Gas line installation and repair in northern Utah

Leave the building right away and take everyone with you, pets included. Do not stop to look for the source.

On your way out:

• Do not use light switches, appliances, or phones inside the building.
• Do not smoke or light anything.
• Do not start a car parked next to the building.
• Leave the door open behind you if that does not slow you down.

Once you are outside and well away from the building, call the gas utility's emergency line or 911. These steps follow the natural gas leak instructions from Enbridge Gas, which serves Utah.

Stay out until the utility or the fire department says it is safe to go back in. The utility makes the area safe and may shut the gas off. Call us after that. We repair the line on your side of the meter and pressure test it before it goes back into service.

You need gas line work any time you add a gas appliance, move one, or replace one with a model that burns more gas. Common jobs are:

• Switching from an electric range or dryer to gas.
• Adding a tankless water heater, which often needs more gas than the tank it replaces.
• Adding a gas fireplace, a furnace, or a garage heater.
• Running a line outside to a grill, a fire pit, or a pool heater.
• Finishing a basement or adding onto the house.

Every gas line is sized for the appliances it feeds. When a new appliance goes on a line that is too small, the appliances are short of gas when they run together. Burners burn low and heaters shut down. We add up the demand of every appliance, measure the length of the run, and tell you whether the existing line can carry the load.

A gas line installation follows these steps:

1. Load and route. We add up the gas demand of every appliance, in BTU per hour, and plan the route and the pipe size.
2. Permit. We check the rule for your city or county and pull the permit when one is required.
3. Locate. For a buried line, we request a utility locate through Blue Stakes of Utah 811 before we dig.
4. Pipe. We run the line, support it, and put a shutoff valve at each appliance.
5. Pressure test. We fill the new line with air and watch a gauge. The line has to hold pressure before any gas goes into it.
6. Inspection. The inspector checks the work where a permit applies.
7. Hookup. We connect the appliance and confirm that it runs the way its maker intends.

The Park City weather station sits at about 6,900 feet. At that elevation we follow the appliance maker's altitude instructions.

Three kinds of pipe carry natural gas in homes, and each has its place.

• Black steel pipe. Rigid, threaded steel. It is the long-standing standard indoors. It is strong, and it takes more labor to cut, thread, and fit.
• CSST. Corrugated stainless steel tubing is flexible and usually has a yellow or black jacket. It bends around obstacles, so it needs fewer joints. It has to be bonded to the building's electrical grounding system. Enbridge Gas explains that lightning can travel along a gas piping system and damage CSST, and it recommends that a licensed electrician confirm the bonding.
• Polyethylene pipe. Plastic pipe made for gas. It is used underground only, for lines to grills, fire pits, and outbuildings.

The appliance, the route, and the local code decide which one we use. The table below compares them.

The gas utility is responsible for its own line and meter. The gas piping on your side of the meter is yours. Enbridge Gas describes a gas line that runs from your meter to your pool heater or barbecue as privately owned, and the free utility locate does not mark those lines. A private locating company has to mark them, and it charges for the service.

That has three practical results:

• Repairs to piping inside the house, and in the yard past the meter, are the owner's to arrange through a licensed contractor.
• Before anyone digs near a line to a grill or fire pit, the private line needs to be located.
• Permit rules come from your city or county building department. We check the rule for your address and pull the permit when one is required.

If you rent, tell your landlord about any gas problem after you have called the utility.

We give free estimates and do not post prices. These are the things that change the cost of a gas line:

• Length of the run. More distance means more pipe, more fittings, and more labor.
• Pipe size and material. A line that feeds several appliances, or one large one, needs bigger pipe.
• Access. An open basement ceiling is quick to work in. Finished walls, attics, and crawl spaces are slower.
• Trenching. A buried line to a grill or fire pit adds digging and backfill.
• Permit and inspection. Fees vary by city.
• The meter. If the home's total demand goes up enough, the utility may need to change the meter.
• Repairs. Finding and fixing a leak in an old line depends on what we find.

Financing is available. Ask about it when we write your estimate.

A short gas line to a range or dryer, near an existing line, is usually done in one visit. Larger jobs take longer:

• A long run across the house, or one through finished walls.
• A buried line, which waits on the utility locate before we dig.
• A line that serves several new appliances.
• A job that needs a permit, because the inspection has to be scheduled.

The gas to the house is off while we tie the new line into the old one and pressure test it. We tell you ahead of time when that will be and how long it will last. When the work is done, we put the appliances back in service and check each one. If you smell gas at any point, leave the building and call the gas utility or 911.