Licensed gas fitting
across Chatswood

Get everyone out. Do not touch a light switch, a power point, an appliance or anything else that could spark, and that includes the intercom and the lift call button. Do not use a phone inside. Once outside, turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely and ring from outside the building. In an apartment, tell the building manager as well, because if it is in a riser or a common area it affects more than your lot. If the smell is strong, ring the gas emergency line first and us second.

Very common here. A lot of the unit blocks were built with gas run to the kitchen for a cooktop and nowhere else, with hot water and heating electric. It is a deliberate design decision, not something missing. It also means you cannot simply add a gas appliance elsewhere in the flat, because there is no line to it and running one crosses common property.

Usually not, and the reason is the flue rather than the gas. A flued heater needs a route to outside air, which means penetrating a wall or the facade, and that is common property governed by by-laws. An unflued heater in a modern sealed apartment raises ventilation and safety issues that most buildings will not accept and that we would not recommend. If heating is the goal, in a unit the honest answer is almost always a reverse cycle split system rather than gas.

Yes, without exception, and that includes connecting a cooktop you bought yourself. It is not paperwork for its own sake. Unlicensed gas work voids home insurance, and in strata it also exposes you to the owners corporation if something goes wrong in a shared building. Our licence number is 368473C and it is on every quote before you accept it.

It is the document a licensed gas fitter issues certifying the work meets AS/NZS 5601. In NSW it is lodged with the supplier and a copy comes to you. It matters when you sell, because a conveyancer asks for it, when you claim, because an insurer asks for it, and it is the only proof the installation was ever pressure tested. In an apartment keep it with your strata records as well. We issue one on every gas job, included in the price.

Yes, and it is our most common gas job in this area. Bring the appliance and its installation instructions. The two things that catch people out are the connection type not matching what is at the wall, and the existing line not being sized for the appliance's load, which matters when a new six-burner cooktop replaces something much smaller. We check both before starting rather than halfway through.

It is where we find most leaks, yes. The century-old housing around here has typically had gas extended several times: a cooktop in one decade, a heater in another, hot water changed twice since. Original sound copper rarely fails on its own. Connections at modifications do. A pressure test settles it in about half an hour rather than leaving you guessing, and the drop rate tells us roughly how big any leak is before anything is opened up.