Gas smell near the stove: exactly what to do in the first minute

Read this once now, so that if it happens you do not have to think. The order matters.

The first minute

• Do not touch any electrical switch — not the light, not the exhaust, not the chimney. Switching creates a spark.
• Do not light anything. No lighter, no match, no burner.
• Open the windows and the door. Wide.
• Turn the regulator knob on the cylinder to off. On PNG, close the valve at the meter.
• Leave the kitchen, and if the smell is strong, leave the house.
• Call from outside — a technician, or if the smell is strong and you cannot find the source, the gas emergency number for your supplier.

Why no switches

A light switch, a fan regulator, a phone charger going in — each can make a small spark. In air with enough gas in it, that is all it takes. This is the single most important rule and the one most often broken by instinct: people walk in, smell gas, and reach for the exhaust fan.

What not to do

Do not try to find the leak with a flame. Do not spray anything. Do not stand in the kitchen with the windows shut waiting for it to clear. Do not switch the cylinder back on to 'test'.

LPG is heavier than air and pools low. It can sit at floor level in a still kitchen long after it stops smelling at head height. Ventilate from the bottom — open the door fully, not just a high window.

After it is safe

The leak is somewhere between the cylinder and the burner: regulator, the rubber or braided pipe, a joint, or the stove's own valves. Do not reconnect until a technician has found it. A soapy-water test on the joints is what they will do first.