Dogs are barking, and *bam bam bam bam bam bam* - somebody is hammering on my front door. Clock says it's about 12:05. I peak out and can see the flashlight beam playing through the windows. Ring camera shows a dude in a bright yellow vest at my front door.

Ok...

So, I address the visitor through the Ring intercom. Says he's from the gas company, his truck is over there. Wants to come in and have a look around in my basement. Ok, well, I can't see your truck, and I don't see an ID badge. Also, it's goddamn midnight and I sure as shit didn't call the gas company for a service call. Tell you what, I'll ask the local police to swing by, and if you check out with them, then we can talk some more. Ok? Great.

Kudos to the local police; a couple officers arrived within less than 10 minutes of our call to the non-emergency line. They have a chat. Officers come to my door and say he checks out, offer to hang out while I talk to gas guy. [Again, much appreciation for these officers - this may have been the dumbest call they had all night, but they were professionals about it. I hope they had a laugh once they were on their way)

Gas guy says somebody called in an odor of gas, and his detectors say that it's coming from my line. Officers hang out while I show gas guy where the basement lines are. Nothing detected.

Ok, so the gas company is sending a crew to replace my line... right effing now. Uhh, ok...

Gas guy is all done, we shake hands and I offer an apology to him and to the officers.

Then the work crew shows up and make racket until 5:00am. At least they didn't do too bad of a number on my front yard.

Now I'm at home, awaiting the final inspector to come by and reconnect my gas service.

Good thing I have a busy day in the office.


But, I guess this is all better than a gas leak igniting and blowing up my house and half the block (and all of us with it).

quote:

Nothing detected.

I don't understand the replacement

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

Nothing detected.

I don't understand the replacement

I dunno. Guess they found something with the line leading to my house.

Considering all the things that could’ve gone horribly wrong, I’d say it was still a good night.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Considering all the things that could’ve gone horribly wrong, I’d say it was still a good night.

Agreed.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

Nothing detected.

I don't understand the replacement

Nothing detected in his basement. The previous sentence says the gas guy detected gas coming from his outside gas line, hence the replacement.

Weird night, but better than getting blown up while you were sleeping.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Weird night, but better than getting blown up while you were sleeping.

Yep.

I think you did right. If I couldn't see the Utility truck - I wouldn't have let him in either. Where I live - it would've been 20 or 30 minutes waiting before the cops arrived.

Sounds like a better-safe-than-sorry night.

That’s a scenario on how midnight door bangers get shot.

It's a PITA but better than this...?

https://www.fox2detroit.com/ne...o-suspected-gas-leak

Agree with your caution 100%, dude would be looking at a suppressed AR15 at midnight at my house.

quote:

Originally posted by SBrooks:
I think you did right. If I couldn't see the Utility truck - I wouldn't have let him in either. Where I live - it would've been 20 or 30 minutes waiting before the cops arrived.

Yeah, wife was up with me, 5 year old daughter sleeping soundly in her room. Ain't nobody getting in until I'm certain all is well. Gas guy didn't seem bothered that I wanted some security. Once I had certainty that things were for real and on the up and up, I was a really nice guy (no reason not to be).

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
It's a PITA but better than this...?

https://www.fox2detroit.com/ne...o-suspected-gas-leak

Agree with your caution 100%, dude would be looking at a suppressed AR15 at midnight at my house.

Yeah, definitely glad nothing blew up.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

Nothing detected.

I don't understand the replacement

Nothing detected in his basement. The previous sentence says the gas guy detected gas coming from his outside gas line, hence the replacement.

Perhaps more explanation is in order. Natural gas can be heavier than air. What can happen, and does, is that outside natural gas leaks result in the gas finding its way into nearby basements or crawl spaces and building up until it encounters a source of ignition, then KA-BOOM!

We had leaks in our natural gas line several years ago. This is how I learned of such things.

Something else we learned: An underground natural gas leak can also permanently damage, or kill, vegetation. We had a beautiful taxis yew shrub on the corner of the house, right near the meter. The natural gas leaching into the surrounding soil so-badly damaged it we had to remove and replace it. And the damage kept increasing long after the leaks (there were two, at least) were fixed.

You did the right thing.

I honestly don’t understand why gas company guy didn’t contact the police himself and have police assistance while performing his tests for his safety and the home owners.

And i realize leo may not always have the manpower to assist but when they do it would be better for everyone involved.

quote:

Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa:
You did the right thing.

I honestly don’t understand why gas company guy didn’t contact the police himself and have police assistance while performing his tests for his safety and the home owners.

And i realize leo may not always have the manpower to assist but when they do it would be better for everyone involved.

In my area, the officers on the night shift are probably pretty bored most of the time. Really, gas guy was pretty cool about it. To be honest, by the time the police arrived, I'd seen enough of the guy and the way he was conducting himself that I was pretty sure all was legit, but the final check and verification was still necessary in my view.

I politely told him that I had asked the police to swing by and verify, and he didn't flinch. Said he was good with it and understood. Gas guy handled himself well, too, but being more conspicuous with his ID and calling ahead would have made things go better.

I don’t understand why this is even in “What’s your Deal?” If you are ranting about midnight knocks from the gas company, are you implying that you’d prefer if the technician hadn’t knocked at midnight, but instead waited until morning?

Gas leaks are no small deal. They are nearly as serious as if your house was already on fire. Nobody would mind if somebody knocked on the door of a burning house. Agreed that the tech could have been more conspicuous with his vehicle and ID.

My former neighborhood had a house blow up due to natural gas leaking from the underground pipe, about 4 years ago. The gas was in the soil and under the house.

Emergency service was called, arrived and couldn’t/didn’t find the leak.

It blew up. Big time. Neighboring houses were also destroyed.

Bottom line, the old underground pipes were leaking.

I now live about 2 miles away. The gas company now not only checks the old neighborhood on a monthly basis, they also check my current neighborhood and my home on a monthly basis. Apparently the underground pipes were made by the same company.

A natural gas, or a propane leak, is a BOMB waiting to destroy everything. It’s bad.

A gas leak is like a limp dick, you don’t fuck with either one.

Not that hard for them to look up your number and call you. You're a customer, they have your phone number I assume.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I don’t understand why this is even in “What’s your Deal?” If you are ranting about midnight knocks from the gas company, are you implying that you’d prefer if the technician hadn’t knocked at midnight, but instead waited until morning?

My immediate thoughts as well.
An inconvenience, yes, but not as much as what might have happened.

As for other means of contacting the customer, I would not have answered an unknown number call at 0005 hours, and probably would not have received a postcard for a few days. If the gas company people believed there was a hazardous condition right here, right now, what else should they have done besides knock on the door, and loudly enough to wake someone who would probably be sleeping by that time?

You could have just gone w/ ASG's "chack-chack" approach.

Would have made for a more interesting evening, I think.

-Rob