Natural gas can be a safe, cost-effective way to meet your household’s energy demands when used properly and safely.

However, if a gas leak occurs in or around your home, your family can be in sudden danger. Natural gas is extremely flammable and when released, the tiniest spark can ignite the gas, causing catastrophic damage.

It is also important to know that leaking gas can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning and you should have functioning carbon monoxide detectors installed in your home before you move in.

Thankfully, many common causes of gas leaks are easy to detect and occur slowly, allowing you time to safely evacuate if you notice one of the telltale signs.

Common Causes of Gas Leaks

Depending on the age of your home, where you live and the types of appliances in your home, a gas leak could occur just about anywhere inside or out.

Generally, gas leaks occur when there’s a poor connection between gas lines and appliances, someone accidentally punctures or breaks a gas line, or the gas supply to a stovetop or fireplace has been accidentally turned on, but not ignited.

Gas leaks can also surface during construction projects. This normally happens when someone accidentally ruptures a gas line while digging outside or completing interior demolition work. If you’re getting ready to begin a home construction project, make sure you know where your gas lines are located before you begin digging or demolishing.

How to Tell If You Have a Gas Leak

While gas leaks can be dangerous and deadly, they are easily detectable – if you know where to smell, listen and look.

1. You can smell rotten eggs or sulfur inside of your home.

Natural gas is an odorless, colorless gas. To help people recognize a gas leak before an incident occurs, gas companies add a highly recognizable rotten egg or sulfur scent to the gas so it can be easily identified. Typically, the stronger the smell, the more dangerous the leak.

2. You feel nauseous, dizzy or have a headache.

A prolonged, slow gas leak can create a toxic environment, causing dull headaches, dizziness and nausea.

Even if you don’t notice the typical gas smell, you may notice these physical symptoms when a gas leak is present. If you notice these ailments coupled with any other signs on this list, a slow interior or exterior gas leak may be to blame.

3. You hear a hissing sound.

Depending on the age of your home and where you live, you could have steel, copper or brass gas lines.

When a metal pipe is ruptured and the gas begins to dissipate, you will hear a hissing sound as the gas exits through the broken pipe. With a ruptured gas line, you will also typically notice the smell of sulfur mentioned above.

4. You receive a high gas bill.

There’s nothing more surprising or painful on your wallet than receiving a huge gas bill.

With a gas leak, your bill can quickly skyrocket when there’s a continuous flow of gas running through your meter. Be sure to consider seasonal changes in weather and your usage when reviewing your gas bill. If you have questions about your bill you can contact your gas company.

5. Your furnace has orange or yellow flames.

When natural gas leaks out, other gasses can leak in. Clean burning natural gas should produce bright blue flames when ignited by a furnace or stove. If you notice orange or yellow flames instead of blue ones, you may have a gas leak.

6. Your houseplants die unexpectedly.

Similar to how gas leaks can create a toxic environment for people, it can wreak havoc on your houseplants too. Rapidly browning or dying houseplants can be an indicator that you have an undetected gas leak in your home.

What Should You Do If You Suspect You Have a Gas Leak?

If you suspect that you have a strong gas leak, you should leave the premises immediately and call the 24-hour emergency number for your utility provider or your local emergency response. It’s important that you avoid making any sparks while exiting your home.

• Do not light a match or lighter
• Do not turn on any appliances or light switches
• Do not open your garage door
• Do not open or close any windows
• Do not make any phone calls until you have safely exited your home

Questions About Natural Gas Appliances or Service?

Althoff Industries can assist with your natural gas plumbing and appliance needs, including furnace, water heater, boiler and help you choose a service plan and maintenance schedule so points of vulnerability can be detected and repaired before bigger problems occur.

Contact our experts today at 815-455-7000 and let us take you from problem to solution.

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When the temperature starts to plummet, you want to be able to get comfortable and cozy in your own home. There are few things more uncomfortable than waking up in the middle of the night in winter and shivering because your furnace isn’t working.

Depending on how cold it gets, you could be at risk for burst pipes or even put your family’s safety at risk.

Is your furnace on the fritz? If so, there are some basic troubleshooting tips that most homeowners with a little bit of DIY know-how can accomplish.

1. Follow Furnace Troubleshooting Safety Tips

Before you roll up your sleeves and start troubleshooting, you need to take a few safety precautions.

First, turn off your thermostat. You don’t want your furnace to accidentally ignite while you’re working on it.

Then, turn off the power supply to your furnace at the breaker box. Anytime you’re performing work on a device that requires electricity, you should turn off the power to the device. You don’t want to accidentally shock yourself.

While performing these safety checks, you may notice that your thermostat was turned off all along or that the battery was dead. The circuit breaker also could have been tripped and just needs a simple reset.

2. Check the Furnace’s Power Switch

If the circuit breaker is functioning correctly, inspect the on/off switch for the furnace. This switch looks like a typical light switch and is usually located directly above the furnace or on a nearby wall.

