How do you know if you have a natural gas line?

Do You Know If You Have Natural Gas Lines On Your Property?

Whether you already know you have a natural gas line on your property or you’re wondering whether this applies to you, there will be information in this post you don’t want to miss.

For starters, did you know private/house gas lines after the gas meter on your property or place of business in Arizona are your responsibility to inspect, maintain and repair? That’s right—it’s not the gas company’s responsibility!

Do You Have Natural Gas Lines on Your Property?

Most homeowners and business owners will be aware of whether or not there is a natural gas supply and meter to their homes. 

Still, many do not know the number of and where the existing gas lines are on their property. Many don’t even know if they are underground or above ground.

In most cases, a main gas line will service the house. This is called a service line—it comes into the property to feed the gas meter. This is for the appliances in the property. For example, a furnace or hot water tank.

However, you will have another line on the property called a house line – a private line you must maintain as the homeowner or business owner.

It’s essential to have a complete understanding of all the sources of natural gas on your property for two key reasons:

  1. If an unknown natural gas line leaks outside or inside a wall and you are unaware the line exists, it can be very dangerous. It can even be potentially deadly.
  2. You could end up paying a large sum of money, not only for the leaked gas over time but also for repairing the leak.

FAQs About Natural Gas Lines on Property

To help you better understand the ins and outs of having a natural gas line on your property, let’s go over some common questions homeowners have about them.

What causes house gas lines on a property to leak?

One of the biggest causes of leaking house gas lines is that they were installed incorrectly initially by an unqualified natural gas contractor and excavation hits for in-marked gas lines. With that in mind, please call 811 before you dig.

Many problems can arise from an unqualified or simply inexperienced contractor installing natural gas infrastructure. 

For example:

  • Incorrect material used
  • Gas lines installed without moisture protection measures
  • Uneducated workmanship with natural gas fittings and procedures

 We recently talked about installing a natural gas pipeline to exterior and outdoor appliances in a blog post. Find it here.

How can you find out if you have any and how many gas lines are on your property?

A natural gas meter on your property will indicate a natural gas line in the vicinity, which will most likely indicate a gas line on the property you will be responsible for maintaining.

Requesting a line locate from RP Gas will answer any questions about having natural gas on your property and your responsibilities associated with that natural gas line.

Can I dig if I have a second gas line?

If you suspect you have a secondary gas line you want to investigate, do not dig! As Arizona law requires, you must call Arizona 811 to mark any underground gas lines. It’s a free service you must complete before any digging begins.

Keep in mind, utility companies and local governments mark only what they own and operate. They recommend using a private company for private locating services.

Can I get another natural gas line on my property?

Now let’s say you want to get an additional gas line for a new outdoor appliance, or perhaps you need to move the location of your existing gas line. 

You can hire a licensed and certified natural gas contractor like the ones at RP Gas Piping to do so for you. We can mark out any existing lines, plan where the new line should go, excavate if necessary, and install the new line.

Contact RP Gas Piping

RP Gas can help locate buried natural gas lines on residential and commercial properties in Arizona. 

Once the property has been “blue staked” — marked to show where gas lines exist—you can conduct any projects that require digging. However, we highly recommend using a professional gas line installer to investigate your secondary gas lines.

Ultimately, the property owner is responsible for determining what is happening on their property. If you pay a gas bill and have a gas meter on your property, you should know where your natural gas lines are for safety and maintenance reasons.

Need help determining where these lines are? Please call RP Gas today or contact us online.

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This article was updated in 2023.