Gas Meter height requirement from grade

Gas Meter is about 6 inches from grade. Is this acceptable? I’ve never seen one so low to grade

In my area, the gas company installs the meters, so it is up to them.

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10-4 im in Texas

That is the minimum standard in many locales.
In my area of Southern Minnesota with our 5ft average annual snowfall, our standard is 12 inches above finished grade, plus the Utility Company requiring homeowners to keep the meter ‘dug-out’!

Note: Up until about 12 years ago, NG Meters were allowed to be placed, (and commonly were), in basements. Laws finally changed to eliminate that practice.

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same here…

Curious… How are meters that “settle” into the grade after the backfill settles and the builder adds soil to fill in the depression, then the landscaper arrives and “does his thing” with soil and truck loads of mulch??
Does the Gas Company return to “fix” that issue, or you/they just say “phuc it”?!!
Inquiring minds wanna know. :thinking:

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I think that is their reply. But, around here, the majority of gas meters are set like this.

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You are also primarily SOG, correct?
We are primarily Basements, so a much deeper excavation to induce the ‘settling’ problem, IMO.

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In some cities, they dig a hole and install the meter underground, and put a cover over it.

While they may be local requirements, I don’t think there is a universal height-above-grade requirement.

Should not be a problem, as long as the vent is above grade you should be good, and as others have stated, it’s usually the gas company that installes them, so they go by their rules.

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Around here, the utility company will eventually change the meter once it is actually in the dirt, otherwise your photo doesn’t raise an eyebrow.

I think a lot of times though the grade is raised by the homeowner after the fact.

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Just refer to this great INachi graphic for your answer.

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One from last week. The regulator vent was practically buried as well.

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My neighbors house, As others have said utility company installs so no problem for me, and they get looked at every month by the reader.

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You guys still have actual “Meter Readers”??? :thinking:

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Reminds me of the last time I went to Oregon. You couldn’t pump your own gas. To protect/create jobs, only station workers were allowed to operate the pumps. I think they finally got rid of that law recently.

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The reason I asked, when I lived in the metro ATL area back in the early 2000’s, they deregulated the one gas company to allow for other service providers to offer service, even though the one service provider was still actually suppling the gas, but the prices went down considerably because of market competition.

That said, when I bought my house at that time, I had two gas appliances; the furnace and the water heater. In the first two years I was there, my gas bill went up a 150%. I was the only one there and bought it from an older couple. Surely I wasn’t using more than them, plus I had only seen 1 meter reader actually check the meter. When the bill started averaging well over $325 a month, I called the company.

They informed that they did not do “meter readings”, but did a “average use” for a certain period of time that went well into the prior owners of the property. Really!!! WTF!! I’m glad I’m on propane now so I can actually see what I use.

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Yes sir each and every month.
Water meters are scheduled to be upgraded so who knows if they’ll still have readers or not

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