Johnsonville was a small rural town by 1896 and grew rapidly from 1938, when state houses went up on the former Native Reserve between Broderick Road and Fraser Avenue, starting in Bould Street. From 1938 to 1956, 329 state houses were built. Housing now spreads from the central shopping hub to the base of Mt Kaukau in the west and over the hill towards Newlands. We respond to gas leaks 24/7 across Wellington City, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and the Kāpiti Coast. We make the area safe, find the leak with proper test equipment, repair or replace the faulty pipe, fitting or appliance part, pressure test the installation and certify the work before the gas goes back on.
Finding gas leaks in Johnsonville homes, hill sections and shops
If you smell gas in a Johnsonville home, get everyone outside first, leave switches alone and ring the emergency line for your gas supplier once you are on the street. Never try to find a leak with a flame. Once the area is safe, our licensed gasfitters find the leak, repair it and test the whole system before anything is relit. Most of Johnsonville is within reach of Powerco's natural gas network, so many leaks here are on reticulated lines between the meter and the appliances rather than on bottles.
The age of the housing shapes where we look. State houses went up from 1938 between Broderick Road and Fraser Avenue, and few of them were built with gas, so any gas in those homes has been added since, sometimes in several stages by different people. Joints from those additions, old heater connections that were capped by hand, and flexible hoses that have hardened with age are the usual suspects. Hoses that look fine can still be cracked on the underside. We test with a pressure gauge on the whole installation, then use leak detection fluid or an electronic detector to pin down the exact fitting.
Slopes add their own risk. Housing climbs from the town centre toward Mt Kaukau and over to Newlands, so outside gas pipe often runs along retaining walls, under decks or across banks. Wet ground on a hillside can move, and a pipe clipped to a shifting wall can be strained until a joint weeps. If we find that, we reroute or add flexibility rather than simply tightening the fitting. Cafes and food outlets around the shopping centre get the same careful testing, scheduled so they can reopen quickly. Once the repair is done, we retest the full installation and relight every appliance with you watching.
Local tip: If you smell gas only when a particular appliance runs, turn that appliance off at its isolation valve and keep it off until it has been checked.
For anything else, see our plumbers in Johnsonville.
Pricing: quotes are free, and every job gets a fixed price before we start, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Gas Leak Repairs Jobs We Do in Johnsonville
- Gas leak detection
- Appliance gas leaks
Gas Leak Repairs Johnsonville FAQs
Why would a gas leak start in my 1940s Johnsonville house when nothing has changed?
Gas in houses of that age has usually been added in stages, and older hoses and joints dry out and loosen over the years. Ground movement on sloping sections can also strain outside pipe. A pressure test shows whether there is a leak and where.
Will I get a certificate after a gas leak repair?
Yes. The repair is gasfitting work and comes with the required gas certification.
Can I turn the gas back on after a leak or an earthquake?
Not until a gasfitter has found and fixed any leak and tested the installation. Turning it back on early can be dangerous.