Faint smell of gas near equipment
- Thread starter svtcobra
- Start date
I circled the gas valve in red. It should be off when it's perpendicular (90°)to the pipe its mounted on.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
If you just purchased the home, do you have a home warranty? I would call someone right away to have them look at it. My gas heater doesn't smell like gas when it not running.
No warranty...the smell is gone now that the valve was shut. It seems that my valve was slightly open so maybe that's why the smell was there.
What he's saying is if the gas valve is open and nothing going on you still should NOT have a gas smell. No flame should be no gas smell but in your case there is suspicion something maybe leaking and incorrect.
Oh I see....maybe the pilot light was on? Well not sure it even has a pilot light.
mguzzy
Gold Supporter
'Cobra, These kind of heaters don't have pilot lights, they have an ignitor of some sort, unlike a older hot water heaters in your house. If you are smelling gas when the heater unit is off then there is a leak somewhere inside the unit. Turning off that external valve shuts off the gas to the whole unit. There should be no gas smell even it if is on. If you didn't get a home warranty I would next check with your gas company for an inspection. My gas company will inspect the gas appliances for basic things and leaks for free, perhaps your's in Chicago does the same. Or call a plumber that works with gas lines if you are not comfortable troubleshooting it yourself. Either way I would have it checked out before you use the heater.
Gosh, people on this forum are polite to the point of being reserved. @svtcobra , you have a potentially explosive situation. You are not good to go by closing the valve unless you never plan to use the heater ever again. You have a leak, gas can build up, then when the heater ignites, boom! Call your gas utility ASAP.
Here's one more thought. Open the gas valve and spray soapy water onto the gas union just above the valve completely soaking it and watch for bubbles to form. Do the same for the gas valve too. Those older valves can leak in one position and not the other.
Good idea...I recently had a gas leak in the house after a new water heater was installed and the plumber did use this soapy liquid product that helped us identify the leak. I'll grab some ASAP
So I had the gas company come out and take a look yesterday and they said there was no leaks. Am I good to to for now? I'll be sure to monitor the area.
Natural gas has a definite smell. You had the valve turned on obviously when they came to check it? Did they use a sniffer? If they did, then it should be safe as they can detect very low levels. That begs the question of what you were smelling originally.
At this point I guess it's safe, but personally I'd be out there checking it a few times a day for awhile just to make sure I didn't smell gas again, perhaps it's some bizarre intermittent leak (no explanation to why it would, but when someone says they smell gas, I assume they did!).
At this point I guess it's safe, but personally I'd be out there checking it a few times a day for awhile just to make sure I didn't smell gas again, perhaps it's some bizarre intermittent leak (no explanation to why it would, but when someone says they smell gas, I assume they did!).
When I called Nicor I was still at work and they had someone there in 20 minutes so not sure what they did exactly. I really wanted to meet the tech but they were too fast. I haven't moved into this house yet...still remodeling and things have been delayed thanks to the circumstances. But good idea I sure will monitor that area often.