Do you have natural gas or propane at your house? Gas is often used to power dryers, water heaters, furnaces and stoves. Natural gas and propane are often touted as being less expensive than electricity, more efficient and more useful in a power outage. However, homes and businesses that use gas should be on the lookout for gas leaks. Gas, whether propane or natural gas, is flammable, and if it starts leaking, it’s a health and fire risk. Let’s explore the warning signs of a gas leak, the dangers and how to increase your safety with an early gas leak detection system.
Warning Signs of a Gas Leak
The first sign of a gas leak is often the smell. When the leak first starts, you’ll be able to smell it in the room where the leak is occurring and around the appliance. Gas companies put additives into natural gas and propane that give it a rotten-egg type smell. You may also be able to hear a hissing or whistling sound. That’s the sound of the gas escaping the pipe. If the leak is outside, you might notice the plants around the leak have died.
Health Risks of Gas Leaks
If you have a gas leak in your home or business, it’s a health risk. As gas escapes into the room, it displaces the oxygen. Individuals who are exposed to leaking gas may experience a loss of appetite, ringing ears, dizziness, nausea, irritation of the eyes and throat, and difficulty breathing. It’s recommended that people open the windows and air out any rooms where a gas leak is suspected before vacating the area and calling for professional help.
Fire and Explosion Hazards
Gas is extremely flammable, and leaking gas from a pipe or appliance can be ignited with open flames and sparks. Therefore, it’s very important to turn off any pilot lights if you suspect that you have a gas leak.
Detection Methods and Tools from Bluefrog
If you have gas appliances in your home or business, you should consider taking preventative steps, like having gas shutoff valves and gas leak detectors installed around gas appliances and pipes. Gas leak detectors can help alert you to the presence of gas before the smell is obvious. This saves valuable time and helps ensure that gas leaks get repaired before they become a severe health and building hazard.
At Bluefrog in Denver, we offer gas leak detection and prevention services that include installing gas leak and carbon monoxide detectors. This means that once the detector sounds its alarm, you can quickly turn off the gas to the affected appliance, open the windows and doors, and call for an emergency repair from our gas leak repair technicians.
Emergency Response and Prevention from Bluefrog
If you smell gas in your home or business, open the windows, turn off all the pilot lights and go outside. When you are safe, call our gas prevention and emergency response team at 720-776-9554. We understand that having a gas leak in your home or business is an emergency situation, which is why we are available any time, day or night. Once we arrive, we’ll locate the source of the gas leak and perform the appropriate repairs so that you can get back to your daily life or operations as soon as possible.
Melissa Williams 
DCAuthorityLinks