Oftentimes, people mistake furnace switches for light switches and turn them off.

3. Inspect the Furnace Filter

Most manufacturers recommend replacing your furnace filter once a month. While some filters claim to be long-lasting, you should still inspect the filter monthly to ensure that excess build-up isn’t suffocating your furnace. Here is some information on cleaning the filter if you choose to go that route.

It is important to note that regular filter inspections are even more essential if you have pets or if the air is dusty.

If your furnace can’t receive adequate airflow, it may turn off automatically to prevent excessive damage.

4. Find and Inspect the Gas Valve

Your furnace will have a difficult time heating your home if it doesn’t have any fuel to ignite it.

Have you had a service appointment for another appliance like a water heater or clothes dryer lately? The gas valve that supplies fuel to your furnace may have been closed in the process.

Locate the gas valve to your furnace and check that it’s in the open position.

5. Check the Vents Around Your Home

To work effectively, your furnace needs to have a healthy intake and output of air.

People try to save on their gas or electric bill by closing the air vents in unused rooms. However, your modern furnace is specifically sized and calibrated to put out a certain amount of air and if too many vents are closed, you could be suffocating your furnace, causing it to overwork and shut down.

6. Inspect the Condensation Pan and Drainpipe

Your furnace has a condensation pan and drainpipe that remove any water build up inside of the unit.

The drainpipe can become clogged with debris, preventing your furnace from draining properly. As a result, your furnace will shut off automatically if there is too much water built up in the condensation pan.

7. Look at the Furnace’s Flame

Your furnace should have a small window that allows you to view the ignition area and flame. The flame should be a healthy, bright blue color.

If the flame is any other color, or if you don’t see a flame at all, it’s time to contact an expert. There may be a more advanced issue going on in your furnace that requires professional diagnosis.

Are You Still Having Trouble Getting Your Furnace to Turn on Automatically?

No one likes freezing in their own home. The residential heating experts at Althoff Industries can help get your furnace up and running in no time. If you’re located in the greater Chicago area, contact Althoff’s 24/7 emergency service team at 800-225-2443 to have your furnace quickly and safely restored.

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Are you questioning the best way to heat your home? Heat pumps have been a hot topic of discussion lately for their environmental friendliness. While they’re a popular heat source in the southern U.S., can they handle the notoriously brutal Chicago winters like a standard gas furnace?

When it comes down to it, both heat pumps and furnaces will keep your house warm. The real question is, which heat source will better suit your individual needs? Generally, choosing between a heat pump and a furnace comes down to your type of home, your comfort level, your access to fuel, and your personal preferences.

What Is a Heat Pump?

When weighing your options between a heat pump and a furnace, understanding how heat pumps work will aid your decision-making process. Many Chicagoans are familiar with how furnaces work—a gas burner heats air flowing through the system and pushes the air through your house’s ductwork. Furnaces depend on a fuel source such as gas or propane to heat the air moving through the system.

On the other hand, heat pumps work similarly to air conditioners, but in reverse—they draw in heat from the air, water, or ground outside of your home and concentrate it to redistribute the warmth throughout your home. There are three common types of heat pumps:

• Air-to-air. Transfers heat between the outside air and your house using air ducts.
• Mini-split. Works similarly to an air-to-air system but doesn’t require ductwork.

When Choosing Between a Heat Pump and a Furnace, Consider Your Individual Needs

Even in the coldest conditions, there’s a relative amount of warmth that heat pumps can extract from the air. With modern technology, both types of heating systems can do an adequate job keeping your home warm, even in the most frigid conditions. To help make heat pumps more accessible to homeowners in the northern U.S., some heat pumps are equipped with a supplemental electric heating element. In the end, it comes down to the benefits you personally want to get from your home’s heating system.

Environmental Impact

With a gas-powered furnace, your dependence on fossil fuels leaves behind a pretty large environmental footprint. Heat pumps can heat your home without depending on fossil fuels to provide heat. Even dual-source systems that use electricity as a heat source when the temperature is too cold to adequately heat your home, your environmental impact is considerably smaller than employing a heat source that’s fully powered by electricity.

Cost

If you’re looking to save money in the long run, consider the price of electricity versus gas in your area. If electricity is more expensive per unit than gas, a heat pump will generally cost more than a gas furnace and vice versa. Additionally, gas furnaces tend to have longer lifespans and cheaper maintenance costs than heat pumps.

Access to a Fuel Source

If you’re building a new home in a rural area, you may not have easy access to a natural gas utility, or you may want to save some additional money by avoiding the service altogether. Since heat pumps use the environment around you to extract heat, you can install them just about anywhere.

Insulation

Do you live in an older home with poor insulation or a new home with the top-of-the-line stuff? How your home is insulated can greatly affect how a heat pump functions in your home. A gas furnace can power through just about anything. If your house is drafty with old windows and insulation, a heat pump could struggle to adequately maintain higher temperatures.

