Safety Tips: For Customers of The Gas Company

Safety Starts with Awareness
As with any other product or service, the key to safety is awareness and taking proper precautions. Sensible precautions and maintenance of your gas energy system and appliances are important for not only safety, but also for cost-savings and reliability.

Detection of Gas Leaks is Simple
Although gas leaks occur infrequently, here's how you can tell if there is a leak:

Smell
In its natural state, gas is odorless. To help customers detect leaks, The Gas Company has added a special odorant to the gas so that even small leaks can be detected quickly. With the odorant, you can detect a mixture of less than one \ percent gas in the air. This percentage is far below the amount required for ignition to occur.

Sound
An unusual noise from your appliance, or a hissing sound from piping or connections may also indicate a gas leak.

Sight
A gas leak may also be detected by unusual flame behavior at an appliance burner. Although rare, a fire in or near a gas appliance or piping are also signs of a leak.

Usage
A sudden increase in your gas consumption as shown on your gas statement may indicate:
Increased consumption by your gas appliance (i.e. hot water leak, or greater usage of your gas appliance);
A leak in your gas lines (past your meter set for utility customers)
Please call The Gas Company if you need assistance in determining the cause of an unexplainable increase in your gas usage.

Reasons For Gas Leaks
Gas leaks can occur because:
A gas appliance is improperly connected.
A gas appliance is improperly turned on.
Gas lines are damaged by excavation, corrosion, or stress caused by improperly moving an appliance.
Improper gas pipe connection/installation or materials.

A Dozen Safety Tips for Gas Use

• If you smell the characteristic "gas" odor, call The Gas Company and open windows to ventilate the building. Do not attempt to locate gas leaks with matches or other open flames. Do not attempt to operate electrical switches or use telephones in the presence of a strong odor; to report a gas leak, use the next nearest phone away from the odor and call The Gas Company branch office nearest you.
• Follow the manufacturer's instructions for operation and care of your gas appliances.
  Properly train household members how to turn on or light gas appliances.
  Keep curtains, papers, fluids, and other flammable materials away from open gas flames.
• Keep burner surfaces clean. Keep range tops free of matches, grease, and other flammable materials.
• It's recommended that you have an approved fire extinguisher handy and know how to use it. Baking soda or salt will help put out grease fires. A fire can sometimes be smothered with a large pot cover if a fairly tight seal can be obtained. Do not attempt to extinguish a gas flame other than by closing your service shut off valve located at your gas meter set. Gas has the potential, when mixed with air in the right amounts, to ignite.
• Gas line, appliance repair and installation jobs are for trained professionals and may require a county permit.
• Always light the match first and hold it in the burner area before you turn on the gas. If you smell gas, do not light the match.
  Be sure your water heater is properly installed in compliance with the manufacturer's installation instructions and local plumbing codes. When in doubt, call The Gas Company.
• If a pilot light goes out, follow the manufacturer's instructions for relighting. If you smell gas, do not relight and call The Gas Company.
• Purchase gas appliances with the American Gas Association (AGA) Blue Star Certification Seal. It assures you that the appliance design complies with national safety standards for durability, safety and performance.

How To Report A Gas Emergency
Report gas leaks and other emergencies to The Gas Company's Customer Service Department at (808)526-0066 (Oahu) or your neighbor island branch office.