If you smell gas near your furnace in Mary Hill, leave the home immediately, call FortisBC from outside, then have a licensed technician inspect the furnace before it's used again.
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Quick answer
If you smell gas near your furnace in Mary Hill, leave the home immediately without touching switches, call FortisBC at 1-800-663-9911 from outside, and do not go back in until they clear it. Once it's safe, a licensed gas technician should inspect the furnace before you use it again.
Need a licensed gas fitter for your gas furnace? Call CANRO at (604) 359-1081 — residential natural-gas heating and hot water across Metro Vancouver since 1999.
A gas smell means there's a real chance of a leak, and the safe response is always to leave and call the utility, not to investigate the source yourself.
FortisBC will come out to check for a leak and can shut off gas supply if needed; that's a separate step from having a technician diagnose and repair the furnace itself.
A gas smell near a furnace is sometimes a loose fitting or a failing gas valve, and other times it traces back to the venting or a pilot/ignition issue that's allowing unburned gas to escape briefly during startup.
Only a licensed gas fitter should open up the gas train or venting to find the actual source; this isn't a homeowner diagnostic job.
Once it's safe, we pressure-test the gas line, inspect the valve and burner assembly, and check the venting and combustion air path before clearing the furnace to run again.
If a part needs replacing, we explain what failed and why before doing the repair.
Mary Hill's older split-level and bungalow homes sit on the hill above the Coquitlam River, often with furnace closets or crawlspace mechanical rooms original to the house, alongside newer infill homes higher on the hill with more accessible mechanical rooms.
Older furnace closets in some homes here have limited ventilation, which is part of what our technician checks when a gas odour has been reported.
We'll walk you through what caused the issue and what, if anything, should be watched going forward.
If the furnace is old enough that repeated issues are likely, we'll talk through repair versus replacement honestly rather than pushing one direction.
A carbon monoxide alarm on every level of the home, tested a couple of times a year, is one of the simplest safeguards a household can have alongside a working smoke alarm.
If a gas smell has happened more than once from the same furnace, that pattern is worth mentioning to our technician, since it can point to something that needs more than a one-time fix.
Safety note
If you smell gas, hear a sounding carbon monoxide alarm, or suspect a venting or combustion problem, leave the home first, do not operate switches, and call FortisBC at 1-800-663-9911 before doing anything else.
No, leave the home and call FortisBC; locating and fixing a gas leak is not a homeowner task.
Don't take time to operate switches or the thermostat; just leave the home and call from outside.
A gas smell means a possible leak; a sounding CO alarm means possible carbon monoxide, and both mean leave immediately and call for help, but CO alarms warrant calling 911.
Yes, once you're safely outside and away from the house, calling FortisBC from your phone is fine.
Contact our office once it's confirmed safe and we'll get a licensed technician out to inspect the furnace.
Family-run, TSBC-licensed (gas LGA0043870 · boiler LBP0046450), serving Metro Vancouver homes since 1999. Residential, natural gas only.
Call (604) 359-1081 Email info@canroheat.ca“Canro does an amazing job! Super professional and skilled with everything—boilers, furnaces, and AC. Always a pleasure working with them!”
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