Gas leak checks

What a gas smell usually turns out to be

Most of the calls I take are not a burst pipe under the floor. They are a fitting that has been disturbed, an appliance connector that has been pulled about behind a dryer or a range, a dried out trap letting sewer gas through, or the faint whiff at a water heater when it lights. That does not mean you should ignore it. It means it is usually fixable in a visit.

What I check

• Every accessible joint and fitting on the system, with a detector and with solution.
• Appliance connectors, which are the most common culprit and the easiest thing to disturb while cleaning behind something.
• Shut off valves, which can weep at the stem without anybody noticing.
• Venting and combustion, because a badly vented appliance is a different and quieter danger than a leak.

Carbon monoxide is the one to take seriously

Natural gas is given its smell on purpose so you notice it. Carbon monoxide has no smell at all, which is what makes it dangerous, and it comes from combustion going wrong rather than from a leak. If your detector has gone off, get out and ring the utility. If you have no detector on the same floor as your bedrooms, please fit one this week. They cost very little and it is the single best thing you can do in a house with gas appliances.

After any work I do

Nothing leaves my hands untested. I check the whole run I have worked on before I pack up, every time, on every job, whether it is a new furnace or a BBQ line.