Yesterday I came home after an hour or so of shopping and as soon as I walked into the house there was an overwhelming smell of...something. Even though we use natural gas appliances, I don't really know what that kind of gas smells like. I walked into the kitchen and saw that the dial for one of the burners was turned partially on but there was no flame so I put two and two together and nearly hit panic mode!
I opened the kitchen slider (fortunately it was a really windy day) then high-tailed it outside. I started Googling what to do if there is a gas emergency and it said to call 911 or the gas company so I opted to call the gas company (I didn't want a full response from the fire department) and the lady said she would send someone out immediately. She finished up by telling me to stay away from the house, not to light a match, not to turn on or off lights, etc. Visions of the exploding houses your see on the news when there is a gas leak raced through my head...yikes!
The guy from the gas company arrived within a half hour and brought out his gas detector machine. Here are some things I learned:
- CO detectors don't detect natural gas (the guy said they are two different types of gas so the detector won't detect natural gas).
- He also said the risk of carbon monoxide is that it will kill you quickly but natural gas leaks can go for a while (then if someone lights a match it might be game over).
- Natural gas rises instead of sinks. By the time the gas guy arrived the first floor of our house didn't have the strong smell I noticed earlier but when we went upstairs the smell was again overwhelming so he opened the windows to let the second floor air out.
- Then he went to the thermostat and turned the fan from "auto" to "on" and said to let it run for a few hours as that would help air out the house. I never thought of doing that so next time we have a lot of cooking smells I will do the same thing.
- Fortunately it wasn't 110 degrees outside so we could air out the house for hours without it getting too hot inside.
- The guy said that he responds to most house fires as there is always the suspicion of a gas leak when a house catches fire but he said the main cause of house fires these days is items with lithium batteries left plugged in to charge overnight.
- He said that in households with kids, he suggests stove dial covers which require a couple of steps before allowing the dial to be turned on. For hubby and I (we still can't figure out how it was turned on, maybe one of us bumped into it?) we both check the stove now before we go upstairs to bed or leave the house.
I am so thankful ya'll are ok. I am so scared of gas, and I know I am ridiculous, but I have a story behind it that's too long to share here. This is good info to know!
ReplyDeleteThat is so scary! I went into the front yard and the smell of gas was strong. Tommy refused to call gas co because he could not smell the gas from front door. Only my terror and insistence made him call. Yes, it was a gas leak. He said when he smelled a gas leak from next door, there was a strong odor, so he did not think it was bad at his house so he should call. We could have died in that thirty minutes he waited.
ReplyDeleteI learned some things from the gas guy who came to your house, all good to know. I am glad you found it before something did blow up.
Wow that's scary. I think sometimes older people may not smell things accurately. Sometimes a smell will really bother me and hubby is like "what smell?" Glad you insisted on calling the gas company!
DeleteThat had to be pretty scary. I'm glad everything turned out ok.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThat is really scary. Glad it worked out & you are all safe! (Hawaii Planner)
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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