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Gas Line Repair in Carol Stream, IL
80% of households in Carol Stream heat with utility gas, which means a buried service line runs from the street to a meter on most of these properties. Where that line ends is a federal definition, and it decides who repairs what.
Read this first
The utility's regulated line ends at the meter outlet and the piping beyond it belongs to the property owner. That boundary decides most gas line questions in Carol Stream, where 80% of households heat with utility gas and a buried service line runs from the street on most properties.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey table B25040; the service line boundary is 49 CFR § 192.3.
If you smell gas right now
Leave the building on foot. Do not use a phone or a light switch inside. Call 911 and your gas utility from somewhere else, and do not call us — we are a referral service, not an emergency line. The full list, in order.
How Carol Stream is supplied
49 CFR § 192.3 fixes the end of the service line at the meter outlet. It is a precise answer to a narrow question, and it is not the same as who is responsible for repairs, which varies by utility and by state.
Establishing which side of the meter a fault is on is the first thing any contractor should do, because it decides whether they are the right person to call.
| Households in Carol Stream | Share |
|---|---|
| Utility (mains) gas | 80% |
| Bottled or tank propane | 1% |
| Electricity | 16% |
| Fuel oil and kerosene | under 1% |
| Wood and everything else | 2% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25040 (house heating fuel), 2023 release. Universe: 15,163 occupied housing units. This is the heating-fuel table. It does not enumerate service lines, and no table does at this geography; what it gives is the best available indication of which arrangement a property is on. Service line definition: 49 CFR § 192.3, via PHMSA interpretation PI-12-0003.
Across Illinois as a whole, 82% of households are on mains gas and 2% on tank propane. Carol Stream sits about level with the state on mains and 1 point below it on propane. That is the gap a statewide number papers over, and the reason the figures above are this town’s rather than the state’s.
Before anyone digs on the property
The single most dangerous thing most people will ever do to a gas line is put a spade through it. PHMSA calls excavation damage the leading cause of pipeline incidents; 8-1-1 is a nationwide toll-free number to call before any excavation, and calling it gives a 99 percent chance of avoiding an incident.
Source: PHMSA, 811 Day.
What to ask whoever quotes it
Ask whether the job needs a permit and who is pulling it. Gas work is separately permitted in most jurisdictions and the answer should not be you.
Other Illinois towns we route in
- Thebes 11% mains gas · 24% tank propane
- Deerfield 85% mains gas · 1% tank propane
- Burbank 91% mains gas · 1% tank propane
- Mount Prospect 75% mains gas · 1% tank propane
- Stillman Valley 72% mains gas · 9% tank propane
Checking a plumber in Illinois
Illinois licenses are issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health, Plumbing Program, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.
Gas work is separately permitted and separately licensed in most jurisdictions, so ask specifically about gas rather than plumbing in general.
For repair work, not for a suspected leak.If you can smell gas, leave and call 911 or your utility from outside; this is the wrong number for that. For everything else — a line, a meter, an appliance connection — we will route you to a contractor covering your area, free of charge to you. Non-emergency work in Carol Stream goes through this number as well.
Call (888) 752-8038