Gas Appliance Safety Inspection in Smithville, ON — Everything Past the Meter

Most people book a gas appliance safety inspection for a reason. A house sale, an insurer asking a question, or moving into a place and not knowing what was done to it before.

This page covers what we check, when it is worth booking, and what you get at the end. We look at everything past the meter, which means your piping, your appliances and your venting.

Health Canada advises having a qualified technician inspect and clean your fuel-burning appliances, furnace, vent pipe and chimney flues once a year. (1) We are TSSA certified, and that is the standard we work to.

Enbridge’s Free Inspection Is Not The Same One

If Enbridge has been out to inspect your gas, it is reasonable to assume the job is done. It is worth knowing what that visit covered.

Enbridge is required by law to carry out inspections, and there is no cost for them. (2) What their technician checks is the Enbridge distribution piping and the meter. (2)

Everything on your side of the meter is not part of that visit. Your piping, your furnace, your water heater, your range and your venting are all yours.

Enbridge says so in its own words. If they spot something on the customer side, the customer is responsible for hiring a licensed contractor, and Enbridge does not repair customer-owned or rented equipment. (2)

So both visits are worth having. They are not the same visit, and one does not replace the other.

What We Check During a Gas Safety Inspection

The Piping

Every line run that we can reach, we look for corrosion, damaged sections and joints that have started to weep. A pressure test tells us whether the system is holding, which catches a leak too small to smell.

Shut-Off Valves

Valves seize when nobody turns them for twenty years, and a valve that will not close is a problem on the day you need it most.

Flexible Connectors

The short flexible pipe behind a range or dryer. These get bent every time the appliance is pulled out, and they are the part we condemn most. Behind a lot of them sits a bad appliance connection.

Combustion and Flame Quality

A burner flame should be blue and steady. Yellow, lazy or lifting flames mean the appliance is not getting the air it needs, and that is where carbon monoxide starts.

Venting

Where the exhaust goes, and whether it is getting there. Blockages, disconnected sections and corroded flue pipe all turn up on older systems.

Combustion Air

An appliance needs air to burn. Sealed-up basements and added rooms can starve one without anybody realising the two things are connected.

Carbon Monoxide Alarms

We check you have them, where they are, and how old they are. A carbon monoxide alarm does not detect a natural gas leak, so a house needs both kinds of protection. (3)

Older Smithville homes are the ones that turn up the most. The original piping went in decades ago, three generations of appliances have been added to it, and nobody has looked at the whole system in one go.

When It Is Worth Booking A Gas Safety Inspection

You are buying or selling. The most common reason people call us.

Your insurer has asked. They can ask who did the gas work and whether it was permitted.

You have moved into a house whose history you do not know. A property bought from an estate is the common one, because nobody can tell you what was done or when.

Somebody worked on your gas and you never saw their certificate. Ontario reserves this work for certificate holders, so if you did not check at the time, check now. (4)

Something is not right. A smell, a hiss, a pilot that will not stay lit, or a flame that has turned yellow.

Or once a year, regardless. That is Health Canada’s advice, and it is the version that prevents rather than reacts. (1)

Why Home Sales Are the Common Trigger for a Gas Safety Check

Gas work done without a permit does not announce itself while you live in the house. It surfaces during a sale, which is the worst possible timing.

A buyer’s inspector finds something, or a lawyer asks a question, and now there is a deadline attached. The seller is negotiating from the back foot over work that could have been sorted months earlier for less.

Insurers ask the same question in a different form. When a claim gets assessed, somebody wants to know who did the gas work and whether it was permitted.

An inspection before you list gives you the answer in writing, and time to deal with anything found. Where something does need doing, putting right whatever the inspection finds is straightforward when there is no closing date pressing on it.

Older housing stock around here means more undocumented work, and that makes this more likely here than in a subdivision built last decade.

What You Get from a Gas Safety Inspection

A written record. What was checked, what was found, and the date it was done.

Plain language. What needs doing now, what to keep an eye on, and what is fine.

No pressure. We are not going to turn an inspection into a sales visit. If everything is sound, we will tell you that and leave.

The document is the part that matters later. It is what an insurer asks for, and what a buyer’s lawyer wants to see.

What Affects the Cost of a Gas Inspection in Smithville

A one-appliance bungalow and a rural property with a furnace, a water heater, a range, a fireplace and a shop heater are different jobs. Five things decide your quote.

How many gas appliances there are. The biggest factor, and the easiest one to tell us on the phone.

Access. Meter, runs and appliances all need to be reachable.

Whether anything is buried. An outdoor run adds to the work.

Whether you combine it with heating maintenance. Doing both in one visit costs less than booking two, and the furnace service done at the same visit covers ground the inspection does not.

Whether you need a written report for a sale or an insurer. Most people do.

Rural properties with a buried run and a propane tank take longer than a semi in town.

Common Questions About Gas Safety Inspections in Smithville

Is the Enbridge safety inspection the same as a gas appliance safety inspection?

No. Enbridge inspects its own distribution piping and the meter at no cost, because it is required by law to do so. (2) Everything past the meter is yours, and Enbridge states that it does not repair customer-owned equipment and that hiring a licensed contractor is the customer’s responsibility. (2) Both visits are worth having.

How often should gas appliances be inspected?

Once a year. That is Health Canada’s advice, and it covers fuel-burning appliances, the furnace, the vent pipe and chimney flues. (1)

Do I need a gas inspection to sell my house?

No law requires one. It settles the question before a buyer’s inspector raises it, which is why sellers book them.

What happens if you find something wrong?

We tell you, we write it down, and you decide what to do. Nothing gets fixed on the day without you agreeing to it.

Will you check my carbon monoxide alarms?

Yes. We check you have them, where they are and how old they are. A carbon monoxide alarm does not detect a natural gas leak, so a house needs both. (3)

Can you do the inspection and the furnace service in one visit?

Yes, and it costs less than booking two visits. Most people who book yearly do both at the same time.

If You Want to Know Your Gas Is Safe

Tell us how many gas appliances are in the house and why you are booking. A sale, an insurer or a yearly check all get the same inspection, but knowing which one helps us get you the right paperwork.

We are TSSA certified, we put everything in writing, and we have been a trusted family business in Niagara since 2014. You can also read about the gas work we take on across Niagara.

References

1. Health Canada, Carbon monoxide: Preventing exposure, canada.ca
2. Enbridge Gas, Safety Inspections, enbridgegas.com
3. Enbridge Gas, Carbon Monoxide Safety, enbridgegas.com
4. Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 212/01: Gaseous Fuels, ontario.ca