Will, I don't know how long you've lived there but I was there for 16 weeks starting April 16, 1993, so I'm sure there's been a few changes there in the last 21 years.:laughing: I was doing gas leakage surveys (natural gas), working for a company out of Atlanta, GA, and they contracted with gas companies and others to find their leaks. Gas companies are required to check all their gas lines every 5 years, except in downtown areas with wall to wall pavement. Those have to be checked annually.
So we stayed in a small RV/trailer facility right on the highway owned and run by a nice 83 year old gentleman while I walked all the natural gas lines from Waverly, NY, to Towanda, PA. I was told initially that there were supposedly 5,000 services and 140 miles of gas mains and should take me about 10 weeks. I actually wrote up 6,417 services; don't remember how many miles of mains, but it was a bit more than the 140.
And they "forgot" to tell me that lots of gas meters were in the basements of the homes instead of outside.
However, the gas company employees treated me like I was one of the family from the day I arrived, and when I knocked on doors to tell gas company customers I needed to get to their gas meter in the basement, every single one was friendly and welcomed me. One lady just saw me coming down the street and came out with a glass of lemonade for me.
Of course, besides documenting leaks, they have to be graded as 1, 2, or 3. Grade 3 are the minor leaks, such as many meters have, not dangerous, and nothing required except to check it again within a year. Grade 2 are not dangerous now, but could become that way and should be scheduled for repair, preferably within a month. Grade 1 is dangerous and requires corrective action now. Any leak in or under a house is automatically a Grade 1, so any time I found such a leak, I'd call the gas company and stay there until their employee arrived.
One time when I called the Sayre office, the truck arrived 15 minutes later and the guy got out of the truck apologizing for taking so long because he had been so far off. All other times, someone arrived in 10 minutes or less. Everywhere else I worked (GA, TN, OH, TX, AZ, NM, LA), I considered myself lucky if someone arrived within a half hour and an hour was not at all unusual.
