Two gas worlds in one shire: mains gas through the rail corridor suburbs, and 45kg LPG bottles out on the rural fringe. They run at different pressures and the appliances are not interchangeable, so we ask which you have before anything else.
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The first question we ask here is not what the appliance is. It is whether you are on mains gas or bottles, because that changes everything that follows.
The suburbs along the rail line generally have reticulated natural gas, and the work there looks like gas work anywhere: a meter at the boundary, a run into the house, appliances connected and certified.
The rural fringe is a different world. Galston and Arcadia largely have no mains gas network at all, and households run 45kg LPG bottles for cooking, hot water and heating. That is not a lesser arrangement, it is a different one, with its own regulator, its own siting rules and its own failure modes.
The trap sits between the two. Natural gas and LPG run at different supply pressures and appliance injectors are sized for one or the other, so an appliance moved from a mains property to a bottled one will not burn correctly and is not safe until it has been converted and certified. People find this out after they have bought the cooktop.
Get out, leave the switches alone, and turn it off at the meter or the bottle valve. If it is LPG, get well clear rather than standing at the back door, it pools low.
Open up, get everybody outside, and touch nothing electrical on the way. Ring from outdoors.
Turn the supply off if you can reach it safely: the meter for natural gas, the bottle valves for LPG. On a bottle bank the valves are usually the easier of the two.
A licensed gas fitter answers when you ring us, and where the network's emergency crew is the right first call we will say so.
Reticulated natural gas through the established rail corridor suburbs, and bottled LPG across a great deal of the rural fringe. This shire genuinely has both.
So the first question before any conversation about appliances is which one arrives at your property, and it is answered by looking rather than by assuming.
A meter with a service line from the street is natural gas. A pair of bottles on a stand is LPG.
Natural gas and LPG are supplied at different pressures, and the injectors and burner components differ accordingly. An appliance is manufactured for one of them.
Some models can be converted with a manufacturer kit matching the exact model. Many cannot, and it is never an adjustment made on the day.
The data plate states which, and a photograph of it answers the question before anybody drives a long way.
The normal domestic LPG arrangement is a pair of 45kg bottles on a changeover regulator, so when one empties the supply switches to the other without interruption.
That is why running out is usually a changeover that has not switched rather than genuinely empty bottles, and it is worth checking before ringing anybody.
The indicator on the regulator tells you which bottle is in use, and swapping an empty for a full one is a job for the supplier.
Upright, restrained, in the open, with clearance from ignition sources, drains and openings into the building. Those requirements exist because LPG is heavier than air and pools.
Under a deck, inside a shed or beside a downward stairwell is exactly the arrangement to avoid, and on sloping rural blocks it happens.
Cylinders also expire, with a test date stamped on the collar, which is generally how people find out when a supplier refuses one.
Out on acreage the bottle bank is frequently a long way from the house, and gas pressure falls along a run in proportion to its length and the load it carries.
So the pipe has to be sized for the distance as well as for the appliances, and undersizing shows up as appliances that underperform when several run together.
That is a calculation rather than a judgement, and it happens before anything is installed.
Adding an appliance is a calculation against total demand, and on LPG the regulator and the cylinder capacity come into it alongside the pipe.
The input rating on the appliance plate is the number the calculation runs on, and a photograph of it is enough to start.
Where the sums do not work, appliances starve each other, and a burner that drops off whenever something else runs is nearly always this.
Every outdoor gas appliance has required clearances to combustible material, and on a block backing onto a reserve the vegetation is not something anybody controls.
A flue terminal also has required distances from windows, doors and vents, and it is the part almost nobody ever looks at.
It is the most common non-fault we find out here, and the fix is usually a trim and ten minutes.
Pipe sized for the run and the load, tested to pressure, appliances installed to the manufacturer's instructions with the required clearances, flueing that discharges where it should, and ventilation suited to the gas and the space.
On LPG the ventilation item deserves particular attention, because the gas behaves differently from natural gas in an enclosed low space.
