Gas Leak Detection & Repair in Commerce City, CO

Commerce City's tract homes carry steel gas lines from the same construction era as the copper water pipe now clustering with pinhole failures across the same neighborhoods — often 40 to 60 years in the ground. Xcel Energy serves natural gas here, and while the utility responds to reported leaks and can shut off service, locating the exact failure point and completing a repair is licensed plumbing work. A gas leak rarely announces itself the way a water leak does. There is no climbing SACWSD bill, no wet spot. Usually it is a faint rotten-egg smell near a meter or appliance, a hissing sound, or in bad cases, dead vegetation over a buried line.

What to Do First If You Smell Gas

Get everyone out of the house. Do not flip a light switch, use a phone indoors, or search for the source with a lighter. If you can reach the meter without lingering, shut the gas off with a wrench, a quarter turn so the valve sits perpendicular to the pipe. Call Xcel Energy from outside, then call (303) 552-3896. We coordinate with the utility rather than around it, since only Xcel can restore service to the meter once a repair is complete.

Where Gas Leaks Most Often Start in Commerce City

Flexible appliance connectors to a stove, dryer, or water heater have a service life, and a common failure point is a fixture swapped with the old connector reused. Meter sets on 1960s–80s tract homes sometimes carry thread sealant never rated for current line pressure. Buried steel service lines corrode in the ground the same way anywhere else, showing up as a smell in the yard or dead grass in a straight line near Fairfax or Rose Hill's older blocks. Once Xcel confirms it is safe to proceed, we pressure-test the line in sections and use a combustible gas detector along every joint and connection, tracing buried yard lines with the same acoustic methods used on buried water leaks. Repairs beyond a simple connector swap are permitted work, and we pull those permits so the fix is documented and inspected.

Frequently Asked Questions