MVP Plumbing performs annual gas pressure testing and inspection for daycares, multifamily complexes and commercial properties across the Houston area. Tests are performed and certified under Master Plumber License MPL 38224, with the paperwork your inspector requires.
Who actually needs one
Daycares, multifamily complexes and certain commercial properties are required to have an annual gas pressure test.
This does not apply to restaurants as a blanket rule. We are putting that in writing because it would be easy to imply otherwise and sell more tests. If a restaurant needs one it will be for a specific reason, not because restaurants categorically require them.
If you are not sure whether your property is covered, call us at 832-334-2836 and we will talk it through. We would rather tell you that you do not need one than bill you for a test nobody asked for.
A recent test
Job notes · League City — licensed daycare
Annual gas pressure test for a licensed daycare, done for a commercial facility maintenance company that looks after daycares and restaurants across the Houston area. Passed, no leaks.
Why facility maintenance companies subcontract this
Most facility maintenance companies have capable in-house maintenance staff who handle the great majority of what a building needs. What they usually do not have is a licensed master plumber on payroll.
That matters for a narrow but unavoidable band of work: anything that has to be certified, permitted, or signed off for an inspector. A gas pressure test is exactly that. The test itself is not complicated. The license behind the paperwork is the part that cannot be substituted.
This is a recurring line of work for us and we are set up for it — scheduling around your renewal dates, travelling across the Houston area, and turning the documentation around promptly. If that describes your operation, get in touch.
What happens if it fails
A failed test tells you there is a leak. It does not tell you where. The next step is isolating the system by section and testing again to narrow it down — which is how you avoid digging on a guess.
Here is what that looked like on a residential job, where the process is the same:
Job notes · Baytown — leak located by pressure test
The customer smelled gas and called CenterPoint. CenterPoint came out, confirmed a leak, locked the meter and left, with the house's gas shut off entirely.
We pressure tested the system and found the leak was underground in the yard line. We replaced the whole run from the meter to the house: about a hundred and twenty feet of yellow poly with a riser at each end, since poly cannot come out of the ground.
If the repair is underground, it goes through the city: permit, dig, the ditch stays open for inspection, backfill, city release. Two days minimum. Full detail on gas line services.
Scheduling around your renewal
Annual means annual, and the thing that catches property managers out is a lapsed certificate discovered during an inspection rather than before one.
If you tell us your renewal date, we will work back from it. For companies managing several properties, we would rather set a schedule with you than field individual calls when each one comes due.
Other commercial gas work
- Gas leak location and repair, by pressure testing rather than guesswork
- Yard line replacement, meter to building
- CenterPoint meter lock-off resolution, permits and inspection handled
- Gas line resizing where new equipment needs more input than the existing line supplies
- New gas runs for commercial kitchen equipment, heaters and generators
See gas line services and commercial plumbing.
If you can smell gas right now: leave the building. Do not switch anything on or off, including light switches. Call CenterPoint or 911 from outside. A plumber is the step after the situation is made safe, not before.
Gas testing across the Houston area
We test in Baytown, Mont Belvieu, League City, La Porte, Channelview, Highlands, Crosby, Anahuac, Dayton, Liberty, Humble, Atascocita and across the wider Houston area. See service areas.
Common questions
Who is required to have an annual gas pressure test?
Daycares, multifamily complexes and certain commercial properties are required to have one. This does not apply to restaurants as a blanket rule, and we are not going to tell you it does in order to sell you a test. If you are not sure whether your property is covered, call and we will talk through what applies to you.
Do you provide the paperwork for the inspector?
Yes. We do the test and provide the paperwork the inspector wants, performed under Master Plumber License MPL 38224.
What happens if the test fails?
A failed test means there is a leak somewhere in the system, and the next step is isolating which section. We pressure test by section to narrow it down rather than digging on a guess. On a Baytown job that process located the leak in the underground yard line, which then became a full replacement of the run from the meter to the house.
How long does a test take?
A straightforward passing test on a single system is usually a short visit. What takes time is a failure, because then you are into locating and repairing, and if the repair is underground it goes through the city permit and inspection process.
Can our in-house maintenance team do this?
Not if they are not licensed. That is precisely why facility maintenance companies subcontract it. The test has to be performed and certified by a licensed plumber for the paperwork to be worth anything to an inspector.
Do you work across the whole Houston area for this?
Yes. We already do this for a facility maintenance company covering daycares and restaurants across the Houston area, so we travel for it. Baytown and Mont Belvieu are home, but gas testing takes us well beyond that.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224