Gas shut off by Con Edison? How gas restoration works, step by step

When Con Edison finds a gas leak in a building’s own piping, it turns the gas off and leaves it off until the piping has been repaired. For a household, that means no stove, and if the boiler and water heater run on gas, no heat and no hot water either, until the gas restoration process has run its course. Con Edison sets that process out on its own website. It is not complicated, but it has several steps and more than one party involved. Here it is in order, with what tends to hold it up and what to do while you wait.

Why Con Edison turns the gas off

Con Edison’s gas leak FAQ is direct about it. When a leak is reported, its crews make the area safe, and if the problem is in privately owned gas piping or equipment, the gas stays off until a plumber or technician has made the repairs. Piping on the property side is privately owned, so the repair falls to the owner. A shut-off is not a penalty. It is how the utility stops a known leak from turning into a fire.

If you smell gas right now

Stop reading and leave. Gas restoration comes later; getting out comes first.

• Leave the building first and take everyone with you, pets included.
• Do not use anything that could spark on the way out: light switches, phones, appliances. Con Edison’s own list goes as far as flashlights and starting your car.
• Once you are outside, call 911 or your gas utility’s emergency line. If Con Edison is your gas utility, that is 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).

Gas restoration, step by step

This is Con Edison’s gas restoration process, from its page on getting your gas back, in plain terms:

• Step 1: a licensed plumber is hired. Where there is a building manager, the building manager hires one. If you own the home, you do.
• Step 2: paperwork, then repairs. The plumber files documents with the local buildings department and with Con Edison before starting, then completes the repairs.
• Step 3: the buildings department reviews. The plumber notifies the buildings department, which reviews the case. That may include an onsite inspection by the local plumbing inspector.
• Step 4: Con Edison is updated. Once the buildings department approves, the plumber updates Con Edison.
• Step 5: a visual inspection. Con Edison inspects the repair work. If it passes, a leak test is scheduled.
• Step 6: the leak test, then gas. Con Edison crews test the pipes for leaks, and when none are found, the gas service can be turned back on.

Con Edison adds one rule that covers all six steps: if a problem with the repair work turns up at any point, the plumber has to make more repairs before the case can move forward.

Who hires the plumber: owner, landlord or building manager

In a house you own, you hire the plumber. In a rented apartment, a co-op or a condo, it is the building manager or the landlord, and Con Edison tells residents who are not the owner to ask the building manager about the status of their gas service. That is worth knowing early, because a tenant usually cannot hire a plumber to work on the building’s piping, so the gas restoration only starts moving when the person responsible for the building acts.

We work with homeowners, landlords and building managers, and we provide a certificate of insurance on request for buildings that need one before a contractor starts.

The Westchester side: building departments and licensing

Con Edison’s steps refer to your local buildings department. In Westchester, that is the building department of the city, town or village the property is in, and each one runs its own procedures. Whether a particular gas repair needs a permit, and which forms go with it, is that department’s call. Two things hold for plumbing work here generally:

• Plumbers are licensed by Westchester County, and county licensing supersedes any city’s own (N.Y. County Law section 236). KBD holds Westchester County plumbing license #1744.
• Each municipality runs its own permits. In Yonkers, for example, plumbing permits are filed online through City Squared, with the county plumbing hold-harmless form on file. In Dobbs Ferry, applications go to the Village Building Department, also online through CitySquared.

What holds gas restoration up

• Nobody has hired a plumber yet. In a rental building, nothing starts until the manager or landlord does.
• The buildings department review. The review, and an inspection if there is one, has to be finished before Con Edison is updated.
• A failed check. If the visual inspection or the leak test finds a problem, more repairs come first, and the case cannot advance until they are done.
• Getting into apartments. In an apartment building, Con Edison says crews may need to visit each household to turn the cooking gas back on, and one apartment they cannot get into can delay the others in the same building. A building superintendent may be able to let them in when no one is home.

Heat and hot water while the gas is off

If your boiler and water heater burn gas, they stop when the gas stops. That is expected, and there is nothing wrong with them while gas restoration is under way.

• Do not try to relight pilots or reset the boiler while the gas is off. Nothing will light, and relighting waits until Con Edison has passed the leak test and turned the gas back on.
• When the gas is back, any appliance with a standing pilot, such as an older boiler, water heater or stove, needs relighting by the instructions on the appliance. If a pilot will not light or will not stay lit, leave it to a plumber. A boiler that will not run properly afterward is boiler repair.
• In cold weather, watch the pipes. With the heat off, pipes on outside walls and in unheated spaces can freeze. Our guide to preventing frozen pipes covers where to look.
• Hot water stays warm in an insulated tank for a while, then runs cold. If it does not come back after the gas does, see no hot water.

What we do on a gas restoration job

KBD helps owners and building managers get the gas back on after a Con Edison or National Grid shut-off: finding the leak that caused it, repairing the piping, and working through the plumber’s part of the utility’s process. The six steps above are Con Edison’s, so if another utility supplies your gas, ask it for its own. The repair side is set out on our gas leak repair page, and replacing old piping on gas line installation. For buildings with several units, see commercial plumbing.

We are licensed and insured, and the price is agreed before any work starts. If the gas is off in a freeze, call at any hour; that is what our emergency plumber line is for.

KBD Plumbing & Heating works across lower Westchester — Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Yonkers, White Plains and the rest. Licensed and insured, price agreed before work starts, and the phone is answered any hour including holidays: (914) 233-3000.

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