Cooktops, heaters and gas lines installed, tested and certified. In a block we check what the riser and the meter bank will actually support before quoting anything.
Online Now!·--:--
In a house, gas is a supply to a building. In a walk-up it is a system serving several households, and that changes what any one owner can do.
Whether gas reaches your apartment is the first question and it is not always yes. Some of these blocks were built with a connection to every unit, some to none at all, and some only to particular stacks. A meter bank on the wall does not settle it.
The second question is what the riser was sized for. It was specified for the appliances the building had when it went up, and adding to it decades later is a capacity question rather than a plumbing preference.
The third is common property. New pipework that crosses shared areas needs the owners corporation's agreement. None of this is unusual, it simply has to be answered before anything is bought.
Leave the building, touch no switches, tell your neighbours on the way, and ring us from outside.
Open what you can, get everybody out, and touch nothing electrical on the way. In a walk-up that means the stairwell too, so knock as you go if it does not delay you.
Ring from outside the building. Tell the building manager or the strata after-hours number as well as us, because the risk is not confined to your apartment.
A licensed gas fitter answers when you ring, and where the network's emergency crew is the right first call we will say so.
Some blocks here were built with gas to every apartment, some to none, and some to only part of the building. It is a per-block question and sometimes a per-stack one.
So the first thing to establish before any conversation about appliances is what actually arrives at your door, and the building or the strata records will know.
It is worth asking before buying an appliance rather than after it has been delivered.
The gas riser in these buildings was specified for the appliances the block was built with, which was typically a cooktop and not much else.
Adding a continuous flow hot water unit decades later is a substantial addition to that, and the riser has a fixed capacity shared by everybody on it.
So it is a capacity question for the whole building rather than a preference for one apartment, and it has to be worked out before anything is installed.
Anything running outside your own lot is on shared areas, and the owners corporation has a legitimate say in it. That is a normal approval process with a normal timeframe.
Starting it before you order an appliance is considerably easier than starting it afterwards, when a cooktop is sitting in the hallway.
The same applies to a flue penetration, which changes the outside of the building and is common property regardless of which unit it serves.
Adding an appliance is a calculation against total demand rather than a connection, and in a block that demand includes every other apartment on the riser.
The input rating on the appliance plate is the number the calculation runs on, and a photograph of it is enough to get started.
Where the sums do not work, appliances starve each other, and a burner that drops off when somebody else runs a shower is nearly always this.
An appliance burning indoors consumes air from the room. Apartment kitchens in these blocks are small and most have been renovated at least once since 1968.
Renovation almost always makes a room tighter, and a powerful rangehood removing air from a sealed kitchen can work against an appliance rather than help it.
It is worth a look if the kitchen has been redone, which in most of these apartments it has.
Certifying a new appliance on a line losing pressure elsewhere achieves nothing, so the existing installation gets tested as part of connecting anything new to it.
In a building with sixty years of alterations behind it, that occasionally finds something.
When it does we tell you before doing the work rather than after, which is why a straightforward swap sometimes becomes a longer conversation.
Sizing for the run and the load, a pressure test, installation to the manufacturer's instructions, correct clearances, correct flueing, and ventilation matched to the appliance and the room it sits in.
Each of those is specified somewhere rather than judged on the day, which is the reason gas work can be certified at all.
It is also why unlicensed work is such a poor bargain. It looks the same when it is finished, and the difference only shows up in circumstances nobody wants.
A Certificate of Compliance is legally required and is issued by the licensed gasfitter who did the work. It records what was done, that it was tested, and under whose licence.
In a shared building it is the record that work inside one apartment was done properly, which everybody else has a legitimate interest in.
The owners corporation may ask for a copy, and providing one is straightforward if you have it and impossible if you do not.
Gas fitting is licensed work in NSW with no small-job exemption, and unlicensed work cannot be certified at any point afterwards.
In a freestanding house that risk is taken on your own behalf. In a walk-up it is taken on behalf of everybody in the building, none of whom were asked.
Anybody offering to connect an appliance in an apartment without issuing a certificate has told you something useful about how they work.
Fixed price agreed before anything starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges and the Certificate of Compliance is included in every one of them.
The installation pressure tested, with a written result.
Connected, tested and certified, with the certificate handed over.
Depending on the run and what it has to pass through on the way.
Installed and certified, sized for the appliance rather than for convenience.
Legally required, and included on every gas job without being asked for.
Whether gas actually reaches your unit, and what the riser was sized for. That comes before any quote.
A pressure test on what we are connecting to, so nothing gets certified over an existing fault.
Installed and commissioned properly, sized for the appliance rather than for whatever was easiest to run.
The Certificate of Compliance issued on the spot, and worth keeping with your records.
Leave the building first, tell your neighbours on the way out, then ring us from outside.
Call 1300 381 569Get everyone out first. Do not touch a light switch or any other switch, and do not use a phone inside the building. In a block, tell your neighbours on the way out rather than assuming somebody else has. Then ring from outside. This is the one situation where doing nothing clever and simply leaving is the right answer.
Not always, and it is the first thing to establish. Some of these blocks were built with gas to every unit, some to none, and some only to certain stacks. A meter bank in the basement or on an external wall does not automatically mean a live connection to your apartment. We check rather than assume, because it changes the entire quote.
Sometimes. It depends on whether there is a supply to the unit, whether the riser has capacity for another appliance, and whether running new pipework crosses common property, which needs the owners corporation's agreement. None of those are unusual obstacles, they just need answering before anything is ordered.
It is the document a licensed gasfitter issues certifying the work was done to standard. It is legally required. Keep it with your records, because insurers ask for it and so does a conveyancer at sale. In a block it is also what tells a future committee that the work in your apartment was done properly. We issue one on every gas job without being asked.
No. Gas is licensed work in NSW, there is no exemption for a small job or a capable owner, and unlicensed work cannot be certified and will void a home insurance claim. In a building with other households in it, that is somebody else's risk as well as your own.
The installation. Certifying a new cooktop on a line that is losing somewhere else achieves nothing, so we pressure test what we are connecting to. If something else is wrong you will hear about it before we leave, with a price attached rather than a vague warning.
A leak test on the installation is $150 to $300. A cooktop connected and certified is $250 to $500. A new gas point run and certified is $450 to $1,200 depending on the distance and what it has to pass through. A heater bayonet is $300 to $600. The compliance certificate is included in all of it.
Tell us whether it is a house or a unit and whether gas already reaches you. Those two answers decide whether this is a straightforward job or a building question first.
Installation tested, certificate issued as a matter of course, and the licence number on the quote before you agree to anything.
Online Now!·--:--
