Can You Smell It?

Well, I could smell it.

Ron and I had just carried the laundry down to the basement so I could start the washing. I smelled gas. Not very strong, but I could definitely smell it. So could Ron. He immediately started looking for leaks at all of the connection sites. Nothing.

I called Columbia Gas. The woman on the phone had me scared to death by the time I hung up with all of the warnings and "advice" she gave to me. The hell with all of the rest of her warnings; Ron and I just evacuated knowing that Columbia Gas was on the way. We waited on the front porch for the cavalry to arrive. (Before anyone thinks we left Phil to go down with the house, he wasn't home!)

Our technician showed up quickly and the lines downstairs were tested with a sniffer, and he couldn't detect any gas leak. Then the fun began. A test of the pressure did find that there was a leak somewhere in the house as the pressure dropped after a three minute test. Not good. After much up and down the basement stairs for Ron and our technician, we ended up with three red flags. THREE.

The first was because we have a flex hose going from the gas line in the basement up through the floor to the gas stove in the kitchen. I guess it has to be a hard line, not a flex hose. Ok, that wasn't our original problem, but since he was here, he had to write it up.

Second was a problem with the furnace. If there is a problem, there is a gadget on all appliances that should automatically shut them down so the flow of gas stops and doesn't fill up the house. That gadget is broken on the furnace, so it is allowing gas to leak out. Not good. This needs to be fixed immediately. We have a call in to a furnace guy. The technician wouldn't even hook the furnace back up until this is repaired, so let's hope that it doesn't get too cold until I can get this fixed. The good news/bad news is that it's a part that can be replaced for a couple of hundred bucks. Big yuck on that part. But at least it doesn't warrant a whole new furnace.

Last red tag issue was our water heater. I blogged recently that while doing laundry one other day, we heard a scratching from something that had gotten into the exhaust vent. Well, whatever was in there ended up blocking the vent, thus allowing carbon monoxide into the basement. I guess when it rains it pours. The gas company wouldn't hook up the water heater either. At least Ron was able to fix this problem and remove the poor dead bird. Luckily, I didn't have to look at this part. Poor Ron did go above and beyond the call of duty on this one. Ugh. At least now we have hot water.

I should have just held my breath and ignored the smell. Or else not thought about being productive and doing laundry. Oh the joys of being a home owner.