Gas Line Repair in Chester, MD
About 9% of homes in Chester are on mains gas and 9% on propane. The split matters because a meter is a legal boundary and a propane tank is not.
Read this first
Mains gas heats 9% of homes in Chester and tank gas another 9%. The difference matters more than the fault does at first, because only one of the two has a meter outlet where the utility's responsibility stops.
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 Chester is supplied
Mains and tank gas differ in ownership, in who to call, and in how the gas behaves if it escapes — propane is heavier than air and collects low rather than rising.
What they do not differ in is the emergency response, which is the same for both and is the first thing on every page of this site.
| Households in Chester | Share |
|---|---|
| Utility (mains) gas | 9% |
| Bottled or tank propane | 9% |
| Electricity | 73% |
| Fuel oil and kerosene | 6% |
| Wood and everything else | 3% |
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25040 (house heating fuel), 2023 release. Universe: 2,441 occupied housing units. B25040 records what heats the house, which is the best available guide to whether a property has mains gas or a tank — it does not count service lines directly. Service line definition: 49 CFR § 192.3, via PHMSA interpretation PI-12-0003.
Across Maryland as a whole, 45% of households are on mains gas and 3% on tank propane. Chester sits 37 points below the state on mains and 6 points above 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
A locate before digging is free, and PHMSA is unambiguous about the value — excavation damage is the leading cause of pipeline incidents and calling 8-1-1 first avoids one 99 times in a hundred. The gap to ask about is private buried line, which a standard locate may not mark.
Source: PHMSA, 811 Day.
What to ask whoever quotes it
Ask what they will do about the existing load. Adding an appliance changes what the existing pipe has to deliver, and sizing is a calculation against the whole system rather than the new run alone.
Other Maryland towns we route in
- Baltimore 67% mains gas · 2% tank propane
- Kennedyville 0% mains gas · 10% tank propane
- Bel Air 49% mains gas · 2% tank propane
- Church Hill 7% mains gas · 13% tank propane
- Garrett Park 80% mains gas · 3% tank propane
Checking a plumber in Maryland
Maryland licenses are issued by the Maryland State Board of Plumbing, Department of Labor, 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 Chester goes through this number as well.
Call (888) 752-8038