--- title: "Gas Smell Near the Dryer: What to Do | DryerRepair.center" description: "Why you leave before you call, what not to touch on the way out, and what has to happen before a gas dryer runs again." url: "https://dryerrepair.center/guides/gas-dryer-smell-what-to-do/" date_modified: "2026-09-25" --- Fire and gas safety # Gas Smell Near the Dryer: What to Do A gas dryer smell, the sulfur or rotten-egg odor utilities add to natural gas, means leave the house first. Do not switch lights, unplug the dryer or use a phone inside; get everyone out, then phone the gas utility or 911 once outside. Do not look for the leak or turn valves. The dryer is used again only after the utility and a qualified gas technician clear it. By [DryerRepair.center technical team](https://dryerrepair.center/authors/technical-team/) Published September 25, 2026 ## At a glance. Natural gas has no odor of its own. The rotten-egg smell is added on purpose so you notice a leak, and when you notice it near the dryer, the only job is to get out and let the gas company find it. Read the whole guide ### What it smells like Sulfur or rotten eggs Utilities add an odorant called mercaptan so a leak can be noticed. ### First move Leave, then call Call from outside or a neighbor's home, never from inside. ### Do not touch Switches, plugs, phones, lighters Any of them can make the spark that ignites gas. ### Faint smell Treat it the same way Con Edison: leave even if the odor is weak. In this guide 1. The first minute 2. Calling from outside 3. When the nose is not sure 4. The connector behind the dryer 5. Before it runs again 6. Step by step 7. Questions ## The first minute The safety block printed at the front of every gas dryer manual reads almost the same from one maker to the next, and it is the plan to follow. GE and Speed Queen both say not to light any appliance, not to touch any electrical switch or use any phone in the building, to clear everyone out, and to call the gas supplier from a neighbor's phone, with the fire department as the fallback. That includes the dryer itself. Pressing its buttons, opening its door to pull the laundry out or yanking its plug from the wall can all make a small spark at the wrong moment. - Do not turn lights on or off, ring a doorbell or start a car in an attached garage. - Do not use a lighter or match, even to see behind the dryer. - Take everyone with you, including anyone asleep in another room. - Do not go back in for pets' carriers, phones or the laundry. Source: [GE Appliances — Dryer Owner's Manual and Installation Instructions (49-3000386)](https://images.salsify.com/image/upload/s--xjgUHYwo--/adddbe062f46e3a5cfe1dabf3a195badcac0609e.pdf) — What to do if you smell gas; leak test with a non-ammonia soap solution, never an open flame; never reuse old connectors; [Alliance Laundry Systems (Speed Queen) — Installation Instructions for Dryers, D516902](https://docs.alliancelaundry.com/tech_pdf/Production/D516902en.pdf) — What to do if you smell gas; installation and service by a qualified installer, service agency or the gas supplier ## Calling from outside Once everyone is a safe distance from the house, call the gas utility's emergency line and 911. Con Edison asks callers not to assume someone else has already reported it, and utilities treat these calls as emergencies around the clock. Tell them the smell is near a gas clothes dryer and whether the dryer was running. Then wait outside until the utility or the fire department says the house is clear, and follow what they tell you about the appliance. It helps to know a few details before the crew arrives: roughly when the smell started, whether it was strongest at the back of the dryer or elsewhere in the room, and whether anyone had moved the dryer, cleaned behind it or had it installed recently. A connector disturbed in the last few days is one of the first things a crew will want to know about. Source: [Con Edison — Home gas safety](https://www.coned.com/en/safety/energy-safety/gas-safety) — Leave even if the odor is weak, do not assume someone called; odor fade; connectors grow brittle; call a professional to move a gas dryer A laundry room door left open onto a hallway, a gas dryer inside, as if the room is being aired out. ## When the nose is not sure A gas dryer smell is not always strong, and a weak one is not a reason to wait. The odorant can fade, and people who have been in the room for a while stop noticing it. ### Why the smell can be weak Con Edison lists odor fatigue, a reduced sense of smell and competing odors among the reasons a person may miss the odorant, and says new piping can absorb some of it. Other signs of a leak on the utility pages are a hissing or whistling sound near a pipe or connector. ### Smells that are not gas A hot, dusty smell in the first minutes of a cycle is lint or dust on the burner, and a scorched one points to lint in the cabinet or duct; that is a fire question, covered in its own guide. A sulfur smell from a floor drain can be a dry trap in a basement laundry. None of those should be ruled out by guessing: if the smell is anything like rotten eggs, leave. ### Carbon monoxide has no smell at all A gas burner needs air to burn cleanly. Washington Gas warns that a dryer shut in a closet or small room without the openings code