Mains gas pipe in new house. Telling me it needs moving help!!!

Slinky

martindow wrote: »

I don't think there is any issue with the meter being under the stairs. I've just had major renovations with lots of things needing to be changed to comply with current building regulations, but moving the meter wasn't one of them.

I imagine the gas board would like meters to be outside so they can be easily read but it's not a requirement.

We've just been through this with a property we are no longer buying. The gas meter is in a now enclosed part of the building. It's an external style gas meter set-up and was never intended to be inside. If Transco discover this and don't move it within 30 days of notification, they can cut your gas supply off until it's moved.

The difference with meters inside people's homes that have always been there is the pipework up to the meter from the ground is metal. With an external meter, the pipework leading into the meter is plastic, there's potential for leaks which could lead to an explosion.

OP If you had a full RICS survey, your surveyor should have noticed this. We spotted this issue due to reading a thread on here a couple of months back and alerted our surveyor to it and he agreed with us that it was an external meter in the wrong place. He said that he had had recent RICS notifications about the positions of gas meters so surveyors are aware of this.

ETA I think you could be looking at upto £2K to have it moved, Transco are the only people allowed to move it.

[Deleted User]

It might be worth challenging them, they can be flexible about safety standards when it suits.

I had British gas out to service my water heater once, and came home to find they had condemned it as unsafe and prohibited me from using it. When I enquired why, they said it had been installed too close to the central heating boiler, but after I pointed out that it was British Gas who installed it and that the CH boiler was already there at the time, they decided it wasn't unsafe after all.