Paranoia: why was my gas meter just replaced?
Saturday night my basement flooded. Sunday into Monday there was a hose coming out of my window, spewing water into the yard. Monday the local utility company called to say that my gas meter is "obsolete" and needs replacement. They wanted to stop by on Tuesday to replace it but quick-thinking Wifey told them to wait until Wednesday.
The utility tech was supposed to show up between noon and five. He arrived at 2 PM and said it would take 40 minutes to replace the meter, then he would need to "restart" all the gas appliances in the house. It actually took over an hour for the meter replacement.
All of our gas appliances are located in my art studio basement. As the tech entered the basement, he thanked me for "waiting for him" (what, I was supposed to run away?). While he was relighting the pilot for the hot-water heater, he remarked on how new it was, and the furnace isn't very old (1994), and the gas dryer is new. The furnace and dryer have electronic ignition and don't need "restarting", so he just demonstrated that they were still working. He seemed impressed at how clean-burning my furnace is (I had just had it serviced in February after letting the soot build up since Sept. 2007). As he left, he thanked me again for "waiting for him".
There were plenty of signs of a recent flood (damp floor, etc.), but the tech didn't mention that. The dryer has a floodwater line about an inch up from its bottom. Was the post-flood meter-replacement really just a random coincidence or was this service call actually about checking whether my gas appliances have been water-damaged and are about to blow up? There's no way to tell what he *might* have said had there been damage in evidence. I like to think that this was an inspection, because my house "passed". I remember when I had a gas line installed for the new dryer: a journeyman asked if the work was going to be inspected; the master plumber said, "always assume that your work will be inspected!"
The utility tech was supposed to show up between noon and five. He arrived at 2 PM and said it would take 40 minutes to replace the meter, then he would need to "restart" all the gas appliances in the house. It actually took over an hour for the meter replacement.
All of our gas appliances are located in my art studio basement. As the tech entered the basement, he thanked me for "waiting for him" (what, I was supposed to run away?). While he was relighting the pilot for the hot-water heater, he remarked on how new it was, and the furnace isn't very old (1994), and the gas dryer is new. The furnace and dryer have electronic ignition and don't need "restarting", so he just demonstrated that they were still working. He seemed impressed at how clean-burning my furnace is (I had just had it serviced in February after letting the soot build up since Sept. 2007). As he left, he thanked me again for "waiting for him".
There were plenty of signs of a recent flood (damp floor, etc.), but the tech didn't mention that. The dryer has a floodwater line about an inch up from its bottom. Was the post-flood meter-replacement really just a random coincidence or was this service call actually about checking whether my gas appliances have been water-damaged and are about to blow up? There's no way to tell what he *might* have said had there been damage in evidence. I like to think that this was an inspection, because my house "passed". I remember when I had a gas line installed for the new dryer: a journeyman asked if the work was going to be inspected; the master plumber said, "always assume that your work will be inspected!"