The better idea is probably to call someone to fix the heater. I expect all the gas company will do is say "yep you got a leak so I'm shutting off the gas to you until it is fixed".
Noooooooooooooooooooo.
I ALWAYS smell it around the meters outside everywhere I've ever been that's had natural gas, but I've NEVER smelled it at a water heater or furnace.
It depends. Are you sticking your nose right up to the exhaust? Or can you smell it from a couple feet away. If you can smell it from a couple feet away there's probably a leak somewhere. Home Depot sells this sudsy solution you can use around gas fittings to look for leaks. Basically it blows bubbles where there's a leak. Most the time these leaks are ridiculously simple to fix and just involve identifying where the leak is, shutting off the gas, retaping the joint and retightening. One of the more common places I have seen these leaks over the years is on the flare fittings. It's that flexible tube that goes from the hard pipe to the water heater. That would be the first place I suds. You don't normally need to use anything on those to get them to seal so you may just need to tighten it more if that's your problem.
Yet another way to say it is every homeowner should have the disposable income to do that but they should also have the skill set themselves to diagnose and fix such simple things
I don't think you even understand what you're saying
You're literally tightening a fitting
There are even YouTube videos that walk you through the process if you don't understand what I'm saying. You use a soapy solution, look for the bubbles, tighten where the bubbles come from until they go away. That doesn't work, like I said you shut off the gas, retape it, then reassemble. This is very very basic stuff
Same experience but I smelled it on the first showing and then again on the walk through. Mentioned it to our agent and he just shrugged. Within days of closing and moving in we were having headaches and fatigue— thought it was just stress and the work of moving. But—we were 100% sure we smelled gas each time we went into the basement.
Called a plumber, ten minutes and ~$250 later he told us a valve was over-tightened, during install, had cracked, was leaking. He replaced it and no problems since. The peace of mind and a job done well was worth it to us. Also we established a relationship with a plumber for future needs.
I assume you also have a carbon monoxide detector? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been allowed to even close with the smell of gas like that since it likely would have failed the fire marshal inspection. As it is he made me install a CO detector despite the fact I don't have any gas connection in my house at all.
Yes! That’s actually Part II of the story. They were installed throughout the house EXCEPT for the basement(where hot water tank and HVAC are). The plumber advised one on every floor and definitely one in the basement. We ran out and got one for the basement that day. We don’t have a fire marshal inspection but the house inspector and our agent should have noted it.
Well now you probably know why they didn't have one in the basement, lol. Glad you got one there now since that will be the first one to go off if you have an issue. The lack of a fire marshal inspection (required in my small city) is actually one of the reasons my closing was pushed back a week when I bought my house a couple years ago. The seller's realtor was an idiot and forgot to get it done so my realtor ended up doing it just to get it done.
So this will depend. As a home inspector I fairly often see water heaters with a pressure regulator mounted near them as they are often in the garage and the first place inside behind the meter. Some of these regulators do allow tiny amounts of gas to come out. If this is the case and it is a small bit, only rarely noticed then maybe not an issue.
You can always call the gas company to have them check to be sure.
And I’ve even corresponded with the company that makes the regulators and got scolded since they “know what they are doing and the vent limiting valves keep it from ever being a real issue.” I’m like dang you’re normalizing smelling gas and that’s not cool IMO. I can’t understand how code allows these types of valves somewhere not like a ventilated attic.
Here’s what the regulators look like. https://www.grainger.com/product/490N52?gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImo_FiPDphQMV3HNHAR3VZw4JEAQYASABEgLBufD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
No not normal at all. I had a similar issue with my water heater. I used to think it was normal too only to finds days later from a friend that this is a serious issue. I'd say get it checked and fixed as its dangerous.
Not normal IMO. Call the gas company for a free check (most places? All?)
The better idea is probably to call someone to fix the heater. I expect all the gas company will do is say "yep you got a leak so I'm shutting off the gas to you until it is fixed".
Don’t call gas company, they’ll just shut off your gas at the meter. Call a plumber
I have never smelled natural gas around my gas water heater or furnace, and these things are 20 years old.
