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Smell gas? Act fast.
We want you to be completely safe as you shower, finish the laundry, and feed your family their favorite meal. The most important safety tip to remember is that if you ever think you smell natural gas, leave the area immediately and call Spire right away.
Winter heating tips
- Only heat your home with appliances designed for safe space heating. Grills, ovens, space heaters and fires outside of a working fireplace can pose safety hazards
- Take steps to prevent pipes from freezing
- Install and test your smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they're working properly and have extra batteries on hand
- Keep back-up generators a safe distance from your home to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning
- Use UL-certified surge protectors to keep from overloading your electrical wiring
- Ensure you have plenty of emergency supplies like blankets, warm clothing and non-perishable food that can be microwaved if it needs to be heated
- Seal areas around your home where air can leak in--around windows, chimneys, fireplaces, unfinished spaces behind cupboards, etc.
- Ensure the fireplace, flue and chimney in your home are in working order before using
Information adapted from the U.S. Fire Association
Safety tips for your home's gas appliances:
- Have your furnace inspected annually by a professional.
- Kitchen fires can happen in an instant, but a little preparation can make sure they don’t happen to you. Don’t wear loose clothing, spray cooking oil, or use paper towels near an open flame. And don’t leave food packaging on or near the stove.
- We know you want to keep your children safe. So do we. Children should never try to light natural gas fireplace logs. No one should play with the valves that turn the logs on and off and the gas log valve key should be stored in a safe place that’s out of reach for children.
- Gas logs are great for warming your room. Just make sure the chimney flue is open before lighting them, unless you have ventless style logs.
- Space heaters can help keep a room warm, but children should not light them. As with open flames, avoid loose clothing, paper towels, or other flammable materials. And never attempt to dry your clothes over a gas space heater.
- Curtains and drapes can easily catch fire so don’t take any chances. Keep them away from any kind of natural gas flame including cooking ranges, space heaters, or similar equipment.
- Never use the flames from a gas range to heat a room or dry your clothes.
- Reach out about unusual conditions. If you notice any of these signs, give Spire a call right away so we can address the issue for your safety.
- A burner flame that is yellow, wavy or higher than normal
- A change in the appearance of your pilot light
- A hissing sound or odor near a pipeline or near a building
- Ice formation on the ground above a pipeline
- Distressed pr deteriorated plants near a pipeline
Safety is a core value at Spire. We take this responsibility seriously, so we want to inform you about a recent federal regulation concerning gas pipeline safety. You have the option to request installation of an Excess Flow Valve (EFV) on your existing gas service line. An EFV is a mechanical safety device installed near the gas main on the natural gas service line to your meter. In the event of a service line break, this device would activate to minimize the flow of gas. For example, if an excavator accidentally digs into your gas service line in your yard, the EFV would automatically minimize the flow of gas at the location of the damage.
To install an EFV, an excavation is required where the existing natural gas service line connects to the natural gas main. Your gas service would also be interrupted for a short period of time while we install this equipment. Many customers already have an EFV installed on their existing service line. To find out if you have one, look at your gas meter and see if there is a small tag attached to the meter setup that identifies an EFV being on the service. EFVs will not operate on all gas service lines, however. If you are interested, we will need to do an analysis to determine if one is possible for your service. If your service is determine to be eligible and you choose to add the optional equipment, you will be charged a one-time fee to cover the cost of the installation. Our goal is to keep the cost of this installation as low as possible. The minimum cost is expected to be $1200. Costs may increase with restoration efforts, including paving and reseeding grassy areas. To learn more, please give us a call.