Gas Leak at Home: What PG&E Fixes and What a Plumber Fixes

What should you do first if you smell gas?

Get out. Not after you check the stove, not after you look at the meter. PG&E's instruction is to alert everyone nearby, leave the area immediately to an upwind location, and then call 9-1-1 for emergency assistance and PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 (PG&E gas safety). Make both calls from outside, or from a neighbor's place.

Three things not to do on the way out, because each one can be the ignition source:

• Do not flip any electrical switch, on or off. That includes a light switch, a garage door opener, and a thermostat.
• Do not use a flashlight, a match, or a candle to hunt for the leak.
• Do not start a car parked in an attached garage.

A faint whiff near one appliance and a smell that fills a room are different problems, but the first move is identical, and it is not a judgment call worth making from inside the house.

Where does PG&E's responsibility end and yours begin?

At the meter. PG&E owns and maintains the service line, the regulator, and the meter up to what they call the gas service delivery point, which is where the service tee connects to your houseline piping. Everything downstream of that tee is customer-owned. The pipe running under the yard to a detached garage, the line to a pool heater or a fire pit, the black iron behind the wall feeding the furnace and the range, all of it is yours to inspect, maintain, and repair.

That is why the split feels arbitrary in the moment. PG&E will come out, confirm gas is escaping, and if the leak is on your side they shut the gas off at the meter and tag it. They will not repair your pipe. Getting service back on means a licensed contractor makes the repair and the work passes inspection.

PG&E also says customer-owned metallic piping should be inspected periodically for corrosion, and that a licensed contractor should correct what turns up. That matters in older Sonoma and Marin housing, because plenty of the buried runs out to garages, shops, and back-yard appliances are steel pipe that has been sitting in wet winter ground for decades.

What does a plumber actually do on a gas leak call?

The work is a pressure test, not a sniff test. We isolate the house line at the meter, put the system under air pressure with a gauge on it, and watch. A line that holds is a line that holds. A line that drops tells us how bad the leak is before anyone opens a wall. From there we section the system off valve by valve to find which run is losing pressure, then pin down the exact spot with a combustible gas detector and soap solution at the joints.

What we usually find: a corroded elbow on a buried run, a flex connector behind a range that has been kinked since the appliance went in, a fitting that was never doped properly, or a dead leg left capped when an appliance was pulled out years ago. After the repair the line gets tested again and, where the scope calls for it, inspected before the gas goes back on. Our gas line repair page covers what that job includes.

Why do gas problems turn up in the fall?

Because appliances that sat idle all summer come back on. A wall furnace, a floor heater, or a fireplace insert that has not fired since March gets asked for heat on the first cold night in October, and that is when a marginal pilot assembly, a partly plugged burner, or a slow leak at a fitting announces itself. Water heaters do the same once the incoming water turns cold and the burner runs longer on every cycle.

A pilot that will not stay lit is worth taking seriously instead of relighting over and over. Sometimes it is a thermocouple, which is a small part. Sometimes it is a venting or gas supply problem, and that is a different conversation. If your symptom is no hot water rather than a smell, start with what to check before you call, and if the unit itself is failing, our water heater repair page covers repair against replacement.

Can you dig for a gas line yourself?

Not without calling 811 first, and in Sonoma and Marin that ticket goes to USA North 811, which covers both counties. California law requires a minimum of two working days notice before excavation starts, and the day you call does not count (USA North 811). The center notifies every utility with buried facilities in the area so the lines get marked before a shovel goes in the ground.

People skip this for what feels like a small job, a fence post or a footing for a shed, and buried gas and water service is rarely as deep as anyone assumes. The call is free and the ticket takes a few minutes.

Who is allowed to do gas work, and what does it cost?

Gas piping is licensed work. CNTRline is a licensed California plumbing contractor, CSLB #1036920, and every gas job we run, repairs, new lines, appliance additions, and gas main replacement, is handled by licensed professionals and done to code. Earthquake actuated shutoff valves fall in the same category, since PG&E's guidance is that customer-installed safety valves on the houseline go in through a licensed plumbing contractor.

Price tracks access and how much pipe is involved, so we quote after we test rather than over the phone. As a reference point, upsizing a gas line to feed a tankless water heater runs $500 to $1,500 around here. Quotes are free, we answer 7 days a week, and if you are standing outside your house right now because you smell gas, call PG&E first, then call our emergency plumber line at (707) 308-5599.