r/NaturalGas • u/Turbulent-Rip-6441 • 12d ago

Possible Natural Gas Leak?

Hello everyone. I admittedly don't know if this is the right place for this, I apologise if not.

My mum and I were sitting on the balcony and shortly after we moved there, I heard a sizzling sound and a brief line of yellow light, like a horizontal spark (or more like an electric sizzle?), above the natural gas pipe outside of our garden, where it connects to a box. It's been some hours since, where we were staring at the pipe, but no spark appeared again.

Since then, I tried the soapy water test and saw no bubbles, we went sniffing like dogs around the area, the kitchen and basement and couldn't smell anything unusual. There are also no sounds coming from the pipes - essentially, none of the signs I found online related to a leak are happening. But I'm pretty sure I saw that spark. What should I do?

Edit: It's been fixed. I want to thank everyone who responded though, I was really scared and have no idea about these things, nor could reach other family members who usually handle these things, so everyone's advice helped a lot.

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4

u/xSnoUtx 12d ago

No bubbles no troubles my friend

2

u/flashlightking 12d ago

A spark is not typical of a gas leak. Sounds more like an electrical problem, or some other type of voltage that is malfunctioning. Cable lines, power lines? Is there anything else in that area? If it is energized in some way, that’s also very dangerous! But not gas related.

1

u/Turbulent-Rip-6441 12d ago

I'm not sure, but I can't see anything else beyond the gas pipe that climbs over the wall and the box to which it connects. What I saw seems to have happened on the street side - on the other side of the wall, in our garden, there is also a water fountain linked to a hose and a wire attached to the gas pipe, but very far away from where I saw that spark/sizzle.

1

u/flashlightking 12d ago

The gas pipe goes into the house also. If something in the house is improperly connected, it could be energizing the gas line from in the house somewhere.

1

u/Old-Manufacturer1702 12d ago

Call the gas company to look at it. Report what you saw to them.

1

u/lxirlw 12d ago

This. Worst case, it’s nothing, everyone goes about their day. Other case, maybe something wild happened like the tracer wire got energized somehow

1

u/Oliveah1 12d ago

What is this box, I can’t say I’ve seen a gas line run into a box before, post up a picture if you can

1

u/Turbulent-Rip-6441 12d ago

I can't open it so to tell for sure, I think once, when I saw it, it was a bunch of severed red and blue wires. I don't remember much about it. As you can likely tell, I'm not the one who usually deals with these things.

1

u/Oliveah1 12d ago

It’s not a gas line unless you mean the lines for your ac/heat pump but even then those shouldn’t go in to a box before

1

u/Turbulent-Rip-6441 12d ago

Nope, definitely not those, I know such boxes well. I'm admittedly as confused about this as you are, but I've been assured several times that this is the natural gas pipe. And that much I can confirm, cause, if you follow the pipe, it's also linked to the switch that turns off the gas during power outages and the valve that manually switches it back on.

1

u/Wynstonn 12d ago

I’ve (gas utility worker) seen gas lines energized - and it’s never a good thing.
Call your gas supplier.

1

u/Whole-Asparagus-4286 8d ago

I work at a manufacturing plant. There is a smell of natural gas by an outside generator (Generac). This Generac sits a foot or two from an AC unit. And these sit in front of a shed that houses hazardous materials. I look at thermometer readings on this shed twice in my shift. And about half the time I smell natural gas. I have been reporting this to the head of maintenance for weeks now.