Gas Line Repair & Installation

If you smell gas, do this first

Natural gas is odorized with mercaptan, the rotten-egg smell, so your nose is the first detector. Other warning signs: a hissing sound near a pipe or appliance, a patch of dead vegetation over a buried line, or dirt blowing near the meter. Take any of them seriously. Gas does not give you the second chances water does.

If you smell gas, leave the building first. Do not flip light switches on or off, do not use a phone inside, and do not try to find the leak yourself. From outside or a neighbor's house, call SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200. They respond 24 hours a day at no charge. If the situation feels dangerous or you cannot reach them, call 911.

Here is the part most homeowners learn in the moment: SoCalGas will shut the gas off and make the scene safe, but they do not repair the piping on your side of the meter. If the leak is in your houseline, they turn the meter off, tag it, and the repair is on you. That is where we come in. Once the gas is off and everyone is out, call us at 818-292-3330 and we handle everything from the shutoff to the relight.

What gas line work actually covers

Everything from the outlet of your gas meter to each appliance is customer-owned piping, and SoCalGas expects the owner to maintain it. That includes the obvious runs to the furnace, water heater, range, and dryer, and the ones people forget: the buried line to a pool or spa heater, a detached garage, or a backyard BBQ. Buried steel pipe corrodes from the outside over decades, which is why so many Valley leak calls trace back to an old underground run. A C-36 plumbing contractor's license covers exactly this work, and we hold one (CSLB #1120613).

On the repair side, we locate and fix leaks, replace corroded sections, and clear SoCalGas red tags so your service can be restored. On the installation side, we run new lines for gas ranges (including electric-to-gas conversions), dryers, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, and pool heaters, and we upsize supply lines for tankless water heater conversions. That last one matters more than people expect: a tank heater draws around 40,000 BTU while a whole-house tankless needs 150,000 to 199,000, so the existing line often cannot feed it without an upgrade.

Materials depend on where the pipe lives. Exposed interior and exterior runs are typically black steel; buried runs are done in factory-coated steel or polyethylene gas pipe with tracer wire, because bare steel in Valley soil is exactly what fails first. If we open up your system and find old, flaking galvanized pipe, we will tell you plainly what shape it is in and what is worth replacing now versus watching.

How we find and fix a gas leak

We never hunt a gas leak by smell alone. We sweep the piping and every fitting with an electronic combustible-gas detector, then confirm the exact leak point with a soap solution that bubbles where gas escapes. On buried runs we isolate the line in sections by capping and testing each one, so we dig where the leak is instead of trenching the whole yard on a guess.

The backbone of gas diagnosis is the pressure test. We isolate the line, put it under air pressure with a gauge on it, and watch: the standard code test is roughly 10 psi held for at least 15 minutes with no drop. A needle that holds means a sound line; a needle that falls means there is still a leak to find. The same test is what the city inspector and SoCalGas want to see after a repair, so you are never taking anyone's word that the line is tight.

Then comes an honest decision. A failed fitting or a leak at a valve on otherwise sound pipe is a spot repair: cut out the bad piece, thread in new, re-test. But when a buried steel line has rusted through in one place, the rest of the run is usually in similar condition, and chasing pinholes one at a time gets expensive fast. In that case we will recommend abandoning the old run and installing a new coated or polyethylene line, and we show you the pipe we removed so the recommendation is not abstract.

After the repair passes its pressure test, we handle the permit and city inspection where the jurisdiction requires one, then coordinate with SoCalGas to restore service and relight your pilots. If your meter was red-tagged, we treat the job as urgent, because a tagged meter means no hot water, no heat, and no cooking until it clears.

Earthquake shutoff valves in Los Angeles

A seismic gas shutoff valve is a mechanical valve installed at the meter that trips on strong ground shaking and cuts the gas before a broken line can feed a fire. It needs no power and no sensor wiring; after a quake, it is inspected and reset manually. In a region that plans around earthquakes, it is one of the cheapest pieces of real protection a house can get.

In the City of Los Angeles it is also the law in specific situations. The Municipal Code requires an approved seismic gas shutoff valve (or excess-flow valve) before a building with gas piping is sold, including individual condo units, as well as on new construction and on permitted alterations valued over $10,000. The valve must be an approved model installed by a licensed contractor, with a permit. Several other cities in LA County have their own versions of the rule, so we confirm what your jurisdiction requires before quoting.

Most installations run $300 to $800 installed, depending on your meter size and the permit fee. If you are in escrow, this is usually a same-week, few-hour job. And if your existing valve tripped in a quake, we can check the line and reset it rather than leaving you guessing at the meter.

Pricing and what moves it

Realistic Los Angeles ranges: an accessible leak repair, such as a failed fitting or a short section of exposed pipe, typically runs $250 to $800. Buried or hard-to-reach lines cost more because of excavation, usually $1,200 to $3,500 for an underground repair or reroute. A new appliance line for a range, dryer, or BBQ stub generally runs $500 to $1,500, and longer trenched runs to a pool heater or fire pit reach $1,500 to $3,500 or more depending on distance. What moves the number is almost always access: exposed versus buried, trench length, distance from the meter, and permit and inspection fees.

Estimates are free, and you get a written flat-rate quote before any work starts, so the number you approve is the number you pay. We are family-owned, based in Reseda, licensed (CSLB #1120613, C-36), bonded, and insured, with 24/7 live dispatch and a typical 30 to 90 minute response window across the San Fernando Valley for gas emergencies.