requires can burn incompletely and form carbon monoxide. A CO alarm near the laundry room covers what the nose cannot. Source: [Con Edison — Home gas safety](https://www.coned.com/en/safety/energy-safety/gas-safety) — Leave even if the odor is weak, do not assume someone called; odor fade; connectors grow brittle; call a professional to move a gas dryer; [Washington Gas — Natural gas safety](https://www.washingtongas.com/safety-education/safety/natural-gas-safety) — Mercaptan gives gas its rotten-egg smell; a dryer enclosed without air openings can produce carbon monoxide ## The connector behind the dryer Most gas dryers are joined to the house pipe by a short, flexible corrugated connector, and it is the part that moves every time the dryer does. Nicor Gas, citing CPSC, warns that older uncoated brass connectors can separate at their end fittings and should be replaced by a professional. It also says not to slide the dryer out to look at one, because moving it can be what breaks it. Con Edison adds that connectors become brittle and crack with age, and asks owners not to step, lean or set objects on them, and to call a professional to move or replace a gas-fired dryer. Source: [Con Edison — Home gas safety](https://www.coned.com/en/safety/energy-safety/gas-safety) — Leave even if the odor is weak, do not assume someone called; odor fade; connectors grow brittle; call a professional to move a gas dryer; [Nicor Gas — Appliance connectors](https://www.nicorgas.com/safety/safety-precautions/appliance-equipment-safety/appliance-connectors.html) — Uncoated brass connectors can fail and should be replaced by a professional; do not move the appliance to check ## Before it runs again If the utility shuts off gas to the dryer or tags it, that decision stands until a qualified person has corrected the cause. The dryer's own manual asks for installation and service by a qualified installer, service agency or the gas supplier. A smell that appeared only while the dryer was heating, and never with it idle, still counts as a gas smell until someone with the right gauges has shown otherwise. Once the utility has made the house safe, our diagnostic visit covers the dryer's own gas valve, igniter and burner; restoring gas service to the house stays with the utility. - Connector old, kinked, uncoated brass or reused from a previous dryer: replaced. - Bubbles at a fitting under test: tightened or replaced and tested again. - Smell from inside the cabinet: the dryer's gas valve and burner assembly are inspected. ### What gets checked The technician looks at the shutoff valve, the connector and its fittings, and the gas valve and burner inside the dryer, then tests the joints. GE's instructions call for a soap solution without ammonia and never an open flame, and a new connector if the old one has been disturbed. Source: [GE Appliances — Dryer Owner's Manual and Installation Instructions (49-3000386)](https://images.salsify.com/image/upload/s--xjgUHYwo--/adddbe062f46e3a5cfe1dabf3a195badcac0609e.pdf) — What to do if you smell gas; leak test with a non-ammonia soap solution, never an open flame; never reuse old connectors; [Alliance Laundry Systems (Speed Queen) — Installation Instructions for Dryers, D516902](https://docs.alliancelaundry.com/tech_pdf/Production/D516902en.pdf) — What to do if you smell gas; installation and service by a qualified installer, service agency or the gas supplier ## Where to stop Do not look for the leak, tighten a fitting, turn the shutoff valve back on after the utility has closed it, or pull the dryer out to inspect the connector. Gas work on this appliance belongs to the utility and a qualified gas technician; our visit starts after the utility has made the house safe. Written by [DryerRepair.center technical team](https://dryerrepair.center/authors/technical-team/). The dryer technicians who handle the service appointments requested through this site. What they write starts with machines they have opened in laundry rooms and is set beside the manufacturer's installation and use instructions whenever those are available. Sources: [GE Appliances — Dryer Owner's Manual and Installation Instructions (49-3000386)](https://images.salsify.com/image/upload/s--xjgUHYwo--/adddbe062f46e3a5cfe1dabf3a195badcac0609e.pdf) · [Alliance Laundry Systems (Speed Queen) — Installation Instructions for Dryers, D516902](https://docs.alliancelaundry.com/tech_pdf/Production/D516902en.pdf) · [Con Edison — Home gas safety](https://www.coned.com/en/safety/energy-safety/gas-safety) · [Nicor Gas — Appliance connectors](https://www.nicorgas.com/safety/safety-precautions/appliance-equipment-safety/appliance-connectors.html) · [Washington Gas — Natural gas safety](https://www.washingtongas.com/safety-education/safety/natural-gas-safety) ## Step by step. Four steps, in the order worth doing them. 01 ### Leave everything as it is No switches, no plug, no phone call inside, no flame. 02 ### Get everyone out People and pets out of the house and well away from it. 03 ### Call from outside Call the gas utility's emergency line and 911 from outside or a neighbor's home. 04 ### Wait for the all-clear Go back in only when the utility or fire department says so, and leave the dryer off until it has been repaired. For the heart of your home. ## Questions owners ask. ### