Finding hidden gas and water leaks across Los Angeles
Gas and water leaks are tracked down in two different ways. Gas piping is tested in sections: each run between two valves is pressurized and watched on a gauge, and the run that loses pressure is then gone over with an electronic combustible gas detector or soapy water until a single fitting gives itself away. Water is approached from the meter. If it moves with every fixture closed, listening equipment placed on the slab or against a wall picks up the hiss of escaping water, and the plumber opens the floor or wall in one spot instead of several.
Los Angeles housing produces its own leak patterns. Across the San Fernando Valley, postwar ranch houses sit on slabs with copper running underneath, and that copper pinholes: a warm patch of tile in Van Nuys, a carpet edge that stays damp in Sherman Oaks, a meter that never rests. Under a Craftsman on a raised foundation in Highland Park or West Adams, a leak usually shows up as a wet crawl space or a corroded galvanized joint you can reach from below. On hillside streets, high pressure strains every fitting once the regulator wears out. Gas leaks cluster in familiar places: the union on the house side of the meter, the flex connector behind a range or dryer, the connections at a furnace, wall heater or water heater, and buried lines to a barbecue or pool heater. In an apartment building, a ceiling stain may start a floor up or in a shared riser, so the source is traced before a common wall is opened.
Gas lines are part of C-36 plumbing work, and our license covers them. A gas repair counts as finished only after the section holds a pressure test, which is noted for your records, and the work is permitted through LADBS inside the city or through your own city when a permit applies. When SoCalGas has locked a meter, our job is to make the house piping sound and tested; the utility then sends its own person to turn the gas back on. A water repair is checked at full line pressure while it is still exposed, then the opening is closed to the written scope. Nothing starts until you have approved the written estimate.
Part of every leak call
- Our C-36 Plumbing license, CSLB #1131308, covers gas and water lines alike
- 24-hour emergency response when water is actively leaking or gas needs repair
- A written repair estimate you approve before anything is opened
- Our written workmanship warranty on each repair
Signs of a leak you cannot see
- Rotten-egg odor by the range, the dryer, a wall heater or the gas meter
- A hissing noise near a gas connection
- Gas or water bills climbing while your use stays the same
- The water meter's leak indicator turning with every fixture off
- A warm patch of slab floor, or carpet that never dries along one wall
- A SoCalGas red tag on your meter or on an appliance
Out first, then the phone
A gas smell means the house is emptied before anyone phones SoCalGas or 911, and our call comes after theirs. A water leak is slowed by closing the main. The line is answered at every hour.
Narrowing it down
Isolating sections with gauges tells us where to look. After that, a ground microphone, an electronic detector or a tracer gas leads to the failed pipe.
Repaired to code, tested again
New black iron or CSST replaces a failed gas line, copper or PEX a failed water line, and the gauge goes back on before anything is closed.
Gas restored, permit closed
SoCalGas restores gas service at the meter, water service comes back on, and the permit closes with the inspector's approval.
Why Los Angeles calls us to find leaks
Gas lines and water lines are both C-36 work, so the company that finds the leak also repairs it, tests it and stands with it through inspection. Working from Los Angeles, we keep four rules on each of these jobs.
Gas piping is C-36 work
The state's plumbing classification includes gas piping. A repaired line is sized for the range, dryer, furnace and heater it supplies, and it is not signed off until the gauge holds steady.
The right instrument for each pipe
The tool depends on the pipe: a pressure gauge for a gas section, a ground microphone over a slab, a combustible gas detector around fittings, a bubble solution brushed onto joints you can see, and tracer gas when the line runs under a yard or driveway.
SoCalGas red tags resolved
After a SoCalGas red tag, the gas stays shut until the flagged condition is corrected. We fix it, test the piping, and have the results ready for the utility's return visit.
Permits and inspections
Gas line work inside the city of Los Angeles is permitted through LADBS, and every other city issues its own. The inspection and the final sign-off are ours to handle.
Why some leak repairs are larger than others
Reach comes first. Swapping the connector behind a stove is simple; gas pipe buried in a finished plaster wall means opening and patching it. A raised Craftsman floor helps, since many gas and water lines can be reached from the crawl space. A slab is harder, and opening tile or hardwood takes more care than lifting carpet.
How much pipe is involved, and where it runs, matters next. A buried line out to a barbecue or a pool heater may need a trench. For a slab leak there are two paths: open the concrete at the leak and repair it there, or leave the old pipe in place and run a new line overhead through the attic and down the walls. A permit, an inspection or a return visit from SoCalGas may also be part of the work. In a Valley house whose under-slab copper has already leaked, the overhead reroute is usually the better investment.
A price is written up after the leak has been located, and no repair starts without your approval.
Leak calls across the county
Los Angeles is our base and our only location, and gas and water leak calls from every part of the county are sent out from here.
Central Los Angeles and the hills
Crawl-space leaks under the bungalows of Highland Park, West Adams and Mid-City, wall heater and range connectors in Koreatown and Hollywood apartments, and failing pressure regulators on the steep streets of Silver Lake, Mount Washington and the Hollywood Hills.
The San Fernando Valley, Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando
Slab leaks in the copper of Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and Encino ranch houses, older gas piping on Burbank's flats and in Glendale's canyon homes, and the galvanized lines of San Fernando's 1920s to 1950s houses.
The Westside and Inglewood
Leaks behind shared walls in Santa Monica and West Hollywood buildings, long supply runs in large Beverly Hills houses, and aging copper and galvanized lines in Culver City and Inglewood homes.
The rest of the county
Long Beach, Torrance, Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley get the same leak service, dispatched from our Los Angeles location.
Gas and water leak questions
Leaving the house comes before everything else. Do not operate switches or anything that could spark until you are outside, then call SoCalGas or 911 from the street. We come in after the utility has made the house safe.
The rotten-egg smell is added on purpose; natural gas itself has none. So any whiff of it is handled as a real leak until the piping passes a test.
You can test for a hidden water leak yourself. With all faucets, toilets, appliances and irrigation shut off, find the water meter (LADWP inside the city; Burbank, Glendale, Santa Monica and others run their own) and watch its dial or leak indicator. Movement means water is escaping somewhere, and in a Valley slab house, copper buried in the concrete is a likely source.
Gas piping repairs inside the city generally need an LADBS permit, and other cities issue their own. Our side covers the application, the inspector's visit and getting the permit finaled.
A red tag stays until the problem it names is corrected. We make the repair and run the pressure test; restoring the gas is SoCalGas's step, on a visit it schedules.
24/7 Emergency Plumbing
Ceiling leaks, burst lines and backups, with a person on the phone at any hour.
Drain Cleaning & Hydro Jetting
Kitchen lines, stacks and laterals cleared and filmed.
Water Heater Repair & Install
Gas tank heaters hooked up, vented and double strapped.
Sewer Repair & Repipe
Clay laterals renewed, and galvanized supply lines replaced with copper or PEX.
Smell gas: get outside, then call
Step out of the house, then phone SoCalGas or 911; our number comes after theirs. When the utility gives the all clear, call us for the repair. A water leak that is still running, anywhere in Los Angeles County, also gets 24-hour emergency response.