Gas plumber and licensed gas fitter on the Central Coast

ZC Plumbing is a licensed gas fitter as well as a plumber, and licence 386374C covers both. We install and repair gas cooktops, ovens, heaters, gas hot water and pool heating across the Central Coast, and when a new appliance needs more gas than the meter can pass, we upsize the line and arrange the meter upgrade with the gas authority, about 15 times a year.

Across Australia a gas fitter charges $100 to $200 an hour plus a call-out, and connecting one appliance takes two to six hours.

Connecting a new cooktop or oven, running a new gas point for a heater or a barbecue, installing or replacing gas hot water, connecting pool heating, finding and fixing leaks, and upgrading the meter and regulator when the house's total gas load has gone past what the old setup can feed.

That last one comes up more than people expect. Add a continuous flow hot water unit and a pool heater to a house that only ever ran a cooktop, and the shower goes cold when the pool heater kicks in, because the meter can't pass enough gas for both. On a Terrigal job last year we upsized the whole-house gas line, ran a new line to the pool heater, and had the gas authority upgrade the meter because the heater's load was more than it was rated for.

Gas is the one part of plumbing that can hurt someone if it's done wrong. In NSW gas fitting is its own licence class, not something every plumber holds, and every job needs a compliance certificate lodged afterwards. Ours, 386374C, covers plumbing, drainage and gas fitting, the certificate is lodged on every job, and it's what your insurer and the gas network want to see.

Push-fit plumbing connectors and hardware-store hoses aren't for gas lines, whatever the packet says. If you can smell gas now, the emergency page says what to do first.

Across Australia a licensed gas fitter charges $100 to $200 an hour plus a call-out of $80 to $180, a single appliance connection takes two to six hours, and a brand new connection from the street runs $2,000 to $3,500 on the network's side plus $1,200 to $5,000 for the pipework inside. We quote per job with the compliance certificate included, because the price moves on how far the new line has to run, whether the meter needs upgrading and what the appliance needs.

With ZC, swapping a gas cooktop onto an existing point is $385 including GST, a new gas point within three metres of the existing line is $385 including GST, and a meter upgrade runs anywhere from about $660 to $2,200 including GST depending on the gas authority's work and how much pipe has to change. When the network replaces an old or faulty meter, that's free. An upgrade because you need more gas is quoted.