None of it is visible once the job is finished, which is exactly why the certificate matters.
Legally required, issued by the licensed gasfitter, and the only durable proof that the work was done by somebody entitled to do it and tested afterwards.
Keep it with the property papers. It is what an insurer asks for after an incident and what a conveyancer asks for at sale.
It applies equally on LPG. Bottled supply is not a lesser category of gas work and it is not exempt from anything.
Fixed price agreed before anything starts. Indicative 2026 Sydney ranges for guidance, not quotes, and the compliance certificate is included in every one of them.
The installation isolated and put under pressure, bottle installations included.
Onto a point already there and confirmed correct for the gas you actually have.
Manufacturer's kit, jets and regulator, then tested and certified.
Traced, repaired and retested. On a long rural run, locating is most of the work.
Issued and lodged on every gas job. Never a separate line on our invoice.
The first question, before the appliance. It decides the pressure, the fittings, and whether a conversion is part of the job.
The whole installation comes off supply and goes under pressure, including the run from a bottle bank rather than just the appliance.
Work to AS/NZS 5601, with jets and regulator matched to the gas actually supplied and bottles sited to the clearances required.
Certificate issued, lodged, copy to you with the invoice. On a rural LPG installation it is the only record the line was ever tested.
Get everyone out and shut it off at the meter or the bottle. With LPG, move away from low ground rather than standing near the house, it sinks and collects.
Call 1300 381 569Get everyone outside. Do not touch a light switch, a power point or anything that could spark, and do not use a phone inside. Once outside, turn the gas off: at the meter if you are on mains, or at the valve on top of the bottle if you are on LPG. Then ring from a distance. If the smell is strong, ring the gas emergency line first and us second. LPG is heavier than air and pools low, so if it is bottled gas, keep people away from low points and get well clear rather than standing at the back door.
No, and this catches people out constantly. The rail corridor suburbs generally have reticulated natural gas. The rural fringe, Galston and Arcadia, largely does not, and households there run 45kg LPG bottles instead for cooking, hot water and heating. If you are moving out that way, or buying, it is worth establishing which you have before you buy an appliance, because they are not the same thing.
Not as it stands. The two gases run at different supply pressures and the appliance's injectors are sized for one or the other, so a natural gas appliance connected to LPG will not burn correctly and is not safe. Most quality appliances can be converted with the manufacturer's kit, which changes the jets and the regulator setting, and that conversion has to be done by a licensed gas fitter and certified. Some appliances have no conversion kit available at all, which is worth checking before you buy rather than after.
Two 45kg bottles on an automatic changeover regulator is the normal domestic arrangement: when one empties the regulator switches to the other, so you do not lose hot water mid-shower and you have time to order a swap. Bottles must stand upright, be restrained, and sit in the open with clearance from ignition sources, drains, pits and openings into the house. That last point matters because LPG is heavier than air, so a leak sinks and collects rather than dispersing upward.
Yes, without exception, and that applies equally to LPG. Connecting a bottle to an appliance, converting a cooktop, or running a line from a bottle bank is all licensed gas work. Unlicensed gas work voids home insurance. Our licence number is 368473C and it goes on every quote before you accept it.
It is the document a licensed gas fitter issues certifying the work meets AS/NZS 5601, and yes, it covers LPG installations as well as mains. In NSW it is lodged and a copy comes to you. It matters when you sell, because a conveyancer asks for it, and when you claim, because an insurer asks for it. On a rural property with a bottle bank and a long run to the house, it is also the only record that the installation was ever pressure tested.
Yes. Bring the appliance and its installation instructions, and tell us whether you are on mains or bottles when you book. That one answer decides whether the job is a straight connection or a connection plus a conversion kit, and it is the difference between finishing in an hour and having to order a part.
Tell us whether you are on mains gas or 45kg bottles, and what the appliance is. Those two answers decide the whole job, and getting them up front saves a return visit.
Fixed price agreed before anything starts, and a compliance certificate on every job.
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