Keeping your home safe from a gas leak

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - While the cause of Saturday's house explosion on the south side of Indianapolis has not yet been determined, many locals are worried about a possible gas leak inside their homes. But there are some simple ways to make sure your gas furnace or appliances are safe.

Pay attention to your nose.

Natural gas has an ordorant added to it that is strong and unmistakable. Officials say to leave your house as soon as you smell it.

"As little as a spark with a light switch can ignite leaking gas," says Larry Howald. Fixing furnaces has been Howald's business for more than three decades.

Howald says all parts inside of a gas furnace have the potential to leak. He says it is, "very unlikely. And these sorts of things that we've run into in the past couple of days, that's extremely rare."

Instead, it's the pipe just outside the furnace that supplies gas to the unit that Howald says is most likely to leak. "And if you happen to walk into a room, that maybe there's a leak that is existing, any kind of static or spark at all will potentially set that off," he says.

Howald says not to use the light switch if you smell that sulfur-like odor that indicates a gas leak and not to use your cell phone. Both can cause static electricity or a spark. Simply get out of the house and call the gas company. Howald says, soapy water in a spray bottle is a simple way to check the pipes for even small leaks.

"You can spray all your gas lines real easily. Just spray all the fittings with the soap bubbles and then look at the fittings and if there's a leak it will start to bubble," he says.

Ironically, newer furnaces use spark to ignite the flame. And Howald says if there is a leak in a house where the homeowners aren't home, the furnace itself could cause the trouble.  "The furnace calls for heat and the spark ignites the burner and man, that's it," he says.

So Howald says to have your furnace checked once a year. The technician will look inside the unit and at all the fittings in the gas pipe leading into the furnace to make sure there are no leaks.

Howald emphasizes that what happened on the south side is rare. And he says natural gas furnaces are usually clean, efficient and safe.