Should I not move in?

February 2, 2010 7:06 PM

Should I not move in because of the unidentifiable gas smell?

I recently signed a lease on a house, but now I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to move in. There is a strong gas smell. Before signing the lease, the landlord and I had the gas company come and make sure there wasn't a leak. The meter didn't detect anything near the two appliances that they told me could have been responsible, and so I went ahead and signed the lease. But now that I'm about to move in, I'm having second thoughts. Is it possible that there is a leak even if the gas company can't identify it? I smell it, the landlord smells it. I'm nervous that moving in would be dangerous.

posted by anonymous to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Why don't you tell the landlord that you're not comfortable with moving in if there is a gas smell?
posted by EsotericAlgorithm at 7:08 PM on February 2, 2010

The meter does nothing. You test a gas leak with a manometer, and it doesn't matter if it's in your unit or not. It matters that there is one, because you can both smell it. The leak may be three floors below, or above, or it doesn't matter, the building explodes either way.

I work in engineering forensics, specifically involving natural gas/propane explosions. Your post is the beginning to every deposition I've ever read, from the survivors. I would not even go near a place that smelled of gas. There's a reason it smells, and smells so bad. It is telling you to GTFO. It is very likely to explode.

Do not move in. Do not go back. I would also call 311 or whatever the local corollary is and report it to whoever will listen.
posted by sanka at 7:15 PM on February 2, 2010 [30 favorites]

On the less disastrous side, could it simply be a pilot light that is out? I'd imagine the gas company guy would check that, but you never know.
posted by Wulfhere at 7:24 PM on February 2, 2010

Please please please listen to Sanka's advice.
posted by deadmessenger at 7:28 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

A pilot light out will turn off any gas control valve so you won't smell any gas. This means it is functioning properly. A proper leak check with a manometer shows 0 leakage. Zero. Any leakage is a concern. Any smell means that the leak is at 10% of the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL). Anyone that works around hazardous stuff knows that this is the time to GTFO of that area.
posted by sanka at 7:30 PM on February 2, 2010

If it gets stronger near the (gas) stove, it is probably its pilot light. Still, listen to sanka's advice.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:30 PM on February 2, 2010

Gas can leak from locations other than appliances. On a house I bought we needed to replace some plain old piping in the basement that would have otherwise looked non-extraordinary but just happened to have a small leak at a joint. I'd think the landlord would want to have a house that doesn't explode. Insist the source be found and remedied.
posted by meinvt at 8:16 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Listen to sanka and get it found. We had a persistent gas smell in our house since the day we moved in. Gas company came dozens of times and eventually told us they thought there was a leak out in the street. Only through the persistence of our tenants did a tech finally catch it, in a very uncomfortable and hard-to-reach corner of the house -- a joint where a 6' pipe was held on by 1 thread. They can find it. You're describing the barest minimum of a search. They have better tools and methods than what you've described, and some techs are better and more persistent than others. "Gee, I don't know" is not an acceptable resolution.
posted by range at 8:52 PM on February 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not sure how old the house is, but ( many) years ago the some gas heaters did not have a valve that shut the gas off if the pilot went out. Could one (or both) of the pilot light safety valve(s) be defective in the two appliances they checked? They should be replaced every so often as a precautionary measure. Maybe it needs replacing.

Also is there a gas dryer perhaps in the house? Sometimes these are overlooked. But you did said the smell was strong and the gas company guy should have at the very least smelled it along with you and the landlord. Its ( the leak) not outside the house by the meter is it? I agree with most others that its not safe.
posted by Taurid at 9:23 PM on February 2, 2010

Don't move in. If the landlord doesn't take THIS seriously, he/she is never going to fix anything else, ever.

Also. Several years ago, I was a block away when an apartment building blew up due to a gas leak. You do not want to take that chance.
posted by desjardins at 9:32 PM on February 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

Even if the smell somehow magically does not mean an explodey gas leak, the smell will give you headaches and make your food taste bad. Not livable.
posted by Billegible at 10:30 PM on February 2, 2010

Are you sure it's natural gas and not a dry sewer trap or dead animal or something?

The testing meters I've seen are quite sensitive, blipping and beeping at leaks that were not detectable by smell.

For a gas leak to be dangerous, the smell would be stiflingly bad. But, the leak could get worse.
posted by gjc at 5:06 AM on February 3, 2010

No, even a very faint smell can be a danger sign. I only got a faint hint by chance one day when I was kneeling on the floor near an appliance. I had to keep checking to make sure it was real.

Turned out that there were two large leaks in the house, one under my mother's bedroom and the other under mine.
posted by tel3path at 5:15 AM on February 3, 2010

Call the fire department. They have less motivation to fail to find a leak than the gas company, and more exposure to what happens when a leak gets missed. When we had a similar experience, they were very helpful.
posted by contrarian at 1:13 PM on February 3, 2010