut-off valve accessible without moving the appliance, and an approved flexible connector. In a slab house the routing question decides the difficulty.
Grills, fire pits and pool heaters
A permanent grill line ends the propane cylinder cycle. Buried runs need approved materials, correct depth, tracer wire where required and a riser at the termination. Pool heaters draw heavily and often reveal that the whole supply needs upsizing.
Dryers, water heaters and tankless
Gas dryers are a straightforward addition where the run is reachable. Tankless water heaters are not. They can draw 180,000 BTU or more and frequently require a larger line back towards the meter. See tankless installation.
Standby generator supply
A natural gas standby generator is a large intermittent load that must be sized alongside everything else in the house, since it runs precisely when the heating might also be running. Utility meter capacity is often the binding constraint, not the pipe.
One thing to establish early on any addition: whether your existing meter and service can supply the new total demand. If not, the utility has to upgrade the meter, and that has its own timetable which no plumber controls.
Why sizing matters
Undersized gas pipe is a safety problem, not an inconvenience
Gas piping is sized by calculation: total connected load in BTU, the length of each run, the number of fittings, and the available pressure. Get it wrong and appliances are starved when several run at once, which produces incomplete combustion, sooting, yellow flames and, in the worst case, carbon monoxide. It is not a performance issue; it is a combustion issue.
This is why "just tap into the nearest line" is the wrong instinct. A furnace branch that comfortably supplies a furnace may not supply a furnace and a tankless heater on a January evening, and the failure appears only under simultaneous load, exactly the condition nobody tests.
Materials in Georgia homes. Black iron, threaded and reliable, still the workhorse for interior runs. CSST (corrugated stainless steel tubing, usually yellow or black-jacketed) is flexible, quick to install and widely used; it must be bonded to the electrical grounding system, which matters for lightning safety and is frequently found missing. Coated steel or approved polyethylene for buried runs, at correct depth with tracer wire. Copper is permitted only in limited circumstances and is not the norm here.
What good work looks like. A calculated sizing schedule rather than a guess; an accessible shut-off at every appliance; sediment traps where required; a pressure test held and documented; unions and supports done properly; CSST bonded; and no flexible connector passing through a wall or being used as a substitute for fixed piping.
Paperwork and safety
Permits, bonding and inspection
Permitted work, everywhere. Gas piping installation and alteration is permitted and inspected work throughout Georgia jurisdictions. This is one area where the inspection is genuinely valuable: pressure test, sizing, materials, supports, valve accessibility and CSST bonding all get a second set of eyes. Unpermitted gas work is also an insurance and disclosure problem.
Licensing. Gas work should be done by someone licensed to do it. It is reasonable, and normal, to ask.
CSST bonding. If your house has corrugated stainless steel gas tubing, it must be bonded to the electrical grounding electrode system. This is a lightning-safety requirement, and older installations frequently lack it. Georgia gets a great deal of lightning. If you have CSST and do not know whether it is bonded, that is worth checking on its own.
CO alarms. Working carbon monoxide alarms on every level, and outside sleeping areas. Test them, and replace them at the end of their service life, the sensors expire, typically after seven to ten years, whatever the battery does.
Appliance connectors. Old uncoated brass appliance connectors are a recognised failure item. If you find one behind a range or a dryer, have it replaced. It is inexpensive.
Capping unused lines. A gas line abandoned behind a fitted appliance, or capped only with tape or a plastic plug, needs capping properly with a valve or a plug at the shut-off. This turns up regularly during renovations and it is a real hazard.
Gas work is permitted, inspected and licensed work. That is a feature, not a delay.
Book Gas Line WorkQuestions we get on the phone
Answered plainly
Get everyone out of the building, do not touch any electrical switch or appliance, and call your gas utility from outside and well away from the house. They respond to suspected leaks at no charge, around the clock. Do not try to locate the leak yourself, and do not go back in until they say it is safe.
The utility is responsible for the service line and the meter, and they will confirm whether gas is escaping and make the situation safe. Piping on your side of the meter (house piping, buried runs to a grill or workshop, appliance connections) is a licensed plumber’s or gas fitter’s work.
Yes, and it is a common job. A buried run needs approved materials at the correct depth with tracer wire where required, a riser and a shut-off at the termination, and the whole system pressure tested. It is permitted work, and it ends the propane cylinder routine permanently.
Because the load is much larger. A tank heater might draw 40,000 BTU; a whole-house tankless unit can draw 180,000 or more on demand. Existing half-inch branches are frequently inadequate, so the work often means a larger line back towards the meter, and sometimes a meter upgrade from the utility.
CSST is corrugated stainless steel gas tubing, flexible, usually yellow or black-jacketed. It must be bonded to the house electrical grounding system, which is a lightning-safety requirement, and older installations frequently lack it. Georgia sees a lot of lightning, so if you have CSST and do not know whether it is bonded, it is worth having checked.
Yes. Gas piping installation and alteration is permitted and inspected throughout Georgia jurisdictions, and the inspection checks pressure test, sizing, materials, supports, valve access and bonding. It is also an insurance and disclosure matter, unpermitted gas work is not something you want to explain during a claim or a sale.
Gas work, done licensed and permitted
If you smell gas, call your utility first. For everything else on your side of the meter, call us.
(866) 559-0826