Smell Gas in Your House? What to Do in Fort Worth

Why natural gas smells like rotten eggs

Natural gas has no smell of its own. A sulfur-based odorant from the mercaptan family is blended in before delivery, and that is what you notice. Texas made odorized gas a legal requirement in 1937, after a school explosion caused by a leak nobody could smell.

Treat even a faint smell as a warning. Atmos Energy notes that other odors can mask it and that breathing it for a while dulls your nose, so a smell that fades doesn't mean the gas has stopped.

Why switches, phones and garage doors stay off

Gas that builds up in a room or crawlspace needs only a small spark to ignite. A wall switch arcs inside each time it is flipped, and doorbells, phones, pulled plugs and garage door opener motors can spark too.

• Lights: leave them on or off as they are.
• Phones: take your cell phone, but dial only once you're outside.
• Garage: skip the electric opener and don't start a car in an attached garage.
• Flames: no matches, lighters or candles.
• Searching: don't hunt for the leak or close appliance valves; responders carry gas detectors.

Calling 911 or Atmos Energy, and what Atmos does

Once everyone is out, move well away from the house and call 911 or Atmos Energy's emergency line. Don't assume a neighbor has already called, and don't go back in until responders say it's safe. Outdoors, a hiss near the meter, bubbles in a puddle or a strip of dead grass over the yard line can also mean a leak.

Atmos says it sends a trained technician to investigate at no cost. If gas is escaping from house piping or an appliance, the technician shuts it off, at the meter or at that one appliance, and usually leaves a tag, often red. Atmos does not maintain gas lines on your property past its meter. See Atmos red tags in Fort Worth.

When you need a plumber: repair, test and reconnection

A plumber is needed when Atmos shuts off gas over a leak in the piping, valves or appliance connectors on the customer side of the meter. Our gas repairs are done under Texas plumbing license # M-27587.

Around our N Sylvania Ave address, many older Riverside, Oakhurst and Six Points homes sit on pier-and-beam floors with gas piping running through the crawlspace, where a slow leak may show up only as a faint smell in one room. That hidden piping is why the whole system gets tested, not just the spot you can smell.

1. Find the leak. The piping is put under air pressure on a gauge. If the needle drops, bubble solution on the joints shows the leaking fitting, valve or connector.
2. Repair. The cracked connector, weeping valve or rusted pipe is replaced; badly corroded yard pipe may get a new line. See gas line repair.
3. Permit and pressure test. When a permit is needed, the plumber doing the work pulls the permit through Fort Worth's Development Services department. The capped system must hold test pressure while a city plumbing inspector reviews it. See gas pressure tests.
4. Reconnection. After approval, Atmos turns the gas back on, and each appliance is relit and checked.

Faint smells near appliances

• Range or cooktop. A brief puff of gas as a burner lights should clear in seconds. A smell with the flame steady, or with every knob off, is a leak until proven otherwise.
• Water heater, furnace or dryer. A loose connector, failing gas valve or pilot that went out can cause a faint smell. Don't relight anything while you smell gas.
• Hot water only. If the odor comes from the water at a hot tap rather than the air, it is usually hydrogen sulfide made inside the water heater, often tied to its magnesium anode rod. That calls for water heater repair.
• Drains. A floor drain or unused shower can dry out and let in sewer gas, which smells sulfurous too. Run water into it; if the smell stays, call a plumber.

If you can't tell what it is, treat it as gas and go outside.

Carbon monoxide vs natural gas

Natural gas warns you with its added odor; carbon monoxide doesn't. The CDC describes CO as odorless and colorless. It comes from burning fuel and builds up when a furnace, water heater, range or generator is faulty or poorly vented, or when a car runs in an attached garage. Headache, dizziness, weakness and nausea are easy to mistake for flu, and people who are asleep can be overcome before they notice.

• Put battery-operated or battery-backup CO alarms near every sleeping area, and replace them on the maker's schedule or every five years.
• If a CO alarm sounds, get everyone into fresh air and call 911.
• A CO alarm doesn't detect natural gas. Home methane detectors exist, but Atmos says never to ignore the signs of a leak, even if you have one.

If CO is traced to a gas water heater or its vent, we can repair it.

Gas smell questions

Gas shut off? Call for the repair

Once Atmos has made the house safe, call (817) 755-5621 to have the leak repaired, tested and inspected so service can be restored. Offers include a $0 dispatch fee with a repair and $50 off for new customers (terms on the coupons page).

Office hours 8 AM–11 PM daily · 24/7 emergency service