Choose the System That Works for You

When it comes down to the nuts and bolts, both gas furnaces and heat pumps will be able to heat your home no matter where you live. The final decision comes down to your personal preferences and what you plan to gain from your home’s heating system.

The heating experts at Althoff Industries can help you weigh the pros and cons of both systems and help you determine the type of system that will work best for your home. Contact us today to schedule your home heating consultation.

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With winter fast approaching, it won’t be long until the cold weather and low temperatures are here to stay. With this in mind, it’s important to ensure your home is fully winterized. To keep your home running and reduce the amount you have to spend on repairs when the snow hits and the wind chill drops, take a look at our fall homeowner checklist.

1. Clean Your Gutters

Increasing precipitation will put your gutters to the test, so make sure they’re not clogged up with leaves and debris. If gutters remain clogged it can cause water to overflow and fall along the foundation of the building. Also, if the foundation is wet and then freezes, this can cause significant heaving and cracks.

2. Check Your Driveway

Even minor cracks in your driveway can cause major problems for your home. When water seeps into the driveway, it will gradually become uneven and less stable. If you don’t address the issue, this water could move to the foundation of your home and require costly repairs. With a little maintenance, you can prevent the need for these repairs and save yourself from some major headaches in the future.

3. Add Weather-Stripping to Your Home

If your home is full of drafts, you’ll find your energy bills during the winter will skyrocket. Weather-stripping is a quick and easy way to tackle drafts, and it’s something you can do yourself. Check every door and window for drafts and, if you find any, add weather-stripping tape to the affected area. This will prevent cold air from entering the property and minimize the amount of heat which escapes. As a result, you’ll be able to keep your home warm and cozy without spending a fortune on energy bills.

4. Make Sure All Exterior Wood Trim Is Properly Sealed

The wood trim around your exterior doors and windows is just a one-inch-thick pine board that can rot very quickly if not protected.

It’s important to keep exterior wood from rotting by keeping it properly painted and caulked. This is a prevention job most people can do themselves. Once the wood rots, however, you will likely have to call in a carpentry expert to replace the damaged areas. This could potentially cost you a lot of money.

5. Prep Your Lawn

First, make sure the soil around your foundation hasn’t settled. This can create areas for water to pool at your foundation. If you find a spot that seems as if it could cause pooling, simply fill it in with some soil.

Secondly, the cold temperatures will impact the grass but adding fertilizer can prevent this from happening. With dedicated grass protection products also available, you can ensure your lawn remains green throughout the winter months.

6. Arrange Boiler or Furnace Maintenance

You absolutely do not want to be without heat in the wintertime, so have an expert come out and check that everything is ready to go before things get really chilly. Faulty furnaces or boilers can be dangerous, so having yours checked will provide peace of mind and pretty much eliminate any risks.

When your boiler or furnace is working optimally and your air filter is changed or cleaned, you’ll spend far less on your energy bills, have better air quality and have complete control over your heating and AC systems.

7. Bring Outdoor Furniture Inside

Although outdoor furniture is designed to withstand some rain and extremely warm temperatures, this doesn’t necessarily mean it does well in sub-zero temperatures and snowstorms. Bring your outdoor furniture inside and make sure it’s stored at an appropriate temperature until you’ll be using it again. If you really don’t have the space to keep it indoors, you can try to use a waterproof furniture cover to prevent most of the damage.

8. Test Winter-Specific Equipment

If you own equipment or tools which you only use in the winter, you’ll want to check that it’s still working. There’s no use finding out your snow blower or snow plow doesn’t work in the depths of winter, so take the time to try it out now. Also, get the necessary maintenance work and repairs done on your equipment now, so you know it will be working when you actually need to use it.

9. Shut Off Exterior Faucets

If you leave exterior faucets open throughout the winter, there’s a good chance your pipes will freeze – which is a real headache. To prevent this from happening, remove any accessories, such as hoses, and shut off the exterior faucets completely. Rectifying freezing pipes can be time-consuming but shutting off the faucets doesn’t take long and will keep your pipework in excellent working condition.

10. Have Your Humidifier Serviced

Too little humidity is very common in the winter once the heat gets turned on, drying out the air and sometimes resulting in chapped lips, bloody noses and breathing issues. You don’t want too little humidity but you also don’t want too much humidity in your home.

A warm, functional whole-home humidifier can help easily keep all of the rooms in your house comfortable. You will need to make sure you change your humidifier pad/filter and that there are no leaks. If you do have a whole-home humidifier, you should definitely consider having a team of professionals come in to ensure that your system is in perfect working condition.

Keep Your Home Cozy and Warm This Winter

The experts at Althoff Industries can help you make sure that your home’s heating system is running perfectly before the weather hits the single digits. Don’t get stuck out in the cold! Give us a call at 815-900-5002, and schedule your winter maintenance appointment today.

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