A friend's pilot light went out and the gas company sent someone to relight it. They said not to worry anout the odor, it wasn't the gas. Was this a dangerous thing to relight the pilot with the odor in the house ? Please explain.
2007-06-13 16:55:36 · 5 answers · asked by Judy M 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I would trust the gas company. Anything toxic is something that you can't smell anyway. If you ever find yourself getting very tired or weak, get out. Better yet get one of those alarms, not a smoke alarm. I think they have one for toxic gas or something. Sounds like you need one.
2007-06-13 17:00:02 · answer #1 · answered by lady 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The odor is methyl mercaptan, which is deliberately added to natural gas in order to give it a smell. Natural gas is otherwise odorless.
Methyl mercaptan is harmless in itself, but if you smell it, you know that there's a leak somewhere (or that the pilot light has gone out.) If the the odor is very faint, the danger in relighting the light at once was minimal, but if the odor is strong, the gas may be concentrated enough to start a fire or an explosion.
To be extra safe, ventilate that room until you cannot smell it anymore before lighting the stove. Don't use an electric fan to ventilate, since they generate sparks! Wave some cardboard around instead.
2007-06-13 17:07:54 · answer #2 · answered by Rochester 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Natural gas has no odor of its own. The utility company adds an unpleasant odor to alert people of a leak. If you had a leak, you would have smelled something like rotton eggs or a skunky smell.
The pilot light on the stove has a safety feature where it senses a flame. If it does not sense the flame, it shuts off the gas flow.
The purfume you smelled must be coming from another source. The gas company rep would not tell you different, as the liability is unbeliveable. If something were to happen to the home, and it was discovered that the rep was there, lawyers from all across the nation would be fighting for a piece of the pie.
2007-06-13 17:02:55 · answer #3 · answered by OrakTheBold 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the odor was gas... but there wasn't much of it.
Professionals who deal with gas a lot can often tell by smell how much gas is in the room.... almost as accurately as their gas detector meter. (which he probably used and verified there wasn't an explosive concentration of gas.)
2007-06-13 17:00:37 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
only if the gas is in high consitration
2007-06-13 17:02:20 · answer #5 · answered by busy me 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