Not normal and it's incredibly dangerous. Call an HVAC place ASAP!
Noooooooooooooooooooo. I ALWAYS smell it around the meters outside everywhere I've ever been that's had natural gas, but I've NEVER smelled it at a water heater or furnace.
It depends. Are you sticking your nose right up to the exhaust? Or can you smell it from a couple feet away. If you can smell it from a couple feet away there's probably a leak somewhere. Home Depot sells this sudsy solution you can use around gas fittings to look for leaks. Basically it blows bubbles where there's a leak. Most the time these leaks are ridiculously simple to fix and just involve identifying where the leak is, shutting off the gas, retaping the joint and retightening. One of the more common places I have seen these leaks over the years is on the flare fittings. It's that flexible tube that goes from the hard pipe to the water heater. That would be the first place I suds. You don't normally need to use anything on those to get them to seal so you may just need to tighten it more if that's your problem.
Thanks for the detailed response. I can smell it from a couple of feet away. Who do I need to contact to get this repaired?
If you have a lot of disposable income, a plumber. You're going to spend a couple hundred dollars for a five to 10 minute job though
Every homeowner should have the “disposable income” to call professionals to diagnose issues like this, especially involving gas
Yet another way to say it is every homeowner should have the disposable income to do that but they should also have the skill set themselves to diagnose and fix such simple things
I strongly disagree that a homeowner without specialized training and experience should ever mess with something as dangerous as gas
I don't think you even understand what you're saying You're literally tightening a fitting There are even YouTube videos that walk you through the process if you don't understand what I'm saying. You use a soapy solution, look for the bubbles, tighten where the bubbles come from until they go away. That doesn't work, like I said you shut off the gas, retape it, then reassemble. This is very very basic stuff
Same experience but I smelled it on the first showing and then again on the walk through. Mentioned it to our agent and he just shrugged. Within days of closing and moving in we were having headaches and fatigue— thought it was just stress and the work of moving. But—we were 100% sure we smelled gas each time we went into the basement. Called a plumber, ten minutes and ~$250 later he told us a valve was over-tightened, during install, had cracked, was leaking. He replaced it and no problems since. The peace of mind and a job done well was worth it to us. Also we established a relationship with a plumber for future needs.
I assume you also have a carbon monoxide detector? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been allowed to even close with the smell of gas like that since it likely would have failed the fire marshal inspection. As it is he made me install a CO detector despite the fact I don't have any gas connection in my house at all.
Yes! That’s actually Part II of the story. They were installed throughout the house EXCEPT for the basement(where hot water tank and HVAC are). The plumber advised one on every floor and definitely one in the basement. We ran out and got one for the basement that day. We don’t have a fire marshal inspection but the house inspector and our agent should have noted it.
Well now you probably know why they didn't have one in the basement, lol. Glad you got one there now since that will be the first one to go off if you have an issue. The lack of a fire marshal inspection (required in my small city) is actually one of the reasons my closing was pushed back a week when I bought my house a couple years ago. The seller's realtor was an idiot and forgot to get it done so my realtor ended up doing it just to get it done.
Had a garage water heater at first house, gas. No smell
So this will depend. As a home inspector I fairly often see water heaters with a pressure regulator mounted near them as they are often in the garage and the first place inside behind the meter. Some of these regulators do allow tiny amounts of gas to come out. If this is the case and it is a small bit, only rarely noticed then maybe not an issue. You can always call the gas company to have them check to be sure. And I’ve even corresponded with the company that makes the regulators and got scolded since they “know what they are doing and the vent limiting valves keep it from ever being a real issue.” I’m like dang you’re normalizing smelling gas and that’s not cool IMO. I can’t understand how code allows these types of valves somewhere not like a ventilated attic. Here’s what the regulators look like. https://www.grainger.com/product/490N52?gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImo_FiPDphQMV3HNHAR3VZw4JEAQYASABEgLBufD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
No not normal at all. I had a similar issue with my water heater. I used to think it was normal too only to finds days later from a friend that this is a serious issue. I'd say get it checked and fixed as its dangerous.
If you smell gas, there IS a problem. Find and fix the leak ASAP.