Leave the house now. Don't flip switches, light anything or use your phone inside. Once you are outside, call your gas company.
In Indianapolis, call Citizens at 317-924-3311. In Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville, call CenterPoint at 800-227-1376 and 911. In Westfield, call 911 and the leak number on your gas bill.
Leaking gas can start a fire or a blast. So don't wait to see if the smell goes away.
On your way out, follow these steps from Citizens Energy's gas safety page and CenterPoint's Indiana safety tips:
- Don't turn lights, appliances or anything electric on or off.
- Don't light a match.
- Don't open or close windows.
- Don't use a phone, even a cell phone, while you're inside.
- Don't start a car in an attached garage. Don't use the garage door opener.
- Leave on foot. Get away from any spot where you can smell gas.
- Once you're in a safe place, call your gas company.
Who to call depends on where you live:
| Where you live | Who to call, once you're outside |
|---|---|
| Indianapolis | Citizens Energy: 317-924-3311 |
| Westfield | 911, and the leak number on your gas bill. For Citizens Westfield, its customer leaflet says to call 800-427-4217 for gas emergencies |
| Carmel | 911, and CenterPoint Energy at 800-227-1376 |
| Fishers | 911, and CenterPoint Energy at 800-227-1376 |
| Noblesville | 911, and CenterPoint Energy at 800-227-1376 |
| Not sure | Call 911. Then call the gas company on your bill |
The gas company can change at the edge of a town. When you're safe, check the name on your bill and save that number in your phone.
Is it normal to smell a little gas near a gas stove?
No. Treat any gas smell near the stove as a leak, even a faint one that seems to fade after a minute or two. Citizens says the smell is there "so that even the smallest leaks can be detected." If you smell it, everyone should leave.
Natural gas has no smell of its own, so the gas companies add one on purpose to make a leak easy to notice. Citizens Energy's safety page says Citizens adds one called mercaptan. It smells like rotten eggs or sulfur.
Read the exact wording
"Natural gas, in its purest form, has no smell. However, Citizens like other gas utilities adds a very distinct odorant to the gas, called mercaptan, that smells like rotten eggs or sulfur, whereby detecting a leak is generally very easy"
That rotten egg smell isn't a quirk of your stove. It's the alarm. Citizens says to leave any spot where you can smell it and to call from somewhere else, which means the gas company decides if it's a leak, not you.
It can feel silly to walk out of your own kitchen over a whiff of something. It isn't. That whiff is the very thing the smell was put there to tell you.
How do you know if it's a gas leak or just a bad smell?
You don't have to know. If it smells like rotten eggs or sulfur, treat it as gas, get out, and let the gas company work out what it is.
Burnt food and a dirty oven make smells of their own. But you shouldn't stand next to a possible leak trying to rule them out. Leaving costs you a few minutes on the porch, and staying could cost a lot more if the smell turns out to be gas.
How can you tell if there's a gas leak from a stove?
The rotten egg smell is the main sign, and a gas detector going off is another. Your nose has limits worth knowing, and the one thing you shouldn't do is go hunting for the leak yourself.
Can the smell of a gas leak come and go?
Yes. Your nose gets used to the smell fast, so a leak can seem to fade while gas is still coming out. Citizens calls it nasal fatigue. It doesn't take long.
Read the exact wording
"Exposure to the odor for even a short period of time, may cause nasal fatigue, where a person can no longer smell the odor."
There are two more catches. Citizens says the smell may not wake you up if you're asleep, and some people can't smell it at all.
Back up your nose with a gas detector
Citizens suggests one or more gas detectors listed by UL (Underwriters Laboratories). A detector makes a loud sound when gas is there. It doesn't need your nose, so it still works when you've stopped noticing the smell or you're fast asleep.
Don't pull the stove out to look
The ridged metal tube between the gas pipe and the stove is called a gas connector. Citizens says some old brass ones with no coating have a flaw in the ends, and over time they can come apart and leak. Its warning is blunt. Moving the stove even a little can make one of these old connectors fail, and that could start a deadly fire or blast.
Read the exact wording
"Moving the appliance, even slightly, can cause the complete failure of one of these older, weakened connectors and possibly result in a deadly fire or explosion."
Citizens says only a plumber, a heating and cooling pro or an appliance repair pro should check or replace one. That's a job for after the gas company has been out, not before.
Remember that CO has no smell
A gas oven can also make carbon monoxide (CO), and CO has no smell at all, so the rotten egg smell won't warn you about it. Never run the oven to warm the house. The reasons, and what to do if someone feels sick, are in can you heat your house with a gas oven.
Was your gas range recalled?
It might be. You can check yours on the CPSC's recall list, which is run by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Here are four gas range recalls from 2026, taken from the CPSC's recall data. Each one was for a gas leak, fire or burn risk:
| Date | Gas range | The problem | About how many |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 10, 2026 | AGA (Elise and Mercury) and La Cornue CornuFé dual-fuel ranges | A missing cap on a gas test port can leak gas, a fire or blast risk | 3,992 |
| Jul 9, 2026 | Best Buy's Insignia front-control gas ranges | People or pets can turn the knobs on by accident, a fire risk | 3,820 |
| Apr 16, 2026 | Fisher & Paykel free-standing professional gas ranges | The oven can be slow to light, a burn risk | 433 |
| Mar 19, 2026 | Electrolux's Frigidaire gas ranges | The bake burner can be slow to light: 62 reports and 30 burns | 174,800 |
Each maker offers a free fix. The Frigidaire, Fisher & Paykel and Insignia notices say to stop using the oven right away. The Frigidaire and Fisher & Paykel ones say you can still use the cooktop. For the AGA and La Cornue ranges, the notice says to shut off the gas to the range right away. Use only the electric ovens until it's fixed.
How to check your range
- Find the label with the model and serial number on your range.
- Look up the recall on the CPSC's list, and match your model number to the one in the notice.
- If yours is on the list, follow the steps in the recall notice.
Stuck on the search? Call the CPSC hotline at 800-638-2772. You can also sign up on the CPSC's recall page to get recall emails, so the next one comes to you.
Once the gas company says it's safe
If the smell came from the range, get it looked at before you lean on it again. Even after the all clear, the range itself may still need work, and a few notes made now will help whoever comes out to fix it.
Write these down before you book a repair:
- The model and serial number: it's the same label you used for the recall check.
- What you smelled, and where: at a burner, in the oven or behind the stove.
- When it happened: while cooking, with the stove off or after it was moved.
- What the gas company told you: what they found, and anything they shut off.
- Any recall: if your range is on the list, follow the recall notice first.
Save your gas company's number now
Look up the name on your gas bill, find its number in the table above, and save it in your phone as "gas leak". It's a small thing, but on a bad night you won't want to be searching for it. Here is how repair calls from this site work.