Appliance Check By Gas Co. Could Prevent Tragedy

It is a tragedy that occurs every year in Southern California. We see it on the evening news . . . a family is asphyxiated in their sleep from poisonous fumes emitted by a faulty gas furnace.

Sadly, almost every such tragedy we hear about is preventable by simply contacting the Southern California Gas Co. to arrange a free safety check of your gas appliances.

Although it is not widely publicized, the Gas Co. suggests that homeowners and renters call their number, listed in the local white pages, to have a technician come for an inspection at least once a year.

The service person will check for proper venting, gas leakage, burner operation and firebox cracks.

Any problems he or she detects will likely not be solvable on the spot as the Gas Co. does not do repair work.

Instead they may issue a “notice of unsatisfactory condition,” which requires you to have a licensed contractor make repairs.

Of course, if this occurs you may be inconvenienced by not having use of the appliance until repairs are completed, but you may be preventing a tragedy at the same time.