Gas smell in kitchen

[McMurphy_RP]

I've been living in a small furnished apartment since January. The landlords' house is attached. As far as I know, this is their only rental apartment and I am their only tenant.

There is a mild but constant smell of gas coming from the kitchen. Predictably, it seems to be emanating from the cabinet beneath the stove, where the gas connection is. The connection feels tight to me, but obviously there's a slow leak someplace. I don't know much about this stuff.

In Mexico, is this kind of thing considered the responsibility of the landlord or the tenant? (I imagine that, as with many things in Mexico, it's a grey area. I guess what I'm really asking is whether I'd be out of line to ask the landlord to have it looked at.)

Thanks.

[doncoulter]

"In Mexico, is this kind of thing considered the responsibility of the landlord or the tenant?" Good question! The answer is: No one knows.

What I'd do first of all is see if I can find the leak. This is usually easy. Dilute a couple of drops of dish detergent in water. Then with a paintbrush or something similar, apply the soapy water to any exposed gas tubing, especially around the connection points. If you see the soap start to bubble, you've found your leak.

Now tell your landlord that you've got a "fuga de gas," and if possible show him the bubbling evidence. If he seems disinclined to spring into action, call a plumber. You can also call one of the local gas suppliers (Gas Express Nieto's 24-hour leak line is 473-731-8582). They should fix the problem for the cost of any needed materials plus a small tip.

Don

[cam00]

There shouldn't be any problem to ask the landlord to check what's going on. Who fixes what depends on who is the landlord, and how much rent is paid, and other factors. It may or may not be spelled out in a contract, but for sure, you can ask the landlord to check, and he can take the ball at that point, or not.
Regarding the soap solution, it needs very little liquid soap to little water to check for leaks when the solution bubbles. If you have 2 adjustable wrenches, you could tighten the connection yourself. You may or may not need some teflon tape, depending on whether tightening the connection corrected the leak or not. Those are the typical leak problems. More rarely, cracked or damaged hoses or clamps that aren't tight enough will cause leaking gas.

The guy that delivers your gas can fix those problems, as well as a plumber. They are very cheap to fix, taking less than a minute of time and maybe a very small amount of teflon tape (10 pesos for a whole roll of it ). A hose that leaks because cracked, can have the cracked part cut off, and the rest of the hose will probably be fine, and then, re-clamp it to the gas fitting.

[pianoheat]

It could also be the gas tank itself especially if the tank is nearby. We were smelling gas and at first thought it was a connection, then a faulty regulator. In the end the tank itself was leaking and Vincente our gas guy just brought us a new one no charge

[McMurphy_RP]

Many thanks for the replies. I mentioned it to the landlord, and he got somebody here to look at it right away. Hopefully lots of teflon tape and tightened connections have done the trick.

[raquelita]

UG students have died in lodgings with gas leaks. Definitely tell your landlord/lady it's dangerous. If you have to ante up, do it or move.

You can call the gas provider to find out who can make the repair. Don't know if it would be the person who delivers the gas or someone else.

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Glad everything worked out. I got so alarmed by your post I didn't check for earlier replies.

[cam00]

While propane or butane are not gases that the human body uses, they are not dangerous or poisonous, unless in unusually high concentrations. A small leak that you can smell is not dangerous, only a waste of gas and annoying. Very dangerous, highly toxic and even deadly in certain lower concentrations, is carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas that is taken up by the blood much more rapidly than oxygen, which it quickly displaces . When you see a flame in your oven, stove burner or hot water boiler that displays a lot of yellow color, that means the fuel is NOT burning cleanly, which produces high quantities of carbon monoxide. In a closed area, this can be very deadly, and is probably what raquelita was referring to, not small propane or butane leaks. On the other hand, leaking propane or butane gaz in sufficiently high quantities, caused by a BROKEN HOSE or broken GAZ CONNECTION, if ignited in any way, can cause a massive EXPLOSION, which also would probably be deadly.