Strange Smell in House...

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ramcharger

ramcharger

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No, it wasn't dirty socks, bad food or dog farts but...

The last few days when coming home from work I had a smell in the house I just couldn't quite pin down. It seemed like cross between burnt electrical and exhaust fumes, but I couldn't quite figure it out.

It turns out the pilot light on the stove top went out. Odd that it didn't really smell like gas to me. I went so far as to check the vent for the water heater, the blower for the AC unit, the main fuse panel, etc. The gas stove is 15 years old, might be time for a new one with electric ignition.

Just thought I'd put this out there as a public service message, apparently sometimes gas doesn't smell like gas. I couldn't imagine coming home to a burnt down home and dead dogs.
 
The one plus is that a gas stove NORMALLY doesn't use that much gas for the pilots, and I'm guessing you mean the pilot for the burners, not the oven?

Plus, natural gas actually has no smell whatsoever. The rotten egg smell is an additive the gas company puts in so that you CAN smell it. Plus, in my old house, I was staining woodwork in the basement and we had a stove that the right side burner pilto regularly went out, and the mix of the gas odor and the stain made it smell like I was burning kerosene in the house.

FF
 
I had a strange smell in my house all day Friday, but then realized it was probably just a productof the linguini with really garlicy clam sauce, and SMithwick's ales I had consumed Thursday night!!!

FF
 
daredevil said:
Thank God the Lord was watching out for you.
Click to expand...

No kidding, that would've sucked.

Fstforward said:
The one plus is that a gas stove NORMALLY doesn't use that much gas for the pilots, and I'm guessing you mean the pilot for the burners, not the oven?

Plus, natural gas actually has no smell whatsoever. The rotten egg smell is an additive the gas company puts in so that you CAN smell it. Plus, in my old house, I was staining woodwork in the basement and we had a stove that the right side burner pilto regularly went out, and the mix of the gas odor and the stain made it smell like I was burning kerosene in the house.

FF
Click to expand...

Yes, it was the pilot for the top burner. Any amount of leaky nataural gas is too much. Many, many years ago when I was maybe 7 or 8 my sister when into the basement to fire up the stove down there pre-Thanksgiving. The pilot light went out and she went to light it...KABOOM! Lost her eybrows and singed the hair off her arms. That was the pilot light for the oven though.

Hemiroid said:
The chemical is Mercaptan.



Kenny
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Yep, odd it didn't have the typical rotten egg smell.... Maybe my nose is just shot.
 
Another thing that really smells funky is those white board markers. My kids were using them(on a whiteboard) near some recent new electrical,and I really thought the insulation on the wiring had melted!Those whiteboard markers frigging stink!
 
ramcharger said:
No, it wasn't dirty socks, bad food or dog farts but...

The last few days when coming home from work I had a smell in the house I just couldn't quite pin down. It seemed like cross between burnt electrical and exhaust fumes, but I couldn't quite figure it out.

It turns out the pilot light on the stove top went out. Odd that it didn't really smell like gas to me. I went so far as to check the vent for the water heater, the blower for the AC unit, the main fuse panel, etc. The gas stove is 15 years old, might be time for a new one with electric ignition.

Just thought I'd put this out there as a public service message, apparently sometimes gas doesn't smell like gas. I couldn't imagine coming home to a burnt down home and dead dogs.
Click to expand...
Yup I hear ya been there . Got to keep an eye on it . Stay safe bud Im happy it was not when yall was sleeping
 
The thing about LP/ nat gas is that some people are "immune?" to the smell, and like you, if you get a sort of gradual thing going, you get "used" to the smell and may not realize you have a problem.

Bad deal, all the way around. When I was in "that business" I was lucky -- had a good nose for that smell.

THE IMPORTANT thing is if you smell gas and think it might be dangerous do ya know what to do?

Well, I'm gonna TELL you....................

Walk right out the door and leave the door OPEN. Don't disturb ANY electronics, switches, or electrical appliances. If it smells "clean" outdoors, and that is where the breaker box is and ONLY if it smells clean outdoors, consider yanking "the main."

Then get away from the house, and either use a neighbor's phone or your cell to call the gas company.

