Natural Gas Safety - Residential - New Hampshire Gas - Liberty
Keene Customers
The phrase “natural gas” is used throughout these safety pages. However, the majority of Keene customers use a mixture of propane/air, which (for the purposes of this web information) is very similar to natural gas.
Smell Natural Gas?
Get out immediately. When you arrive at a safe location call us at 1-855-349-9455 or call 911. The smell of leaking natural gas is often compared to sulfur or rotten eggs. Click the image below to learn more.
Work Zone Safety
Liberty crews follow strict safety guidelines in work zones, but you also play a role in work zone safety. Watch the video below to learn how you can help keep our employees safe.
For Emergency Responders
Click the link below to learn valuable information on responding to emergencies that may involve natural gas facilities.
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What We Do
Damaging an underground facility is not only dangerous, but it can cause outages, expensive repairs and legal action. To help minimize the amount of damage that may occur to our natural gas distribution system, we have a group of highly trained individuals who help protect our system from damage. These employees go through very strict operator qualification classes throughout the year at our state-of-the-art training center in Concord.
We also help promote Dig Safe, a not-for-profit clearinghouse that notifies participating utility companies of consumers or business’ plans to dig. In turn, these utilities (or their contract locating companies) respond to mark out the location of their underground facilities. This helps others know which areas to avoid when digging therefore helping to keep our underground infrastructure safe.
The natural gas pipeline infrastructure is the nation's safest energy delivery system. Liberty Utilities has experienced personnel that routinely inspect and maintain natural gas service lines. Service crews are available to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Excess Flow Valves are safety devices that are installed on some service lines to minimize the flow of gas in the event a service line was damaged. Click below to see if your service line is eligible to have an EFV installed.
Liberty personnel monitor our gas distribution system and take emergency calls 24/7 from our local Gas Control Center in Londonderry, NH.
Every year, we replace approximately 15 miles of cast iron and bare steel gas main. Replacing aging pipe with new pipe helps maintain the reliable services that we have always offered and decreases the amount of leaks that could occur.
Although we replace approximately 15 miles of cast iron and bare steel main with plastic main every year, a large portion of pipe in our service territory is coated steel. In order to increase the lifetime and maintain the safety of coated steel piping, our corrosion engineer is dedicated to protecting steel pipes from corroding through periodic corrosion testing and by installing and maintaining cathodic protection devices.
To keep our natural gas distribution system both safe and reliable, we conduct multiple inspections and surveys every year.
For every job we do, supervisors write a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the crews that will be completing the job. The SOP contains detailed, step by step instructions and includes everything from cutting a piece of pipe to completing “critical steps.” Critical steps are larger tasks that, once completed, could affect the operation of our distribution system.
Before any critical step is started, our employees and contractors are required to call our Gas Control Center before starting the work.
Our Crews, Gas Control Center and Operations Supervisors practice exceptional communication skills. With open lines of communications, we ensure everyone is aware of what is going on and can respond to any given situation safely and effectively.
In order to work on our natural gas distribution system, employees must follow stringent training and qualifications measures.
On all of our meter stations, we have devices called “telemeters” installed. Telemeters measure characteristics from our gas system such as pressure and flow. The information is communicated to our Gas Control Department. If anything were to go wrong with our gas system, the telemeters would pinpoint the exact location of the problem, allowing us to resolve it quickly.
What You Can Do
Carbon monoxide, or CO, is a normal by-product of fuel combustion, but high levels of it indoors can be dangerous to your health. Typical heating fuels (oil, coal, wood, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, or natural gas) can create carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide has no odor, color or taste, but can cause serious health issues. Take steps to make sure your home is protected.
Maintaining chimneys and flue pipes is an important safety requirement. Liberty Utilities urges you to have a licensed heating contractor periodically inspect your chimneys and flue pipes for safe operation.
Planting a tree? Installing a fence? Planning a home improvement? Call 811.
Did you know it’s the law to make this call? Electric power lines, natural gas pipelines, water pipes, communications lines and other utility services can be within a few feet of the ground’s surface. Not knowing where these lines are can result in personal injury, property damage and neighborhood service interruptions. Even a small dent or a scrape can cause damage, resulting in a leak or service-wide disruptions.
Keep your meters accessible. Liberty Utilities needs to access your meter year-round. Please keep walkways, driveways and the area around your gas meter clear of snow and ice during the winter months. Please also keep shrubbery near the meter well-trimmed, so we can access it during the milder months as well.
Gas appliances are safe and efficient. Like all appliances, certain safety precautions should be followed. Make sure your family is safe by following these guidelines.
If you are planning to add a gas appliance to your home or business, please contact Liberty Utilities to determine if your gas service or meter has the capacity to handle the additional gas demand. This is an important safety check.
As the customer of record, you or the property owner are responsible for customer-owned gas lines that begin at the outlet of the gas meter and extend — either above or below ground — to natural gas-burning appliances. Make sure your pipes are getting the attention they need.
Stealing natural gas is a dangerous act which puts everyone at risk. Tampering with or bypassing a natural gas meter in order to obtain free natural gas is illegal and can be harmful to the perpetrator as well as to others. Theft of gas is a serious crime and Liberty Utilities will make every effort to ensure that anyone caught stealing gas is prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.
CCST is a flexible, stainless steel pipe used to supply natural gas and propane in residential, commercial and industrial structures. Coated with a yellow, or in some cases, a black exterior plastic coating, CSST is usually routed beneath, through, and alongside floor joists in your basement, inside interior wall cavities, and on top of ceiling joists in attic spaces.
While this type of pipe is safe, it is strongly recommended that you determine if the CSST system is properly bonded and grounded. A bonding device should be installed on your natural gas system in order to reduce the chances of a natural gas leak or fire. Bonding is provided primarily to prevent a possible electric shock to people who come in contact with the gas piping and other metal objects connected to the grounding system. Nearby lightning strikes can also result in an electrical surge and can potentially puncture a hole in the CSST. Proper bonding and grounding will reduce the risk of damage and fire from a lightning strike.
If you are unsure as to whether your business has CSST or whether it has been properly bonded and grounded, contact a licensed electrician to arrange for a professional inspection.