Welcome to The Few Good Men

Thanks for visiting our club and having a look around, there is a lot to see. Why not consider becoming a member?

When will I learn to not trust the government?

Concord

FGM Major
FGM MEMBER
Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
3,947
Reaction score
3,967
Location
Western Australia
Had to share my story here. As a warning, and to get it out of my system. :)

Well I stumbled into a situation today like a total chump. Kicking myself for my lack of street smarts.
Our gas hot water heater was very old, so I recently paid for a new one and it was installed. Expensive and a hassle as well.

Then I get an email from a group who work for the government doing gas safety checks and quality of work checks.
It was 'free' so I decided to call...like a baby mouse venturing out to an open field. So naive. :rolleyes:

The guy went to the hot water heater and got out his measuring tape and clipboard. My internal alarm bells started ringing, but too late.
"The top of your heater needs to have 300mm clearance above it, and there's only 250mm. That's against regulations and it's gotta go." he says.
Oh great. And I volunteered for this?? 50mm?? I'd like to order a Common Sense meal please, with a side of Practicality. And extra Who-Gives-A-Shit.

Then he checks the meter and says we have a tiny gas leak. He searches the house for it but can't find it.
"Do you have any other gas appliances?" he asks. "The gas heater is in the roof" I answer.
Then he tells me it is against regulations for him to explore the roof.
"If I can't find the leak, I'm going to have to turn off your gas until you can get it fixed."

At this stage, I'm wondering where I can bury his body in the garden bed (kidding). ;)
So now I'm looking at no cooking (gas stove), no hot water, no heating and no showers for days and a hefty bill that I didn't need at this time.
Not to mention my wife going wild at me. Man, did I feel sheepish and angry!

Luckily after he replaced some seals and jiggled some knobs on the stove, the gas leak disappeared.
The hot water heater will need to be dealt with (5cm!!!)...but at least we still have the gas on.

In hindsight, this was like me calling the taxation office to make sure my income tax report was okay.
"Well, after you drew our attention to yourself, we've decided that you should have a full audit done...but it's for your own good."
Drop your pants and prepare to be boarded.

I felt like I had gotten my sleeve caught in a giant bureaucratic paperwork machine, and it was pulling me in to my doom.
Beware fellow citizens! Never again.

This was the look on my face after 30 seconds:
tumblr_mdgp6nPFEU1rxuv7ko1_500.gif
 
Last edited:
What's weird here is that the inspector was checking on the work of the installer. If the installer put the wrong heater or installed it incorrectly - guess what *they* should be the ones fixing it. That's how things work here. I hire and electrician or plumber or both and they do their work the inspector comes in at various times and if they have done something wrong the trades are the ones that fix things. In other words you header installer should have known that the header would not fit in the space and help you choose a new location or a different heater. Therefore it is that installer that should be on the hook to fix things.
 
I was once on a jury in a criminal trial. One issue that a lot of my fellow jurors thought was a sign of guilt was that the accused did not consent to a police search. The jurors felt that if he was truly innocent, he should have consented to the search.

I led the charge in arguing that you should almost NEVER consent to a police search. Even if you are innocent. The number of ancillary and strange things that you could get nailed on is mind boggling.

The guy got off and for good reason!

The government will rarely do good for you and will often cause you headaches.
 
The installer will have to fix it at their cost. In addition, he will get a $400 fine. Sigh.
We will be without hot water for a day while it is done. Such a waste...for having 250mm clearance instead of 300mm.

The gas regulator guy also found a tiny leak on his gas reader. After he jiggled the stove knobs (which apparently can relubricate the internal seals), it went away.
Until that point though, when he couldn't locate the source of the reading (which was extremely small...0.01 from memory), he was talking about shutting down all gas to our house.

I have since heard a story from a friend who said that he had a similar problem, and it cost him thousands of dollars for a gas plumber to rework 'non-regulation' pipes.
I can understand the need for safety, but I almost sunk us into a potential money pit, chasing after what I regard as inconsequential variations.
And I did it voluntarily. Lesson learned.
 
The installer will have to fix it at their cost. In addition, he will get a $400 fine.
That is good news - and as it should be.

I can understand the need for safety,
Do you though? :) You just said that if there was a small leak you would not want to have to fix it. That doesn't seem like someone concerned about safety.
 
The gas regulator guy also found a tiny leak on his gas reader. After he jiggled the stove knobs (which apparently can relubricate the internal seals), it went away.
Until that point though, when he couldn't locate the source of the reading (which was extremely small...0.01 from memory), he was talking about shutting down all gas to our house.

I have since heard a story from a friend who said that he had a similar problem, and it cost him thousands of dollars for a gas plumber to rework 'non-regulation' pipes.
I can understand the need for safety, but I almost sunk us into a potential money pit, chasing after what I regard as inconsequential variations.
And I did it voluntarily. Lesson learned.

Appearentle gas can do some damage:
 
The gas inspector first changed some seals on the meter at the front of the house.
Then he detected the 'gas leak'. Eventually, after jiggling and turning all the knobs on the stove (which apparently re-lubricates the seals), the reading went to zero.
So he decided NOT to turn off the gas to our home indefinitely (until I had hired a gas plumber for a wild goose chase).

I do see the sense in how safety systems operate. When you get the brakes on your car fixed, you want the mechanic to be accountable for his work.
Same goes for lots of things - transport of any kind, medical services, public utilities etc.
However, after my experience (and hearing some other people's experiences), I will be thinking twice before inviting a bureaucrat into my affairs in the future.

The incident was a relatively minor bump in the road, but it was frustrating and an eye-opener.
TFGM was a good place to let of some steam. :)
 
An anecdote:

Back in the early 1990s, I was working graveyard shift at a large hospital. There was a smallish house in our parking lot (I forget why it was there...doesn't matter). That house exploded sometime during the night. It was a natural gas explosion. The backdraft pulled the windows out of the ICU. Thankfully, no one was in the house, and I don't think anyone was injured.

So yea, please be safe with natural gas and propane. Having said that, I would love to have a gas range in my kitchen and gas logs in my fireplace.
 
Back
Top