What should I do if I smell gas near my fireplace?
At nearly 2,650 feet, Waynesville homes lean on their hearths harder and longer than most of WNC — and the town runs on both natural gas and propane, so your first move is the same but your phone call isn't. Leave without touching a switch, get outside, and call your gas utility or 911 for natural gas, your propane supplier for LP. Then reach us at (828) 545-0525.
Know which fuel you're on before you need to
Waynesville is genuinely split — some Frog Level and downtown blocks are on the natural-gas main, while plenty of Hazelwood cottages and the cabins up the ridges run propane tanks. It matters, because the two behave oppositely and you call two different numbers. Natural gas is lighter than air and heads for the ceiling; propane is heavier and slides toward the floor, pooling in basements and crawlspaces. Take a minute now, while nothing's wrong, to learn whether the tag on your appliance says NG or LP and where the shutoff sits.
High, cold, and hard on old fireboxes
At nearly 2,650 feet, Waynesville runs ten to fifteen degrees colder than the lower WNC towns and its heating season stretches about three weeks longer, so these fireplaces get leaned on hard. A lot of the older Hazelwood housing stock still has open, drafty fireboxes, and where a gas log set has been added the aging valve and connector are the parts most likely to seep. A faint sulfur note at the first fall light-up is usually dust on the burner; a smell that keeps returning, or one you notice with the fireplace off, is not.
Once it's safe, the licensed fix
After the utility or your propane supplier has shut the fuel off and cleared the air, the actual repair is ours — locating the leak with instruments, fixing it, and pressure-testing the whole line before fuel goes back on. That's licensed gas-contractor work in North Carolina, permitted with Haywood County when the job calls for it, and it isn't something a mason or handyman can legally connect. Waynesville is about thirty-five minutes west of our Asheville showroom, and gas-smell and no-heat calls run through the 24/7 line at (828) 545-0525.
Fireplace help in Waynesville
We install and service fireplaces throughout Waynesville and the rest of Haywood County — just 35 minutes west from our Asheville-area showroom.
Related questions
- How do I check my gas fireplace for a gas leak?
- Who should I call about a suspected gas leak — the gas company or a fireplace technician?
- Where is the gas shutoff valve for my fireplace, and how do I turn it off in an emergency?
- Can a gas fireplace explode?
- Why does my gas fireplace smell like gas while it's running?