Switching From Gas to Induction: What Happens to the Gas Line

More Auckland kitchens are going this way every year. Induction is faster, the bench wipes clean with nothing to lift out, and there is no flame or combustion in a room that is usually part of the living space.

The cooking side is straightforward. The question people ring us about is the gas: what happens to the line, who is allowed to touch it, and whether the whole connection should go.

First, which kind of appliance do you have?

This is the fork in the road, and it changes the answer to almost everything else.

A built-in cooktop sits in a cut-out in the benchtop, with the gas hard piped up to it inside the cabinet. There is no quick disconnect. Taking it out means isolating the supply, disconnecting the appliance and capping the point, and that is gasfitting work.

A freestanding cooker is a single unit that stands on the floor, and it is almost always connected with a bayonet fitting: a plug-in gas point, usually low on the wall behind the appliance, with a flexible hose. The bayonet is a quick-release designed to be unplugged, which is how you pull a freestanding cooker out to clean behind it.

A gas bayonet point on the wall behind a freestanding cooker

So can I unplug a freestanding cooker myself?

Physically, yes. That is what the bayonet is for, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

But unplugging the appliance is not the same as finishing the job, and this is where it matters:

A bayonet left in place is still a live gas point. If the cooker is going and nothing is replacing it, that point should be capped off properly, and that is gasfitting work.
Nobody has tested anything. A bayonet that has had an appliance pulled off it should be checked, not assumed. Gas is the one service where “it seemed fine” is not a good enough standard.
New cabinetry is about to go over it. If the kitchen is being reworked, whatever is left behind that bench is about to become inaccessible.

Our honest recommendation is to have us do it even where you could technically pull the appliance out yourself. It is a short visit, it is not expensive, and the difference is that the point is properly capped and the work has been checked by someone licensed to check it.

If you have already pulled the cooker out yourself, that is fine, tell us and we will pick it up from there.

What we actually do

At a property in Netherton Street the client was changing over to a non-gas cooking appliance. We isolated the gas supply to the existing cooktop, disconnected it, and capped the gas point. That is the whole job for a straightforward changeover.

A benchtop cut-out after the gas hob has been removed

More often it happens as part of a kitchen renovation, where the gas work sits inside a larger scope. On a job at Byblos Place the same visit covered the sink, mixer, dishwasher, fridge waterline, an under-bench filter, and the gas cooktop disconnect and cap off because the owners were going to induction.

Two other things worth knowing from the enquiries we get:

Disposal of the old appliance is not included. We can disconnect it and move it out of the way, but taking it away is not part of the job.
If the oven is hardwired, an electrician has to disconnect it before we can move it. If it plugs into a normal socket, no problem.

Cap the branch, or get rid of the gas connection entirely?

This is the decision worth making before the kitchen goes back together, not after.

If gas still feeds something else, typically hot water or a heater, we cap the branch to the cooktop and the rest of the system stays in service. That was the situation for a recent Sandringham enquiry: the cooker was going, the gas water heating was staying, so it is a cap-off and nothing more.

If the cooktop was your only gas appliance, you now have a connection you are not using, and most Auckland households pay a fixed daily charge for having gas available whether they burn any or not. Decommissioning the connection stops that. It is worth doing the sums before you decide.

If you might want gas back one day, say so. Capping the line and leaving it in place makes a future reconnection far simpler than stripping it out and starting again.

What about the electrician?

You will need one regardless, so plan the order.

An induction hob needs its own electrical supply, and it is usually a bigger circuit than the old gas cooker’s oven was on. That is an electrician’s job, not ours. Where the old appliance is hardwired, the disconnection is theirs too.

The practical sequence is: electrician disconnects anything hardwired, we disconnect and cap the gas, the new hob goes in, the electrician connects it. We are happy to coordinate directly with your electrician on timing rather than leaving you in the middle of it.

Planning the switch? Send us a photo of the cooker and of the gas point behind or under it, and tell us whether anything else in the house runs on gas. That is enough for us to price it.

Common questions

How much does capping off the gas cost?

For a straightforward cooktop cap-off it is a short visit, usually charged at our minimum service charge, and we will give you the figure when you enquire rather than after. What changes it is the gas point being somewhere awkward, the line needing to be traced, or the whole connection being decommissioned rather than one branch capped. If it is happening inside a kitchen renovation we price it as part of that scope.

Do I get a certificate?

For gasfitting work that requires it, yes, and you should expect it. Keep it, because it is what a future buyer’s inspection and your insurer will want to see if there is ever a question about the gas work in that kitchen. Ask for it rather than assuming it will arrive.

Can the gas pipe just be left in the wall?

Capped, yes, and that is usually what happens. What is not acceptable is an open or unsealed point left behind a new wall or cabinet. If the line is being abandoned permanently, the right approach is to cap it at a point that stays accessible rather than burying an unused end where nobody will ever find it.

Will I save money going to induction?

On running costs it depends on your usage and your rates, and induction is efficient enough that most households find it reasonable. The saving people forget is the fixed daily charge for the gas connection, which you keep paying whether you use gas or not. If the cooktop was the only gas appliance in the house, that charge is often the bigger number over a year.

Can you do the gas and the plumbing in one visit?

Yes, and that is the main reason people use us for these. We are certifying plumbers and gasfitters, so the gas removal and anything under that bench, a new tap, a dishwasher connection, an under-bench filter, happen in one visit with one point of contact instead of coordinating two trades around the cabinetmaker.