Why does our cooking gas smell?

[cqueen]

Yesturday I was cooking dinner with dad and there was a strange fume smell, we put it down to doing painting in the garage (which is underneath the kitchen) and ignored it. So this evening we grabbed stuff to cook, kitchen smells normal, then I start cooking and the fumes appear again. I sniffed near the hob and its definatly coming from the (burnt) gas. It smells like camping gas.
Is this dangerous? why is it doing this?
Thanks,
Chris.

[binge]

Methane gas has an additive in it which makes it smell. So you know when there is a gas leak.
If you can smell gas when your hobs are off, Then you have a leak somewhere. Might be a good idea to call British gas and get them to check out the situation.


We had a gas leak a long time back, Kept getting head aches and feeling like we were on drugs whenever we were in the kitchen for long periods of time. Turned out we had a kaput Hob and it was leaking slightly.


<|Ben|>

[cqueen]

Yeah gas has an additive to make it smell, but there is no leak, when the taps are off they are off. It's when we're using it to cook it's giving off a strange smell.

[Jull]

I had a similar thing happen to me, called out the repair bloke who found no leak, turns out I'd bought an own brand version of Dettox, and when the hob got warm and was cooling down, that what what the smell was.

Went back to using Dettox when wiping over the hob and haven't had the smell since.

[cqueen]

Ah so it could be cleaning product?

[Jull]

Might be, give it a good wipe over just with hot water a few times, see if it makes any difference

[Walloper]

Natural Gas from the ground Oil/Gas Well stuff comes out the hole with the smell in it.
The smell is from H2S Hydrogendisulphide. (Smells of rotten eggs/Guinness farts.)
This gas is so toxic it can drop you stone dead seconds after breathing it in a small concentration.
Oil and Gas field industries are strictly regulated to control exposure to this stuff by sensitive gas monitors at areas where people work.
Interestingly the stuff we burn at home Methane, produced by the animals which made the oil, has no odour. This make it's use risky in domestic application as leaks can't be readily detected.
To make it detectably by humans an odour is added.
This is a small quantity of the toxic H2S.
So a killer gas becomes a lifesaving gas.


In other words:
YOU HAVE A GAS LEAK...
Open all your windows
Do not touch any electric switches.
Leave your house.

Phone the Gas emergency No.

Operator SMELL GAS!

Do not ask the web ask the gas board.
____________________
W-ireless A-rtificial L-ifeform L-imited to O-bservation P-eacekeeping and E-fficient R-epair

[stinkwheel]

It's not hydrogen sulphide at all. Natural gas is almost completely odourless.

It's a chemical called mercaptan (ethanethiol) which is the most foul smelling substance known to man and what skunks use in their scent. It's added to the gas lines in a minute quantity. They do this so you can smell a gas leak. So, you might have a gas leak.

The gas board sometimes up the inclusion rate of this chemical so they can more easily detect any 'hidden' gas leaks, like when they put in a new gas main. This can lead to the smell persisting after being burned.

Best to check though, a gas explosion can take the roof clean off your house.

Mercaptan is included at something like 3 parts per million in household gas. I heard a story once of a guy who dropped a carboy of the stuff in a workshop. No one could go back in there for a period of several weeks despite it having been repeatedly hosed down by guys in breathing apparatus.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Vin]

[SoND]

[cqueen]

The flame looks normal, there isnt a leak, the smell only occurs when the gas is being burnt, its not the 'gas leak' smell either it's something else.

[stinkwheel]

There's a dead rat down the back of your cooker?
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[cqueen]

Haha no, it's a fume smell not a rotting flesh smell. I rekon it's cleaner stuff on the hob which hasnt been washed off properly.