THIS CAN BE classified as an emergency. DO NOT BE bashful about calling 911, and don't let them give you any ess ech eye tee about it, either!!!! They can send fire, and or the gas company
 
We have a restored Merritt Okeefe range. When the place we got it from was restoring it I had them disable the pilot light for the oven. Never mind the fact that it was going to be hooked to a propane tank and would just drain it dry slowly I am not real fond of pilot lights. Joe mentioned his sisters incident, there was a similar one at a job I had. The guy that had it happen to him spent a few days in the hospital and it was several months before his eye brows grew back....
 
With all the "safety minded" with gas/ LP, I was sometimes amazed.

When I was in the business, electronic ignition for ranges was becoming popular. Generally, there was a detent, push the knob, etc, and the igniter would fire until the knob was moved past that area. So this means if a kid got to playing, it was REAL possible to crank the knob open, with no light!!! And they have no "safety," either. LP is especially troubling, being heavier than air.

I could write a book on all the scary stuff I've come across in the short time I was in the field, only 10 years or so.
 
Your lucky, as a kid I can remember gas space heater stoves.
Just turn a valve and the gas was ON no pilot lights.
 
We had a guy die out here in Feb. from a gas leak explosion. He and his neighbors called about the leak for over a month. The utility company came out and said they would need to tear up the driveway to repair it but would have to wait on a permit. A whole month goes by then BOOM! Turns out no one ever classified it as being a dangerous situation.
 
From my understanding and being in the appliance business, I believe that any new gas appliance for the home be it a water heater or a range is mandated to only be pilot-less. There are still plenty of pilot style ranges in the field. I remove them all the time but they are no longer permitted to sell a stove new that does not have pilot-less ignition. Also in most installs I do, if the Gas Whip is over 3 years old, I encourage my customers to replace the whip with a new one. I do not recommend re-using an old gas whip on a new connection. When I lived in Massachusetts there was an instance where a homeowner used a used gas whip on a water heater and blew the house up and 3 people were killed.
 
67Dart273 said:
LP is especially troubling, being heavier than air.
Click to expand...


When I worked at a forklift shop years ago we had one of the refill tanks that had a foot valve along with another valve on the nozzle. They beat it into your head to always make sure both valves are shut after use (even had a big neon painted sign next to the tank). One day came into work and as I pulled up it looked like someone had left a fog machine on. Stopped my truck on a dime and shut it off. Had to call emergency sevices and a hazmat crew to come out. Someone had left the foot valve on and it leaked all night covering the entire lot. The worst part about it was our shop was right next to a Chevron resupply center.
 
67Dart273 said:
The thing about LP/ nat gas is that some people are "immune?" to the smell, and like you, if you get a sort of gradual thing going, you get "used" to the smell and may not realize you have a problem.

Bad deal, all the way around. When I was in "that business" I was lucky -- had a good nose for that smell.

THE IMPORTANT thing is if you smell gas and think it might be dangerous do ya know what to do?

Well, I'm gonna TELL you....................

Walk right out the door and leave the door OPEN. Don't disturb ANY electronics, switches, or electrical appliances. If it smells "clean" outdoors, and that is where the breaker box is and ONLY if it smells clean outdoors, consider yanking "the main."

Then get away from the house, and either use a neighbor's phone or your cell to call the gas company.

THIS CAN BE classified as an emergency. DO NOT BE bashful about calling 911, and don't let them give you any ess ech eye tee about it, either!!!! They can send fire, and or the gas company
Click to expand...

You pinned the tail on that donkey.... I'd come in and get the smell, sniff around to try to find it and after 5 minutes I'd swear it was gone. I'd go let the dogs out or work in the in the garage, come in and there it was again. I also didn't follow the saftey rules. Why? It didn't smell like gas to me. I guess my sniffer is just not what it used to be. I'm not exactly a spring chicken anymore.

Thanks for the "New Gas Whip" warning DM! Good stuff to know.

A big thanks to those who are happy I didn't blow my house up too. :cheers:
 
Wow Joe that's scary. I've seen houses blown to smithereens from a gas leak. Glad you didn't have that happen. Also glad to hear it didn't over take you. I'm one of the lucky ones that can smell even the least amount of natural gas. In fact I'm so sensitive it gives me a headache pretty fast so I always know it when I smell it.
 
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