New Gas Connection in Smithville, ON — From the Street to Your Appliances

Are you moving into a house without gas, building on a bare lot, or paying for oil or electric heat? The work starts well before anything reaches your basement.

This page covers getting natural gas to the property. Whether gas can reach you, what Enbridge does, what we do, and what happens when there is no gas main nearby.

If your house already has gas and you want a line run to a barbecue or a pool heater, that is the piping inside the house which is a different job.

The First Question Is Whether There Is a Gas Main on Your Street

Natural gas has to reach your road before it can reach your house. In town, the answer is almost always yes. Outside of town, not so much.

Where there is no gas main, Enbridge assesses whether extending one is feasible, and a customer contribution may be required to bring service into the area. (1) That is their decision and their calculation, not something a contractor can promise you.

Much of West Lincoln and Haldimand has no gas main at all. That is why propane is so common out there, and why the answer for a rural property is a tank rather than a connection.

What Enbridge Does, and What We Do

The split is cleaner than most people expect, and the meter is the dividing line.

Enbridge installs the service line from the street to your house. That is free up to a length of 20 metres. (1) Past 20 metres there are additional length charges, and there is also a one-time account initiation fee and a monthly customer charge. Enbridge publishes the current amounts. (1)

Enbridge owns everything up to and including the meter. That means the main, the service line, the regulator and the meter itself. (2)

Everything past the meter is yours. The piping through the house and every appliance on it.

We file the application. Enbridge requires the work to go through a contractor, so we deal with the paperwork. (1)

If There Is No Gas Main: Propane

Propane is what most properties outside town run on, and it works well.

The differences are real but manageable. There is a tank on the property rather than a connection to the street. The regulator is different, and so is the sizing, because propane runs at a different pressure from natural gas.

One difference matters for safety. Propane is heavier than air, so it sinks and gathers in basements and low spots instead of rising and spreading. That changes where a leak turns up and where to check for one.

We work with both fuels, so the answer does not depend on which one you have.

Converting a House to Natural Gas

Coming off oil, electric or propane is more than a fuel change. Your house appliances have to suit the new fuel too.

Heating. An oil furnace does not convert to gas. It gets replaced with a furnace or boiler to run on it, which is the largest single item in most conversions.

Hot water. An electric tank comes out and hot water from gas goes in, and that alone changes the running cost for most households.

Cooking and drying. A gas range or dryer can move between natural gas and propane with the manufacturer’s conversion kit. Coming from electric means a new appliance and a new line to it.

The old system. Removing an oil tank is its own job, with its own rules.

Oil-to-gas conversions still come up in older town properties, where the tank has been sitting in the basement since the house was built.

What Happens Inside the House

Once the gas reaches the meter, the work turns into piping and appliances.

The in-house piping runs from the meter to each appliance, and it has to be sized to carry everything at once rather than one thing at a time. That sizing is covered in detail on the line installation page.

Each appliance then gets connected, vented and leak tested. Connecting each appliance once the gas arrives.

The whole system is permitted, pressure tested and inspected before it goes into service.

What Affects the Cost of a New Gas Connection

We do not post prices on the website because neither part of this job has one number. Six things decide what your quote comes to.

Distance from the gas main to the house. Enbridge covers 20 metres of service line. (1) Past that, length charges apply, and a long lane is the usual reason people go over.

Whether a gas main exists at all. If it does not, Enbridge assesses feasibility and a contribution may be required. (1)

How many appliances need connecting once the gas arrives.

Whether appliances convert or get replaced. A range converts. An oil furnace does not.

Removing the old system. An oil tank most of all.

Permit and inspection. Part of every job.

Rural properties vary the most, because the lane length settles the service-line charge before anybody has priced a single thing inside the house.

Common Questions About New Gas Connections in Smithville

Does Enbridge charge to connect gas to my house?

The service line from the street to the house is free up to 20 metres. (1) Past that there are additional length charges, and there is a one-time account initiation fee plus a monthly customer charge. Enbridge publishes the current amounts, and they are set by regulation rather than by us.

What if there is no gas main on my street?

Enbridge assesses whether extending one is feasible, and a customer contribution may be required. (1) Where the answer is no, propane does the same job with a tank on the property.

Who applies to Enbridge, me or the HVAC contractor?

The HVAC contractor. Enbridge requires the work to go through one, so we submit the application as part of the job. (1)

Can I convert my oil furnace to natural gas?

No. An oil furnace gets replaced rather than converted, and it is the largest item in most conversions.

How is propane different from natural gas?

It runs at a different pressure, needs different regulators and different sizing, and comes from a tank on your property. It is also heavier than air, so a leak sinks into low spots instead of rising.

Do I need a permit for a new gas installation?

Yes, and we handle it. Ontario reserves this work for TSSA certificate holders, so it has to be done by somebody holding one. (3)

If You Are Trying to Get Gas to Your Property

Tell us your address and what you currently heat with. That is enough for us to tell you whether there is a gas main on your street and what the connection would involve.

We are TSSA certified, we submit the Enbridge application for you, and we have been a family business in Niagara since 2014. You can also read about gas lines, fireplaces and appliance connections.

References

1. Enbridge Gas, Connect to Natural Gas, enbridgegas.com
2. Enbridge Gas, Safety Inspections, enbridgegas.com
3. Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 212/01: Gaseous Fuels, ontario.ca