Leaking gas pipe

[Jupiter01]

Posting on behalf of my sister and hoping that you can shed some light on this situation.

She was having a annual boiler service done and the plumber detected (by some method) that there was a gas leak.

He called out the gas board and after them doing the necessities, they capped the gas off. Here I believe.



They left very little information with my sister. We believe that they checked “their end” of the pipe and concluded that the leak was on “our end” of the pipe. Sound plausible?

The layout of the kitchen can be seen in this sketch.



I have a bunch of questions - in addition to the one above.

- who owns and is responsible for the gas pipe coming into the meter? Note that the meter is inside the kitchen?

- is it safe to assume that the leak is after the gas meter - on the basis that this is where it has been capped?

- hence is the leak in the pipe that comes out of the meter and feeds the hob and boiler?

If this is the case, I assume we can do away with the current pipe (probably buried under the kitchen floor tiles) and add a new length of gas pipe?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ianmcd]

He called out the gas board and after them doing the necessities, they capped the gas off. Here I believe.

No such thing as "The Gas board" anymore, they have capped off and it is your sisters responsibility now to call a Registered gas engineer to trace and repair the escape at her cost

 

[Jupiter01]

No such thing as "The Gas board" anymore, they have capped off and it is your sisters responsibility now to call a Registered gas engineer to trace and repair the escape at her cost

Where would they have capped this off?

 

[terryplumb]

Where would they have capped this off?

At the meter usually.

 

[Jupiter01]

At the meter usually.

That would imply that the pipe coming into the meter is fine and hence the leak is after the meter?

 

[terryplumb]

That would imply that the pipe coming into the meter is fine and hence the leak is after the meter?

The engineer who capped the supply would surely have told your sister that the leak was internal ??

 

[Jupiter01]

The engineer who capped the supply would surely have told your sister that the leak was internal ??

No! Frustratingly, no information has been provided. I intended to call them tomorrow but wanted to understand the basics beforehand

 

[ianmcd]

your leak is after the meter, it is your sisters responsibility to sort it

 

[Jupiter01]

Is the pipe coming into the meter always owned by the “grid”?

 

[JohnD]

Is the pipe coming into the meter always owned by the “grid”?

If you mean National Grid, no.

There are a few companies.

 

[Jupiter01]

If you mean National Grid, no.

There are a few companies.

I wanted to confirm that this section of the pipe is never owned by the homeowner? Even when the gas meter is situated inside the house. Is that the case?

 

[FiremanT]

I wanted to confirm that this section of the pipe is never owned by the homeowner? Even when the gas meter is situated inside the house. Is that the case?

The pipework leading up to the meter, and the meter itself are NOT owned or the responsibility of the homeowner/landlord/ tenant. Ever.

The house owner is responsible for anything AFTER the meter outlet.

Both Cadent (or similar), ie the "Gas Board", should have issued a warning notices, as well as the label. The notice should have carried the reason for disconnection. The meter will have a disc in either the Emergency control valve (ECV) , the meter inlet or the meter outlet (probably the latter). The disc interrupts the flow of gas and must only be removed by an RGI when tracing and repairing the escape.

The RGI should only have called Cadent if he detected the existence of a leak on the transporter property, or of you refused permission for him to disconnect the supply. If the leak was on the "service" side, so not your responsibility, Cadent would have organised a repair. One has to assume the leak is on your side, so you need to organise and pay for a "trace and repair".

If the pipe is buried, then it is normal to "re-run" the gas pipes. However, the appliances should be disconnected to test the pipes on their own - you don't want to replace the pipes and still have a leak. DO NOT ask someone to re-run the pipes without having the pipes tested properly - they may just do as you asked, and smile when the leak is still present.

Example of Warning Notice, has she one of these?

The disc that would be inserted in the meter work:

 

[Jupiter01]

Thanks @FiremanT. That was conclusive. I will check on that notice.
Out of interest, if there was a leak on the supplier side (and I can see that this is very unlikely in this situation) who would pay for the kitchen floor tiles that would need to be damaged to get to this pipe?

 

[fixitflav]

Posting on behalf of my sister and hoping that you can shed some light on this situation.

She was having a annual boiler service done and the plumber detected (by some method) that there was a gas leak.

He called out the gas board and after them doing the necessities, they capped the gas off. Here I believe.

View attachment 252932

They left very little information with my sister. We believe that they checked “their end” of the pipe and concluded that the leak was on “our end” of the pipe. Sound plausible?

The layout of the kitchen can be seen in this sketch.

View attachment 252933

I have a bunch of questions - in addition to the one above.

- who owns and is responsible for the gas pipe coming into the meter? Note that the meter is inside the kitchen?

- is it safe to assume that the leak is after the gas meter - on the basis that this is where it has been capped?

- hence is the leak in the pipe that comes out of the meter and feeds the hob and boiler?

If this is the case, I assume we can do away with the current pipe (probably buried under the kitchen floor tiles) and add a new length of gas pipe?

Thanks in advance.

Can she smell gas? Only a tiny leak is needed to give a noticeable smell. If not I would be suspicious of the plumber's diagnosis. Not sure what to do at this stage though

 

[Jupiter01]

If not I would be suspicious of the plumber's diagnosis

We spoke with the gas board in question today and they provided some further info. The gas has been capped after the meter and at the point that it travels through to my services. They confirmed that their testing (independent of the plumber servicing the boiler) indicated a 4-6 mg pressure drop. I assume that a test they can run from the meter.

I now need to get a gas safe engineer to determine how this should be resolved. Thankfully, the gas hob and boiler are not very far from the meter.