Oh man—on Labor Day, no less!
When you want to sleep in.
I’m sure the plumber has encountered this type of situation before and will have ways to pressure test the underground portion and the above ground connections.
See if your Dad took pictures of the newly built house in 1954, maybe ones that have your grandparents standing around the house then or in following years. You may luck out and have a picture that shows the original meter in the background where it was installed. It’s worth a shot.
Best of luck to you today with the plumber.
I’m sure the plumber has encountered this type of situation before and will have ways to pressure test the underground portion and the above ground connections. The plumber does, but they want $550 to test the pressure which tells us there's a leak, not where there's a leak. Also, PG&E put a tamper proof seal on the meter so we can't put gas through the line to locate the actual leak with a "sniffer" anymore. PG&E say THEY know where the leak is, but they won't reveal that information. My choices are now
- 1) pay $550 to do the pressure test and hope the leak is in the above ground portion of the pipe right by the meter so a soapy water test will instantly reveal it, and then pay about $200 in plumbing fees.
- 2) pay $250 to a specialist who has a sniffer and can put his own gas under pressure in the line and locate the leak, even if it's under ground, the pay the licensed plumber to return to dig up the leak and cut out the offending pipe and replace it for about $350. However, I can pay my guy to dig up the pipe which is cheaper than paying a $90 an hour plumber to Operate a shovel. We can have the pipe exposed before the plumber arrives and maybe it won't be $350.
- 3) Replace the whole line for about $2000. And pay the plumber $200 to hook it up so the city inspectors and PG& damn E will be happy to take their seal off and turn the gas back on!
I've decided on #2. But the sniffer guy was off today.