Gas leaks can pose serious safety risks to you and your family. Knowing how to detect natural gas leaks in your house early is crucial for preventing potential hazards, such as fires, explosions, or health complications. While natural gas is naturally odorless, utility companies add a distinctive sulfur-like smell to help homeowners identify problems quickly. Whether new to a property or decades into a tenancy, learning how to spot common gas leak signs is extremely important in ensuring the safety of the inhabitants of the home.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through 8 essential warning signs and symptoms that indicate you may have a gas leak in your home, along with the immediate steps you should take if you suspect a problem, and how to detox from natural gas poisoning.
Table of Contents
Four gas leak signs
1. Foul Smell
The most recognizable sign of a gas leak is the distinctive rotten egg or sulfur-like odor that utility companies add to natural gas. Gas has no odor; gas companies are obligated to odorize it with Mercaptan, a harmless chemical, as a warning sign. This smell is intentionally strong and unpleasant to ensure it’s easily detectable.
If you notice this characteristic odor in your home, especially near gas appliances, pipes, or outdoor gas meters, it’s likely indicating a gas leak that requires immediate attention.
2. Hissing Sound
A hissing or whistling sound, like that of a boiling kettle or sound near gas appliances, pipes, or your outdoor gas meter can indicate gas escaping from a damaged line or loose connection. This sound occurs when pressurized gas is forced through a small opening or crack. Even if you don’t smell gas, any unusual hissing sounds around gas equipment should be investigated immediately.
3. Bubbled Water and Dust Clouds
If you notice bubbling in standing water near gas lines or dust clouds forming around buried gas pipes outside your home, this could indicate an underground gas leak. The escaping gas creates pressure that forces air through soil and water, creating visible bubbles or dust disturbances. This sign is particularly important to watch for after construction work or ground disturbances near gas lines.
4. Dead Plants
Extremely low levels of natural gas in the air may not cause obvious symptoms in pets or humans, but it will in plants. Natural gas leaks can kill vegetation by displacing oxygen in the soil and disrupting root systems. If you notice dead or dying plants in a specific house area, this could indicate a gas leak. Healthy plants that suddenly wilt or die without explanation may be suffering from gas exposure.
Four gas leak symptoms
1. Asthma
Natural gas exposure can trigger asthma symptoms or worsen existing respiratory conditions. If you notice increased asthma attacks, wheezing, or difficulty breathing that seems to correlate with being in certain areas of your home, it could indicate a gas leak. Natural gas alters the composition of air and reduces the amount of oxygen in the lungs, making breathing more difficult.
2. Nausea & Nosebleeds
Prolonged exposure to natural gas can cause nausea, fatigue, nosebleeds, and even fainting in some individuals. Symptoms occur because the gas reduces oxygen availability in your body, leading to a form of mild oxygen deprivation.
These may also be ‘slow gas leak symptoms’, issues caused over time by prolonged exposure to natural gas, and may indicate natural gas poisoning. If multiple family members experience these symptoms simultaneously, especially when at home, consider the possibility of a gas leak.
3. Headaches
The most common gas leak side effect of both short and long-term natural gas exposure is headaches. Exposure to natural gas can cause persistent headaches due to reduced oxygen levels in your bloodstream. Notice if multiple people in the house are experiencing them.
Headaches are not signs of natural gas poisoning per se, but if you or family members experience unexplained headaches that seem to worsen when you’re at home and improve when you’re away, this could be a symptom of a gas leak. These headaches often feel different from typical tension headaches and may be accompanied by dizziness.
4. Abnormal Behaviors & Reactions in Pets
Natural gas poisoning symptoms in dogs and cats are much the same as in humans, but since their bodies are so much smaller, they are likely to exhibit more severe symptoms much faster. Keep an eye on them for excessive fatigue, vomiting, and passing out.
How to check for a gas leak in the house?
- After identifying the smell, listen out for hissing. The sound of gas escaping will likely make a whistling sound.
- Cautiously approach the area where the hissing is loudest, making sure that all doors and windows are wide open if it is inside the home to increase oxygen in the air.
- Add a small amount of washing-up liquid or hand soap to some water, and apply it to suspect areas where the sound is loudest.
- If bubbles are produced, there is likely gas leaking. Shut the gas supply off.
- Call the gas company immediately and follow their instructions. Do not attempt to deal with the leak.
4 Types of Gas Leaks
Though the symptoms and signs are similar, it’s important to have an idea of the different types of gas leaks that can occur in the home.
1. Natural Gas Leak
Natural gas is popular because it is generally considered safe, with over 65 million homes in the US using it. If a leak occurs, high levels of carbon dioxide are released into the air, which can deprive the body of oxygen.
Natural gas is highly combustible, meaning an explosion or fire could occur should something ignite it. The danger this poses is far worse than exposure to natural gas.
2. Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)
LPG refers to other hydrocarbon gasses stored as liquids. This is mostly propane, which may be mixed with butane or propylene. Unlike natural gas, LPG could leak either as gas or liquid. That being said, LPG will evaporate very quickly at room temperature, so if there is a leak, visual signs will be obvious (a cloud will form and fall to the ground).
LPG is freezing cold, so approaching it could easily cause cold burns. It is also highly flammable, so electrical switches and sources of ignition should not be touched under any circumstances.
3. Carbon Monoxide
The presence of carbon monoxide is caused when gas doesn’t burn properly. It will emit gas appliances, like cookers, heaters, and boilers, that don’t burn properly due to poor maintenance, fitting, or construction. Unlike methane and propane, carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, making it much harder to detect. That makes it much more dangerous.
Symptoms of being poisoned are like those caused by exposure to other types of gas leak, but they are likely to be much more severe. The easiest and most reliable way to detect it is by installing carbon monoxide alarms in your home, which will sound when carbon monoxide is detected.
4. Freon/Liquid Coolants
Fridges and AC units use chemical coolants known by the brand name ‘Freon’. Freon provides the cool air by undergoing a constant process of evaporation. An AC gas leak or a fridge gas leak will be much more obvious than other types of gas leaks, because there’s a high chance that there will be considerable structural damage to the product itself, like a puncture.
Even if structural damage isn’t obvious, the fridge or AC will fail to work as it should. The AC may produce hot air, for instance, or make a buzzing sound, while the fridge may defrost and fail to keep food adequately cool.
Much like natural gas and LPG, Freon has a distinctly pungent smell, somewhere between chlorine and nail polish. It evaporates instantly at room temperature, and is toxic to humans, fridge gas leak symptoms include headaches and nausea.
The 4 Essential Gas Leak Prevention Tips To Know
Preventing a gas leak is not the most straightforward of tasks, but there are certain precautions that must be taken in homes and other interior spaces.
1. CO alarms
Installing carbon monoxide alarms in main living spaces, like the kitchen and near bedrooms, is crucial to avoiding carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide alarms remain the only reliable way to spot a CO gas leak. Every home must have at least one carbon monoxide alarm, prioritizing spaces near boilers, gas cookers, and other gas-powered devices, like space heaters.
2. Battery checking
Alarms will be powered by battery, so it’s important to get into the habit of checking its power every month. Likewise, fire alarms should also be checked regularly.
3. Regular maintenance
All reputable energy providers should provide 24-hour maintenance and emergency service. Call the provider if it hasn’t been serviced in some time to arrange for a professional to assess it.
Similarly, products that use liquid coolants, like air conditioners and fridges, should be assessed. Building habits is wise when it comes to taking preventative measures.
4. Ventilation
In a general sense, ensuring the home has good ventilation will help prevent poisoning, so make sure to keep ventilation shafts and cooker fans clean and in working order.
If burning a fire inside, make sure the chimney has regular cleaning and maintenance. Barbecuing, or any form of cooking that uses propane or coal, should be done in large open spaces.
FAQ
Does carbon monoxide smell like nail polish?
Carbon monoxide does not smell like nail polish because it is odorless. The only way to reliably detect it is through a carbon monoxide detector. Coolants like Freon, however, do smell similar to nail polish or chlorine.
How to tell if there is a gas leak?
Natural gas is scented with a chemical agent, so that it smells like rotten eggs. A hissing sound may also be produced depending on the nature of the leak. For carbon monoxide leaks, a CO alarm will sound.
Will a carbon monoxide detector detect a gas leak?
A carbon monoxide detector sounds when it detects dangerous levels of CO in the air. There is a high chance that there is a gas leak somewhere, but it doesn’t suggest anything conclusive about the source. Carbon monoxide is created when gas burns improperly.
What does gas smell like?
Natural gas and liquid petroleum gas (propane, butane, etc.) smell sulfuric, like rotten eggs or cabbage.Coolants like Freon are also pungent, with a scent like nail polish or chlorine.
Can inhaling gas make you sick?
Yes. As the composition of the air changes, less oxygen will be in your blood. At a certain point, this could asphyxiate you and cause death. Symptoms to look out for include headaches, dizziness, and nausea. More severe symptoms include passing out, breathing problems, and nosebleeds.
Can a gas leak make you ill?
Yes, gas leaks can make you ill. As the composition of the air changes, less oxygen will reach the blood. At a certain point, this can asphyxiate and cause death. Symptoms to look out for include headaches, dizziness, and nausea. More severe symptoms include passing out, breathing problems, and nosebleeds. Carbon monoxide is more dangerous than natural gas, because it is poisonous to humans.
Conclusion
Knowing gas leak symptoms and signs to look out for can mean the difference between life and death, and it’s important that suspicions are always taken seriously.
Making a habit of preventative measures, like regular maintenance, assessments, and checking alarms for power, will help avoid being ill-prepared for gas leaks.
Recommended readings:
What To Do If There’s a Gas Leak – 5 Steps to Staying Safe
Fire Alarm Keeps Going Off? Here’s What To Do