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left the gas on
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so I accidentally left the gas hob running (on its lowest setting). It was probably running for about an hour, and I smelled the gas upstairs and turned it off. I've opened every door and window in the house, is there anything else I should do to ensure that I don't, you know, explode and die?
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It couldn't hurt.
If you're going to smoke, go outside to do it.
Turning it off isn't more likely to cause a spark then leaving it on. Unplugging things on the other hand I wouldn't do.
I'd probably be doing this.
it's 3am so I mean if there's not a realistic chance of me exploding I'd rather not sit in my car waiting to see if the house explodes on its own
If you explode, I will give you your money back.
It has happened to me before, and I live in a tiny apartment.
If it makes you feel any better, in college I accidently left my gas oven on for about 6 hours on high (the oven wasn't lit, it just slowly put gas into my very small apartment). Fortunately, a friend was coming over to study, and when she got there immediately pulled me out of the house and opened my windows. I didn't unplug or turn anything off and I went back in after about 1/2 hour of open windows and doors and was fine.
I'm just glad she came over because I was about to call and say I wasn't feeling good and to just stay home.
=/
not one of my better nights.
You can always call your fire department or gas company to come and check the gas levels if you're worried.
If you've been airing it out the whole time now you should be fine, but be careful--remember you can get a fireball with as little as 4% fuel/air.
What? Natural gas as delivered to homes is almost entirely methane and methane is less dense than air. Smelling a first floor leak on the second floor in no way indicates that you've displaced all the air on the first floor.
Edit: Additionally, it looks like a standard gas range doesn't really put out more than 20 ft^3 of gas per hour at full blast, although I could be missing something (found an average looking range that puts out 16,000 BTU/hr per burner / 1,000 BTU/ft^3 of methane gas at STP). So in order to reach the lower explosive limit of 4% from a single hour of a burner releasing at full open your house would have to be perfectly sealed and only be about 63 square feet (assuming an 8 ft ceiling). Of course, having a methane concentration below the lower explosive limit doesn't mean that you are perfectly safe, but it means a fireball rather than an explosion.
This definitely isn't true. If it was, the smell of gas downstairs would have been overpowering and I wouldn't have been able to breathe.
If you've well ventilated the affected rooms for an hour or so, you're fine.
Other than opening a window and waiting, you should be fine.
edit: I am timely.
Shut off the source of the source of the gas.
Open as many doors and windows as possible to promote ventilation.
Do not operate any electrical switches, on or off.
Do not use a cellular phone or radio in the structure.
Do not use any smoking or other flammable materials in the structure.
Do not attempt to use an electric fan to increase ventilation.
Well, isnt this spark-paranoia a bit too much? I mean there probably is a pilot light on, in his stove, rendering the whole thing moot.
If the pilot light were on correctly, his place shouldn't have been slowly filling up with gas.
There are several burners in a stove. Some light the stove, while others light the oven. Just because one is out, it doesnt necessarily mean others are as well.
A little spark paranoia beats the fuck out of getting all blowed up.
Do not operate any electrical switches, on or off.
Yes, and if the others were on correctly, they should have been burning off the gas. If they weren't (say perhaps the gas is coming out the top and floating up because it's less dense than air) then you should still be careful of any sparks, because the gas is building up and not being burnt off by the other pilot light.
You exploded?