Gas leaks are easily one of the most dangerous and scary situations any homeowner can encounter. Other than fires, there is no more significant immediate hazard to your family and your home than a gas leak. Having a regular annual gas line inspection in Houston reduces the chances that you’ll have to encounter a gas leak in your home.
Gas leaks are often easy to detect, with their familiar (if somewhat unpleasant) odor. Before being sent to homes and businesses, a chemical called mercaptan is added that creates a sulfur smell when mixed with oxygen to alert you to its presence.
Some of the more obvious physical symptoms that you have a gas leak are dizziness, nausea, headache, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. Any of these symptoms that accompany the rotten egg smell are a sign you should leave the home, leave the door open behind you, and call Nick’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning Services from a safe location.
When Should I Call for a Gas Line Inspection?
Gas line inspection is something that is best done on a regular schedule, and most plumbing companies will recommend it annually. That said, you don’t need to wait for a special occasion or emergency to have a gas line inspection, and any of the following signs of a gas leak should be taken seriously enough to schedule one.
Yellow or Orange Flames
– This symptom is most likely to be discovered while using a gas range or cooktop, where gas-fueled flames are easier to see than a water heater pilot light. When using a gas range, the exposed flame should burn with a blue color with only a bit of yellow or orange tint. Gas flames that burn with a mostly orange or yellow hue is a sign that oxygen is being introduced to the gas supply. If oxygen is getting into your gas lines, that also means gas is leaking somewhere in your system, and it’s time for a gas line inspection.
Dead Patches of Grass
– Yellow or brown grass along the path of a natural gas line is an indication that you have a gas leak underground. The reason for the change in vegetation is the lack of oxygen in the plant roots. that is displaced by the natural gas. Even trees with smaller than typical leaves, or that are particularly slow to grow could also indicate an underground gas leak.
Feeling Sick
– Aside from the rotten egg smell from the mercaptan in the gas, the first signs of a gas leak are often physical. Suddenly feeling nauseous, dizzy, or light-headed for no reason, along with difficulty breathing and feel lethargic, can all be signs of a gas leak.
While being exposed to a small amount of natural gas from a leak in your home is not likely to cause any long-term damage, over time and in higher quantities, gas leaks can adversely affect your health. Severe headaches, memory problems, lack of coordination, and even death by suffocation have all been documented as health risks associated with natural gas exposure.
Nick’s Plumbing and Air Conditioning Services has been providing gas line inspection, repair, maintenance, and installation since 1979. With over forty years of experience and one-hundred and fifty-thousand satisfied customers, let Nick’s handle any gas line plumbing issues you have.
