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I'm renting a room at my friend's home. We smell gas when the water heater runs.

We smell gas outside, near the exhaust but not at the tank or the pipes entering the building. Inside, we can't smell it in the basement where the pipes and water heater are positioned but we can smell it in the bathroom and guest room directly above the water heater.

The tank outside feeds the water heater and the furnace. With the tank valve open and the water heater valve closed we ran the furnace with its valve open, and there was no smell. It really seems to be leaking from the water heater. To be safe I closed all 3 gas valves until I get it fixed.

I was quoted $500 so that's why I'm here. I have absolutely no plumbing experience at all whatsoever but I don't want either of us to have to pay that much for a repair.

Anybody have tips on what all could be going wrong here? It's just pipes, it can't be that complicated, right?

Rhyknowscerious
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    First of all, if it's not your home then the owner (your friend) is responsible for repair costs. Second, if there's a leak, as seems highly likely here, this is a serious safety risk and you should call the local utility or the provider of the propane. – Carl Witthoft Jun 17 '22 at 13:24
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    What type of water heater is it? Tank? On demand? In either case, if you only smell it when the WH is running, it's a sign of incomplete combustion. The vent pipe might be partially blocked by critters (bird nest, etc.) if an on demand WH, it may need maintenance. Be sure to get a tech that has a CO2 meter and knows how to test for complete combustion and knows how to adjust it if it's off. – George Anderson Jun 17 '22 at 13:32
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    One more important thought: If you can smell it in the house only when the WH is running, you have exhaust gasses entering the home...they contain CO (carbon monoxide) which can kill you. – George Anderson Jun 17 '22 at 13:35
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    If you want to do more self-diagnosis (I definitely do *not* recommend self-**repair** on gas without more skills (skills I don't have myself)), get a [sniffer](https://amzn.to/3bclSqp) If you can narrow it down to one specific valve or joint **and** the installation is otherwise code-compliant (because a licensed gasfitter may insist on bringing things up to code so they don't get in trouble themselves) then the repair will likely cost a lot less. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Jun 17 '22 at 13:50
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    Search youtube for exploding house, then see if $500 is worth it. – crip659 Jun 17 '22 at 13:55
  • If you do get a sniffer, make sure it's intrinsically safe. Propane is explosive between 2.1 - 9.5% volume in air. I would suggest isolating the supply, and getting an expert in before you re-connect the supply. – spikey_richie Jun 17 '22 at 14:39
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    Do you mean he "sulfur" smell ( mercaptans) of raw gas or do you mean an" exhaust" smell of partially burned gas ? – blacksmith37 Jun 17 '22 at 14:57
  • I had an issue where the gases were coming back in the roof soffit into the house, and if windows are open it can come back in that way. Extend the vent pipe a foot or two away from the building and see if that helps with the smell. – rtaft Jun 17 '22 at 14:59
  • Turns out it was simply a dirty water heater. Really, really dirty. Cleaned it up and everything was normal. No gas smell. No alerts on the gas detector either. Glad we didn't spend $500+ for somebody to come rip us off like we were quoted. – Rhyknowscerious Jul 01 '22 at 07:06

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