If You Smell Gas, Act First — Read This
If you smell gas (a rotten-egg or sulphur odour) near your water heater, treat it as an emergency before anything else. Do not flip light switches, do not unplug or plug in anything, do not use your phone inside, and do not operate the gas valve or any electrical device — a single spark can ignite gas.
Leave the home immediately. Get everyone, including pets, outside and away from the building. Do not stop to investigate the leak or shut things off if doing so means staying near the smell.
From a safe location outside, call FortisBC's emergency line at 1-800-663-9911, or call 911. Then, once the gas situation is handled and the home is declared safe, call CanroHeat at 604-359-1081 for the water heater itself.
Why a Leak and a Gas Smell Can Go Together
A water leak and a gas smell occurring together is not always coincidence. Water from a leaking tank can pool around the gas burner assembly and control valve at the base of a gas water heater. That moisture can interfere with combustion, corrode gas components, or disrupt the venting that safely carries exhaust away.
Incomplete combustion or a venting problem can also produce carbon monoxide — an odourless, colourless gas that is separate from the rotten-egg smell of natural gas but equally dangerous. This is why a leaking gas water heater is never just a plumbing issue. The combination of water and gas around live combustion components is exactly the scenario where you stop, leave, and call the professionals.
The Difference Between Natural Gas and Carbon Monoxide
Natural gas is given a deliberate rotten-egg odour (added mercaptan) so you can smell a leak. If you smell it, follow the steps above: leave, call FortisBC 1-800-663-9911 or 911, then us.
Carbon monoxide (CO) has no smell, no colour, and no taste. Symptoms of CO exposure include headache, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and confusion — often affecting several people in the home at once and easing when you go outside. If you suspect CO, leave the home and call 911.
Every Greater Vancouver home with gas appliances should have working CO detectors. If yours alarms, treat it as real: get out and call for help. Do not re-enter until emergency services or the gas utility confirm it is safe.
Place CO alarms on each level of the home and near sleeping areas, and test them on a regular schedule — most units have a finite lifespan of several years and should be replaced when they reach end of life. Because a leaking gas water heater can quietly compromise its own venting, a working alarm is the backstop that protects you from the hazard you cannot smell. It is an inexpensive safeguard against a genuinely dangerous failure mode.
After the Home Is Declared Safe
Once FortisBC or emergency responders have made the home safe and cleared the gas hazard, the water heater still needs proper repair or replacement before it goes back into service. A unit that leaked onto its burner and venting should be thoroughly inspected — corroded gas valves, fouled burners, and compromised venting all need attention from a qualified technician.
Do not simply relight and carry on. The conditions that created the hazard may still be present. Tank and tankless water heaters are serviced by our parent company CanroHeat. We will inspect the unit, address what failed, confirm safe combustion and venting, and tell you whether repair or replacement is the right call. Call 604-359-1081 once your home is safe.