What should I do if I smell gas in my house?

If you smell gas in your house, get everyone out now, without switching anything on or off, and call 911 and your gas company's emergency line once you are well away from the building. Do not look for the leak or try to fix it. Stay out until responders tell you it is safe, and then have a licensed pro repair anything on your side of the meter.

Right now

Do not make a spark. Columbia Gas of Virginia's instructions are direct: "Don't smoke or light a match. Don't open the windows. Don’t use anything that could cause a spark, like a phone, light switch, appliance or flashlight. Don’t start your car or use your garage door to leave."^[1] Virginia Natural Gas adds landlines, electronic devices and vehicles to the list of things that can spark.^[2] Leave a light on if it is on and off if it is off.

Get out. "If you're inside, get out immediately."^[1] Take people and pets with you, and warn anyone else in the house on the way out.

Leave the leak alone. "Do not try to identify the source or stop the leak yourself."^[2] Hunting for it keeps you in the building.

Call from outside. From a safe location, away from the building, call 911 and the gas company's emergency number, then wait for crews to arrive.^[1] Two of Virginia's gas companies publish these lines:

• Columbia Gas of Virginia: 1-800-544-5606, 24 hours a day.^[1]
• Virginia Natural Gas: 877.572.3342, its 24-hour emergency number.^[2]

If another company supplies your gas or propane, look for its emergency number on your bill or its website before you need it, and keep it somewhere easy to find. Do not hold back over cost: Columbia Gas says it will send someone to check the source of the odor free of charge, whether there is a leak or not.^[1]

Stay out. Virginia Natural Gas tells customers to stay away until emergency personnel or the gas company say it is safe to return.^[2]

Signs it might be gas

Natural gas is naturally colorless and odorless, so gas companies add an odorant called mercaptan that smells like rotten eggs or sulfur.^[1] A leak can also make a hissing, blowing, whistling or roaring sound,^[1] and outdoors a buried leak can show up as blowing dirt, bubbling water or dead vegetation.^[1]

Do not rely on your nose alone. Virginia Natural Gas warns that some people cannot smell the odorant because of a diminished sense of smell or because other odors mask it.^[2] Its rule is simple: "You should act any time you detect even a small amount of this odor in the air."^[2]

If you use propane

Propane is treated the same way. Columbia Gas tells its propane customers to leave the area immediately, then, from a safe location away from the building, call 911 and its emergency number and wait for crews to arrive.^[3] If another company fills your tank, use that company's emergency number. One difference matters while you leave: propane is heavier than air, so a leak may collect in low spaces and near the floor.^[3] Do not go down to a basement to look.

Gas smell or carbon monoxide

They are different dangers. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless, non-corrosive gas created when fuels (such as gasoline, wood, natural gas, propane or oil) burn incompletely.^[4] You will not smell it. Columbia Gas lists flu-like symptoms including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, irregular breathing or feeling ill.^[4] If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds or anyone has those symptoms, leave for fresh air and call 911.^[4] Columbia Gas recommends a carbon monoxide detector on every level of your home and in every room where someone sleeps.^[4]

After the emergency

The gas company finds and makes safe what it can, and it is responsible up to the meter. You own the gas lines from your meter to your gas appliances,^[5] so a leak in the house piping or at an appliance is yours to have fixed. Columbia Gas says an unsafe condition should be repaired immediately or the gas left off until the repair is made and a safety inspection is completed.^[5]

On the owner's side, the source can be an old appliance connector or a line left open after an appliance was removed. Some older uncoated brass appliance connectors can separate from their end pieces and cause a serious leak,^[7] and Virginia Natural Gas warns that moving an appliance to check its connector can break an old one, since they can break if moved even slightly.^[7] If you find an uncapped gas line, do not touch it; call a qualified professional.^[6]

When to call a licensed pro

As soon as the gas company has made the house safe, or right away if it has shut off gas to an appliance or the whole house. Virginia's building code allows urgent work to start first: applications for emergency construction, alterations or equipment replacement can be filed by the end of the first working day after the work starts.^[8] Under the Code of Virginia, a natural gas fitter provider is licensed for the incidental repair, testing, or removal of natural gas piping,^[9] and no individual may do that work without a licence.^[10] A plumbing or HVAC firm with a gas fitting licence can also do it. Our answer on who can install or repair a gas line in Virginia explains what to look for, and how often gas lines should be inspected covers keeping it from happening again.

If the problem turns out to be an appliance, such as a furnace that will not stay lit, see whether it is safe to relight a pilot light yourself. Loclis lists DPOR-licensed businesses with licence number and class: see plumbers in Blacksburg or more plumbing answers.

Once the gas company says it is safe, describe the leak or repair once and licensed local businesses quote the fix.