The signs are a rotten egg or sulfur smell, hissing near a gas line or connection, an unexplained gas bill increase, appliances that will not stay lit, and dead vegetation in a line over a buried line. If you smell gas right now, leave the building and call from outside.
If You Smell Gas — Do This First
Get everyone and any pets outside. Do not touch light switches, appliances, thermostats, or garage door openers. Do not use your phone inside. Call New Mexico Gas Company or 911 from outside, then call us. Do not go back in until the utility clears it.
The Warning Signs
- Rotten egg or sulfur odor. Natural gas is odorless — that smell is an additive put there specifically so leaks are detectable.
- Hissing or whistling near a line, connection, appliance, or the meter.
- An unexplained gas bill increase with no change in usage. Often the first evidence of a slow leak.
- Pilot lights that will not stay lit, or appliances that repeatedly fail to ignite.
- Yellow or flickering burner flame instead of steady blue — a sign of incomplete combustion and possible carbon monoxide.
- Soot or scorching around an appliance or its vent.
- Dead or dying vegetation in a line across the yard, above a buried gas line, with no other explanation.
- Bubbles in standing water over a buried line after rain.
- Physical symptoms — headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue — that improve when you leave the house.
Carbon Monoxide Is the Silent Version
You can smell a gas leak. You cannot smell carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion or a blocked flue, and its symptoms mimic the flu. Working CO detectors on every level are essential in any home with gas appliances.
What Causes Gas Line Problems Here
Corrosion on older steel lines, ground movement stressing buried lines, damage from excavation or landscaping, deteriorated appliance connectors, and improper past modifications — a common finding in homes with a history of DIY work.
What We Do
Electronic detection, pressure testing of the full system, and repair. We test the whole line rather than just the spot you noticed, because a system with one bad connection usually has others of the same age.
