Gas, Gas, Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

As the range that came with our new house is so old that the owner's manual was probably written in Sanskrit, we decided to use a $100 major department store known for their appliances (who wants to get sued with using company names?) gift card we got for Christmas and put it toward a new range. We bought it Monday night and arranged for it to be delivered today.

The guys brought it here on schedule, but informed me that they couldn't hook it up because we have copper piping for our gas line and they're not allowed to unhook or hook to that—get this—because copper pipe bends and cracks too easily and they can't afford the liability for the leaks they might cause.

"So, hmmm," I thought. "What about the way you just wrenched my current range away from the wall, bending the pipe? Could I have a leak?"

After the guy made me talk to customer service, which told me the same thing, only over the telephone, I got out the carbon monozide/gas detector and walked it over the range.

BEEEEP!

(sigh)

Fire drill. Call the gas company to report the leak. Dress the baby warmer. Get the stroller. Open the garage door and get outside with the SIX WEEK OLD BABY who could easily DIE from a TINY amount of gas. Call wonderful husband to call other people we know and secure someone to come over and help me wait outside with the baby, and then wait for the trusty nephew to come over to do just that.

The gas company guy comes out, and I explained what happened. He got out his more accurate tester and waved it hither and yon near the range—nothin'. Went into the basement—zilch.

So now I'm feeling dumb, except that my tester still indicated a leak. The gas company guy even tried it and it did the same thing. So was the detector faulty?

The repairman, for completeness, went to the outside meter to test. Leak. He's still trying to find the cause (it's a small leak, but it's still AMBIENT GAS in my HOUSE!) but it could easily turn out to have been something completely unrelated to the department store delivery guys coming out and pulling the range away from the wall. It may have just been a slow, steady leak that we might not have found out about until it got worse, otherwise.

Moral of the story: If you have gas in your house, you should probably just chicken little it once a year and schedule someone to come out and make sure your shit is not about to blow up. 'Nuff said.