Did you know that natural gas that is used to fuel more than 2 of your appliances has no smell? You may not be aware that gas companies introduce that rotten egg odor in order to warn you in the even of a leak in your system.
Natural gas is colorless and smellless and if the companies did not do this you could end up in a extreme emergency and it can even cause an explosion in your home.
I myself was unaware of any of this until my buddy and I had a recent problem at our home. My husband returned from shopping and as soon as he opened the door the odor of gas filled his nose, he had turned the furnace on when he left for the store but never observed that the pilot light was out. She knew that he needed to make sure the gas line was in the on position and then hit the igniter switch. She did all of that and assumed that all was fine. She had no way of knowing that the gas line had a small leak so it was not delivering the right gas to air ratio. This caused the pilot light to go out but the gas kept flowing into the home… Lucky for us my buddy and I have no pets at cabin and my husband was smart enough to call 911 instead of trying to figure out the problem herself. If you are turning on your heat, no matter the fuel source, for the first time you should regularly be aware of how it is operating before leaving home.