What should our HOA board do about a gas leak at the clubhouse or pool heater?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 27, 2026

What an HOA board does about a gas leak at the clubhouse or pool heater: evacuate, call 911, who owns the pipe past the meter, repair, relight, 811 and notices.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Get people out, call 911 and the gas company from a safe distance, and let them decide when anyone goes back. Everything else waits. After the emergency, the board has three jobs the fire department will not do for you: find out who owns the leaking pipe, hire a licensed contractor to fix it, and keep the gas off until a qualified person relights it. The ownership question surprises most boards. The gas company owns the main and the service line up to the meter, but the pipe on the association's side of the meter, including a buried line to a pool heater, usually belongs to the association. This guide covers natural gas and propane at a clubhouse, pool equipment pad or other common building in Texas, Florida and Colorado. Rules vary by state, by city and by your governing documents, so read it as general education, not legal advice.

The first 30 minutes

The signs are the same indoors and out. Colorado Springs Utilities lists them as sight, sound and smell: dead grass or bubbling water over a buried line, a hissing sound, or a rotten egg odor. Leave the area right away and do not stop to open windows. Do not touch anything that can make a spark, which means light switches, garage door openers, flashlights and cars. Call 911 or the gas company once you are away from the smell, and do not go back until responders say it is safe. For an HOA that means a few more steps. Clear the pool deck and the clubhouse, including restrooms and any fitness room, and keep people back from the equipment pad. Do not start the pool pumps or heater to 'see if it is the heater.' Do not let a director or a volunteer hunt for the leak with a soap bottle. Once people are safe, the director who is on site calls the board president, and the president calls the association's insurance agent the same day. Write down the time, who called whom and what the responders did. You will need it for the claim and the minutes.

Who owns the pipe past the meter

Federal rule 49 CFR 192.16 requires gas operators that do not maintain a customer's buried piping to tell the customer so once in writing. The notice has to say that unmaintained buried piping may corrode and leak, that it should be inspected periodically for leaks, and for corrosion if it is metal, and that it should be repaired if anything unsafe turns up. Read the definition closely. For that notice, 'customer's buried piping' leaves out branch lines that serve yard lanterns, pool heaters and other secondary equipment. So the gas company does not maintain the buried line from the meter to your pool heater, and it may never have sent you a notice about it. Boards often find this out when the utility tech shuts the meter, tags the heater and leaves. In a condominium, the declaration and the state default decide who pays for piping inside the buildings. Texas Property Code section 82.107(a) puts common elements on the association, and section 82.107(b) makes each owner responsible for the cost of a utility installation serving only that owner's unit, unless the declaration says otherwise. In Florida and Colorado, start with the declaration's definitions of unit and common elements and any maintenance chart, and read them before anyone promises to pay for a line that serves one unit.

Repair, test and relight

Once the gas company shuts off the meter or tags the appliance, the gas stays off until the leak is fixed. Hire a licensed contractor for the repair. Texas treats gas piping as plumbing: Occupations Code section 1301.002(7) defines plumbing to include piping that supplies gas, so the work falls under the state plumbing license. Florida section 489.105(3) lists natural gas and LP gas lines within a plumbing contractor's scope. In Colorado, ask the city or county building department what license and permit it requires before the contractor starts. Ask the contractor three things in writing: where the leak was and what caused it, whether the rest of the line passed a pressure test, and whether a permit and a city inspection are needed before the gas company will restore service. Then leave the relight to the gas company or the contractor. Ready.gov is blunt about it: if the gas is turned off for any reason, only a qualified professional should turn it back on. If an old heater leaked at a corroded fitting, price a replacement before paying for the repair. Our guide on replacing the pump or heater on an HOA pool covers the efficiency rules and the heat pump question.

If the heater runs on propane

Some communities, especially outside city gas service, heat the pool or clubhouse with propane from a tank on site. The response is the same: leave, then call 911 and the propane supplier. Two differences matter. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates LP gas there, warns that propane vapor is heavier than air and can collect in low spots such as basements, ditches and along floors, so a sunken equipment pit or a low corner of the pool enclosure needs extra time to clear. It also says any line not attached to an appliance must be closed off with a threaded cap or plug, and that a regulator more than 15 years old should be checked with the supplier. Put the supplier's emergency number in the emergency plan next to the gas utility's, and find out whether the association or the supplier owns the tank.

Before anyone digs near the line

Most leaks on buried association lines start with a shovel: a new irrigation zone, a fence post, a tree. All three states require notice to the one-call center before excavation. Texas Utilities Code section 251.151 requires notice no more than 14 days and no less than 48 hours before digging, not counting weekends and legal holidays. Florida section 556.105 requires at least 2 full business days, and it requires hand digging or similar methods inside the marked tolerance zone. Colorado section 9-1.5-103(3)(b) requires at least two business days, not counting the day of notice. Here is the catch. The one-call center marks the utility's lines, not yours. Colorado 811 says private lines, including gas lines to backyard grills, are not part of a locate request and must be located at the owner's expense by a private locating company. So the line to the pool heater will not get paint unless the association pays someone to find it. The federal notice rule makes the same point: locate buried customer piping before excavating near it, and dig by hand.

What to tell owners

Send a short notice the same day the pool or clubhouse closes, and a second one when it reopens. Wording you can adapt: 'On [date] a gas leak was reported at [the pool equipment area / the clubhouse]. Residents were cleared from the area, and [the fire department / the gas company] shut off the gas and made the area safe. No one was hurt. The [pool / clubhouse] will stay closed while a licensed contractor repairs the line and the gas company restores service. We expect that to take [number] days and will send an update by [date]. If you ever smell gas on association property, leave the area and call 911 or [gas company] at [number] from a safe distance, then tell [director] at [number].' Keep the letter to facts. Do not guess at the cause or the cost until the contractor's report is in.

Prevention, a timeline and a motion

A workable program for a small association has four parts. First, map every gas line the association owns: meter locations, the buried runs to the pool heater, grills or fire pits, and the shutoff valves, with photos. Add it to the shutoff map in the emergency plan. Second, have a licensed plumber or gas contractor leak-test and inspect the association's buried lines on the schedule the contractor recommends for the pipe's age and material, and again after any digging nearby. Third, ask the gas company about an excess flow valve. Under 49 CFR 192.383(d), an existing customer whose service line load does not exceed 1,000 standard cubic feet per hour can request one, and the operator must install it at a mutually agreeable date. The utility's rates decide who pays. Fourth, post the leak instructions and emergency numbers inside the pool equipment room door and the clubhouse kitchen. Sample timeline after a leak: hour 0, evacuate and call; hours 1 to 4, gas off, area closed, first owner notice; days 1 to 3, contractor repair and pressure test; days 2 to 7, permit inspection if required and relight; week 2, board reviews the contractor report. A motion to adapt: 'The board directs [director] to have all association-owned gas piping located, mapped and leak-tested by a licensed contractor by [date], to request an excess flow valve evaluation from [gas company], and to repeat the leak test every [number] years. The president may approve emergency gas repairs up to $[amount] per event before a board vote.'

Mistakes boards make

Letting a director walk the line looking for the smell. Assuming the gas company maintains the pipe to the pool heater because it maintains the meter. Having a handyman or the pool service tech repair gas piping. Relighting the heater after a leak because the season is short and owners are complaining. Calling 811 for an irrigation project and treating the absence of yellow paint as proof there is no gas line. And writing the owner notice before the contractor's report, then having to correct it.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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