"CJT" wrote in message
...
wrote:

Hi,

My wife had a plumber come out to hook up a new gas dryer. We have an
old one that broke, so all the lines are in place, it is just a matter
of disconnecting the old one and connnecting the new. No extras, like
hauling away the old dryer. The cost blew me away:

Disconnect dryer: $164.24
Install gas dryer: $282.25
Total: $446.49

This seems absoutely insane to me. I would've done it myself, but
unlike water or electricity, gas scares me. Is this anywhere close to
reasonable, or should I make a stink?

We live in suburban Washington DC, Bethesda MD to be exact, if locality
matters for this sort of thing.

Thanks,

Mike.

Around here you now need a special license to install gas appliances,
so the price has shot up. But $400 still sounds high to me.

That's interesting; around here you need a license for water, but anyone can
do gas.
Anyhow, it can't take more than 15 minutes to take the old one out, and 45
minutes to put one in. Even allowing an hour for transportation, that is
$220 an hour.
Shop around; if you can't find a better price, do it yourself.

Funny think about gas; it is actually easier than water since the pressure
is so low. Leaks are easy to spot with soapy water. And if you screw it
up, the odor is noticable at much lower levels than are dangerous. You
would have to almost try to do it dangerously.

Now... this all assumes you have a shut off at the dryer. If you don't, it
is rather more difficult.