What to Do if You Smell Gas in a San Diego County Home

What should you do in the first few minutes?

1. Leave now. Gather people and pets and walk out. Do not stop to open windows, look for the source or grab belongings.
2. Avoid anything that could spark. SDG&E says not to smoke or light a match, candle or other flame, and not to turn lights or electric appliances on or off, run machinery or use any device that could cause a spark. That includes doorbells, garage door openers and starting a car in an attached garage.
3. Call from a safe distance. Once you are well away from the building, call 911 and SDG&E. SDG&E's gas safety page lists 1-800-611-7343.
4. Keep others back. Wait outside and keep neighbors and children away from the house.
5. Do not go back in until firefighters or SDG&E tell you it is safe.

SDG&E also warns against trying to stop the leak or repair a pipe or meter yourself, and notes that gas leaking from a plastic pipe can create static electricity that can ignite it. When the odor is strong, you hear hissing, or someone feels dizzy or sick, leaving is the whole plan. Figuring out the cause comes later.

Who do you call in San Diego County?

SDG&E delivers natural gas across San Diego County, and its leak instructions apply to every customer. Not every home is on its gas system, though.

Some homes in rural and backcountry parts of the county are not on a gas main and run on propane or electricity. Look at your bill now, before there is a problem, and save the right emergency number in your phone. Renters should know whether the landlord or the tenant holds the gas account.

How else can you tell gas is leaking?

Natural gas has no smell of its own; SDG&E adds a distinctive odorant so people notice leaks. The utility points out that you may not always smell it, for example if you have a cold or allergies, other odors mask it, or soil and pipe conditions weaken the scent. So it also tells customers to watch and listen for:

• Hissing, whistling or roaring near an appliance, the gas meter or a pipeline
• Dirt, water or debris blowing into the air
• Dead or dying plants, or a dry patch of grass, over or near a buried line when everything around it is healthy
• A damaged connection to a gas appliance
• An exposed pipeline after an earthquake, fire, flood or other disaster

Any one of these is reason enough to leave and call.

What about gas after an earthquake?

San Diego County homeowners should plan for shaking as well as everyday leaks. SDG&E lists an exposed pipeline after an earthquake, fire, flood or other disaster as a warning sign. After a quake, check on people first, then use your nose and ears. If you smell gas or hear hissing, follow the same steps above: get out, then call 911 and SDG&E from a safe distance. If nothing seems wrong, there is no reason to start working on the meter; SDG&E's advice is to leave pipes and meters to its crews. Once things settle, look at the water heater, range and dryer connections and any outdoor piping for anything bent, pulled loose or cracked, and have a qualified plumber check anything that looks off before you rely on it.

What should you tell the dispatcher?

• Your address and the nearest cross street
• Whether everyone is out of the building
• What you noticed: smell, hissing, dead plants, damage or symptoms
• Whether the home has natural gas, a propane tank or both

What else could the smell be?

Some odors get mistaken for gas. A sewer smell from a floor drain or an unused shower can come from a trap that has dried out, and a sulfur odor that shows up only from hot water taps can point to the water heater rather than a leak. Those are real plumbing issues, but they are not emergencies. The rule is simple, though: if you are not sure, treat it as gas, get out and call. Utility crews would much rather check a false alarm than miss a leak.

Carbon monoxide is a separate danger. It has no odor at all and comes from appliances that burn fuel poorly, such as a water heater, furnace or range with a venting problem. Headaches, nausea or drowsiness that ease when you leave the house are a warning sign. Working CO alarms are the only reliable way to detect it.

What happens after SDG&E arrives?

Responders check gas levels, find the source and make the situation safe, which may mean shutting off gas at the meter or to a single appliance. If the leak is on the utility's side, SDG&E handles it. If it is in your house piping or at an appliance, the gas may stay off to that line until it has been repaired.

That repair is where a plumber comes in. Gas piping past the meter, including the lines that run to your appliances and any buried yard lines, belongs to the customer. SDG&E says it does not mark customer-owned gas lines and that owners need a qualified professional to locate and maintain them. A plumber who handles gas piping repairs in San Diego can find the leak, replace the damaged section or connector, and pressure test the system before service is restored.

In the City of San Diego, altering or replacing gas piping falls under the Development Services Department's Plumbing/Gas Permit, and other cities and the County issue their own. Ask whoever does the work which permit applies and whether an inspection is required before the gas is turned back on.

Which repairs usually follow a gas leak?

• Replacing a cracked or worn flexible connector behind a range or dryer
• Fixing a leaking fitting or valve at the water heater; see water heater repair in San Diego
• Replacing an old tank when the gas valve or burner assembly is the problem, covered under water heater replacement
• Rerouting or upsizing piping when adding a tankless water heater, which needs more gas than a typical tank
• Replacing corroded outdoor piping; salt air near the coast in places like Coronado is hard on exposed metal
• Locating and repairing buried lines to a pool heater, fire pit or outdoor kitchen

Homeowners outside the city can find help with gas line repair in Chula Vista or gas piping work in Ramona.

How do you lower the odds of a leak?

• Know where your gas meter and appliance shutoff valves are, but leave meter shutoff to SDG&E or responders during a leak
• Look over exposed outdoor piping now and then for rust, flaking or damage
• Replace old flexible appliance connectors when you replace the appliance
• Call DigAlert at 811 at least two working days before digging; SDG&E says the service is free and marks utility-owned lines, while customer-owned lines need a private locator
• Have fuel-burning appliances checked if pilots keep going out or flames burn yellow and lazy
• Consider a whole-house plumbing inspection when buying an older home

Is a gas smell a plumbing emergency?

The first call is always 911 and the gas utility, not a plumber. Once responders have cleared the house and shut off the affected line, the repair is urgent but usually not an after-midnight job, especially if only one appliance is off. The guide on whether to call for emergency service or wait walks through that decision, and emergency plumbing in San Diego covers what to expect if you need help right away. For other first-response situations, read the first 10 minutes after a burst pipe.