Flexible hose & connector fixes, $100–$200
The brittle connector behind the cooktop, small part, common leak source, quick fix.
Gas Work, By The Book
Licensed Gas
Plumbers In
Wahroonga
Gas is the one trade where "pretty confident" is not a standard. Leaks found and repaired, cooktops and heaters connected, lines run and certified: all of it by licensed gasfitters, all of it pressure-tested before the gas goes back on in Wahroonga.
- Licence 368473C, fully insured
- Certified to AS/NZS 5601, every single job
- Smell gas? Leave, then 131 909: before us
Why The Law Keeps Gas Licensed In Wahroonga
In NSW, every job on a gas installation: connecting a cooktop, moving a bayonet, repairing a line: must legally be done by a licensed gasfitter, and for good reason: the failure modes are leaks, fires and carbon monoxide, none of which give second chances. It is also why "the handyman hooked it up" appliances are the single most common source of the leaks we get called to.
Licensed does not just mean allowed. It means the job finishes with a manometer pressure test proving the whole installation holds, appliances checked for correct operation and ventilation, and work done to AS/NZS 5601, the standard that decides what your insurer thinks of the installation if anything ever goes wrong. Across Wahroonga and the Upper North Shore, that is the finish line on every gas job we do.
Decommissioned lines nobody capped properly
Freestanding homes give more room to do the work properly and more ways to get it wrong: appliance clearances, correct sizing for added load, and compliant ventilation all apply.
Older properties routinely have redundant gas pipework, a disconnected heater, a removed stove, a fireplace converted decades ago: and it is not always capped to any standard, or capped at all.
Those are found by pressure testing the whole installation rather than the part in use. It is the single most common reason an old house fails a test, and it is usually inexpensive to put right once located.
Gas that arrived long after the house did
Wahroonga sits at the top of Sydney’s Upper North Shore (postcode 2076), one of Ku-ring-gai’s most prestigious leafy suburbs, grand heritage homes, huge garden blocks and streets that fade into bushland on the eastern edge. From the mansions off Cleveland Street to the older homes near the station and Fox Valley, its drains carry a lot of history, and we know the local ground well.
A period home was not built with gas in mind. Whatever it has was added later, often several times, and the runs take whatever route was available at the time, under floors, through cavities, along the outside of a wall and back in.
Which is why the first job on an older property is usually establishing what is actually there. A pressure test tells you whether the installation is sound; it does not tell you where it goes, and both matter before anything is added.
Old steel lines and what is inside them
Gas runs in older homes are frequently black steel, and steel corrodes internally over decades. The bore narrows with scale, which starves appliances at the far end of the run, and the wall thins at the low points where moisture collects.
An appliance that has become unreliable at the end of a long old run is often reporting on the pipe rather than on itself. That is worth establishing before it gets replaced.
What a pressure test actually proves
The installation is isolated, brought to a set pressure, and watched on a manometer for a defined period. If the needle holds, the system is tight. If it drops, gas is escaping somewhere and the test tells us roughly how much.
It is the only way to know the condition of pipework you cannot see, and it is the step people most often want to skip. It is also the step that finds the uncapped line behind the old stove.
What gas work costs in Sydney in 2026
Indicatively: a pressure test and leak location generally $220-$450; a new bayonet or appliance point $350-$800 depending on the run; an appliance service $180-$320; a cooktop changeover $250-$500 where the point already exists.
Those are market figures rather than our quote. Your number is agreed before work starts, and every job includes the compliance certificate rather than adding it.
If you smell gas, this is the order
Leave the building. Take everyone with you. No light switches, no appliances, no phone calls made inside: a switch operating is an ignition source.
From outside, call 131 909. That is the gas network's emergency number, staffed twenty-four hours, and they attend and make the supply safe at no cost to you. Once it is safe, a licensed gasfitter finds and repairs the fault on your side of the meter.
What it costs in Wahroonga
Fitting & joint repairs, $200–$600
Leaks at threads, valves and joints: found, sealed properly, retested under pressure.
Pipe section repairs, $400–$1,500
Corroded or damaged runs cut out and replaced. Concealed lines needing access run $800–$2,500.
Appliance connections, from ~$200
Cooktop, oven or heater connected, tested and certified. More if a new line or bayonet has to be run to reach it.
Gasfitter rates, $120–$220/hr
The going Sydney range for licensed gas work in 2026, with call-out fees typically $80–$150.
Every gas job ends with a pressure test and the paperwork that proves it. Figures here are indicative of the 2026 Sydney market rather than a quote from us, you get your own number as a fixed price before any work starts.
A Gas Job, Properly Ordered
Step 01
Step 01
Make It Safe
A suspected leak starts with isolation at the meter and ventilation, before diagnosis, before anything. No reading is worth taking on an installation still feeding a leak.
Step 02
Find It, Prove It
A manometer pressure test tells us the installation is losing gas; gas detection equipment and controlled testing narrow it to the joint, fitting or run responsible.
Step 03
Repair To Standard
The failed component or section is replaced, not doped up and hoped over, to AS/NZS 5601, whether that is one connector or a rerun line.
Step 04
Test, Relight, Certify
The whole installation holds pressure or the job is not finished. Appliances are relit and checked for correct burning, and you get the compliance side documented.
New Appliance Still In Its Box?
Cooktop, heater or barbecue point: connected, tested and certified in one visit. The right way costs less than the redo.
Manufacturers generally specify every two years for heaters and annually for anything unflued. A service is combustion analysis rather than a clean, measuring what comes out of the flue, checking the burner and heat exchanger, verifying ventilation. Very few households do it, and it is the most effective thing you can do about an invisible risk.
No. Gasfitting is licensed work in NSW with no handyman tier, and that is not bureaucratic caution, unburnt gas and incorrectly burnt gas are both lethal, and the second is odourless. Unlicensed gas work also voids home insurance, invalidates appliance warranties, and surfaces during a sale.
The installation is isolated, brought to a set pressure and watched on a manometer for a defined period. If the needle holds, the system is tight; if it drops, gas is escaping and the test indicates roughly how much. It is the only way to know the condition of pipework you cannot see.
It can be, and testing is the only way to know. A period home was not built with gas in mind, whatever it has was added later, often several times, taking whatever route was available. The first job is usually establishing what is actually there before anything is added to it.
Older runs are frequently black steel, which corrodes internally. The bore narrows with scale and starves appliances furthest from the meter. An unreliable appliance on a long old run is often reporting on the pipe rather than itself, worth establishing before it gets replaced.
Not necessarily. Redundant pipework from a disconnected heater, a removed stove or a converted fireplace is not always capped to any standard, or capped at all. It is the single most common reason an old house fails a pressure test, and usually inexpensive to put right once located.
Certified Gas Work Booked Today In Wahroonga
Licensed, pressure-tested, documented: every time. Smelling gas this minute? 131 909 from outside comes first.
