Thread: no actual gas meter

So on a house in the country, built in 2002, there is gas supplied to the house. On the exterior, there is gas line, a gas shut off valve, a secondary shut off valve, an regulator, but no actual meter. Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Barry Sigler

So on a house in the country, built in 2002, there is gas supplied to the house. On the exterior, there is gas line, a gas shut off valve, a secondary shut off valve, an regulator, but no actual meter. Thoughts?

Buried LPG tank?

Like Vern said or I have seen meters out near the street a goo distance from the house, they normally are surrounded by a small pipe like cage to protect the meter.

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

Like Vern said or I have seen meters out near the street a goo distance from the house, they normally are surrounded by a small pipe like cage to protect the meter.

It was natural gas, functioning, and there was nothing else anywhere to be seen. Free gas for some reason? Flat fee? I have never seen this before.

I saw something like this a week ago. The homeowner explained... There once was an oil well on the property (large farm), but the oil stopped and now it was a natural gas well. He pointed out the well head and told me the oil company maintains the well head, etc, and the home has free natural gas. There was a regulator and shut off valve next to the house.
That natural gas had an oily smell to it.

You might want to call the utility company in that area and ask them about meter locations.

My first thought was well gas. If so, advise the client well gas is not scrubbed so it may contain impurities that could result in excessive corrosion or adverse combustion. It may also contain deadly H2S gas so a leak may represent more than just a fire/ explosion hazard. Definitely check with local utilities and your state regulatory agencies.

FYI, there are installations where there are what appear to be NG meters on all the homes but it's actually feeding aerated LPG into the homes. I investigated such a case. All the combustion appliances had been tampered with by the local LPG provider and most were sooting and burning poorly. They were planning on providing aerated LPG for a few years until PECO's pipeline made it to them, then they thought all they'd have to do is switch fuels. They should have simply converted all the appliances to LP with kits from the mfrs. set to their specs. and converted to NG with kits again from the mfr. once NG became available.

Back to local wells--some don't have sufficient high pressure protection as evidenced by some tragedies in recent years. Also, even where they have a high pressure regulator, they can and do fail or just wear out. Who is maintaining those devices and on what maintenance schedule? They are often installed and forgotten with the original company out of business. Caveat emptor.

Could also be CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) - there could be a tank somewhere.

I have seen underground gas meters is some small towns. Looks very much like a water meter / man hole cover.

Originally Posted by Bob Harper

My first thought was well gas. If so, advise the client well gas is not scrubbed so it may contain impurities that could result in excessive corrosion or adverse combustion. It may also contain deadly H2S gas so a leak may represent more than just a fire/ explosion hazard. Definitely check with local utilities and your state regulatory agencies.

FYI, there are installations where there are what appear to be NG meters on all the homes but it's actually feeding aerated LPG into the homes. I investigated such a case. All the combustion appliances had been tampered with by the local LPG provider and most were sooting and burning poorly. They were planning on providing aerated LPG for a few years until PECO's pipeline made it to them, then they thought all they'd have to do is switch fuels. They should have simply converted all the appliances to LP with kits from the mfrs. set to their specs. and converted to NG with kits again from the mfr. once NG became available.

Back to local wells--some don't have sufficient high pressure protection as evidenced by some tragedies in recent years. Also, even where they have a high pressure regulator, they can and do fail or just wear out. Who is maintaining those devices and on what maintenance schedule? They are often installed and forgotten with the original company out of business. Caveat emptor.

Thanks to all! I now recall that my now deceased uncle owned a farm fairly close to the same area and he had an oil well from which he received free natural gas for his home. This could be a similar situation. I recommende my client ask the seller about all of this, and mentioned these possible implications.

I can look out my office window at the lovely site of a pump jack working away. Sadly, Anadarko won't let me tap into the nat gas coming off the well, so I'm on propane. But so is the well motor.

On rural properties that have nat gas, I often find the meter down by the main road where the gas line is. Sometimes, that's a long way from the house.