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I have been living in my home for over 10 years and it is heated by natural gas. Over the last few weeks I have occasionally been hearing a sometimes loud hum from near our external gas gauge. I have attached a picture of the object off the gas line making the noise. It almost seems as something should screw into there. Any idea what this is and if I need to screw something into it?

Update: This was months ago, but I called the gas co. and they replaced the gas regulator without asking any questions or any charges.

blurry but something might screw into here Hum coming from near the bottom

Off The Gold
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    If you are concerned, call your gas utility. They are usually more than willing to check things out. – diceless Apr 27 '15 at 19:15
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    OP delivered! FYI the thing that screws in there is the pressure set point adjustment, which is not going to leak gas if missing, but if it's missing obviously the service pressure cant be set and is going to be at the lowest possible level. – Jeff Meden Mar 18 '16 at 15:19

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As far as a hum the regulators sometimes wear out and need servicing so yes call them (there is normally no charge) calling in a service request like this may take a while if they don’t consider it a hazard, if they consider it a hazard a crew will be out in hours, the Gas company doesn’t want bad press so they usually appreciate a call with good explanations of it is humming when the furnace/ water heater kicks on or if there is a smell of gas around the meter where the metering bellows may have cracked. So yes give them a call and provide them with whatever you can, never try to repair a meter other than turning the gas off at the valve.

Ed Beal
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  • Yes, some 7 years ago or so, I called the gas co. and they replaced the gas regulator without asking any questions or any charges. As I recall they came within a few days of the call. – Off The Gold Jul 14 '22 at 14:13
  • I am not sure what brought this up on the stack, if you accept an answer it will show as an acceptable answer and may help others with a similar question , the green check mark is the acceptable answer. – Ed Beal Jul 14 '22 at 16:32
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That does appear to have been altered, the threaded portion in the top picture looks abnormal in that a cover or cap etc is missing, they typically are not like this, maybe some kids messed with it, call the gas company in any case, do not tell them the kids did it if anything say an ex lover might have messed with it this way they wont try to bill you for it.

Ceaser Oreo
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Yes, I would call the Gas Company, but in the meantime there should be some sort of plug that screws in there. The Gas Company may end up having to replace the unit. I 'd turn my gas off if it was me until corrected.

bettersex13
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