Every Inspector I have worked with uses one of those when doing the furnace and water heater check. Most also do the meter as well and if a problem is found they say "call the gas company"

The gas company in my area uses a highly technical instrument when checking for gas leaks. They carry a bottle of soapy water, spray it on connections, and wait to see if it bubbles! I kid you not, I have witnessed it myself many times. (probably better than striking a match)

Sometimes the most effective methods don't involve high technology. Soapy water and bubbles is a very effective and time-tested method that any homeowner can use. And it works every time.

If the $500 gas detectors are damaged or otherwise not working properly, they can fail to detect a leak.

The irridescent blue/green flies are another time-tested, fail-safe method. If you see a lot of them close to a gas pipe, you've got a leak.

I can see it now: You have heard of Canaries in Mines, how about iridescent blue/green flies in a jar for Home Inspectors.

I already tried to find a supply. Even Petco doesn't carry them. I was so disappointed. Fortunately, they are quite prevalent throughout the United States, and they can detect that gas leak from miles away.

soapy water on interior house lines will help pinpoint a leak and is very commonly used after the pressure test indicates a leak exists. "sniffers" can give false readings at times so it's best that the plumber have more than one detection method.

Gas plumbing is a specialty field and in my opinion should be left up to those specifically trained and licensed in that trade. A home inspector is not a specialist he/she is a generalist and by federal law can not perform a lot of the testing that goes beyond soap bubbles and gas sniffers and looking for blue bottle flies. I had a gas leak in the main line in my yard...no flies...no smell..the soil had filtered out the odorant added by the gas company before it reached the surface. This leak would never have been detected until a pressure test was performed on the service line. Service lines in the yard are the responsibility of the home owner in my area. Thankfully the gas company was doing a spot check on my street and found it which I had to pay to be repaired and be without gas service for a couple of days.

Point being:
I think ANY detection method is better than none. When I started this thread I wanted to point out that a gas leak check is discouraged in my area by a majority of real estate agents and in its place a "warranty" was invented to alleviate the expense of gas leak repairs the seller had to pay pre-closing.

Home inspectors do not perform these inspections as part of the standard inspection. In my area anyway. It's an extra service the buyer must specifically ask for. Not many buyers KNOW to ask for one if they are told by their agent that there is a gas line warranty is in place.

What they fail to tell the buyer is that the warranty was issued without an inspection and by accepting this piece of paper (AKA warranty) paid for by the seller they could very well be buying a house full of gas leaks.

Nothing will happen (changes made) until a family is blown to kingdom come (it already happened in Texas to an entire family that was killed on the very day they were moving in).

At least there is a chance a home buyer might read this and give it some serious thought. Enough thought that they hire a gas line plumber to do a pressure test from the curb to the meter and then from the meter to the interior lines. In my area it costs about 75.00-150.00.

I'm not familiar with any federal law that has anything at all to do with home inspectors or home inspection licensing.

There are some states that license and/or regulate home inspectors, but even they typically don't state what we cannot do. They only state what we are to do. How we go about doing that is up to each individual home inspector. Some retired HVAC techs working as home inspectors will have the latest and greatest technical equipment. Others of us are true generalists, leaving the technical stuff to the licensed professionals.

One can always go above and beyond any standards of practice, just like builders can exceed the various codes. Standards and codes are minimums, not maximums.

It really depends on what the state statutes say about licensing in licensed professions, what home inspector trade association standards of practice say, and what various courts have said in various lawsuits that have been published to create case law.

Russell
I was referring to gas line plumbers. Not home inspectors.

Gas line plumbers have to be DOT (federal not state)operator qualified to touch a service line/meter set. From street to house (meter).

A home inspector or anyone else for that matter who isn't specifically qualified can not do a pressure test on a gas line. Therefore a sniffer for a service line is useless.

I'll re-read my post. I don't know how you came to the assumption I was referring to home inspectors.

Hey, Kathy.

I might have misread your post. Sorry.

Do you have a reference for that DOT requirement, though, for gas line plumbers?

Anyone out here can do a simple pressure test on a gas line, including homeowners who simply want to save money. The question is, who considers it valid? Why was it done? Is it repair work that needs a code inspection? Even general handymen from South of the Border here can do a simple pressure test. They can also make repairs and build things. However, their work has to be inspected by a code inspector.

So I'm still confused about your claim about a federal law. I would like to read it if you know of a link. I haven't been able to google anything up, but I didn't try extremely hard just how.

I was talking about home inspectors being very limited in what they can (in terms of gas lines) do because of certain regulations in place.

Okay, but I think it has more to do with trade association standards of practice than any legal regulations. Certainly, case law will play a part because the HI industry is so young and there are a lot of cases making their ways through the court system.

The regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations, 49 CFR Parts 190-199

For more info you may want to contact your area gas utility office. Each state has different programs.

Thanks, Kathy.

I just love people who are as helpful as you are.

Hope it helps!

I agree with laneman in this issue; the same here. If you are interested in the equipment used by special inspections, there is a good site for equipment called Professional Equipment.com , but this is one of many.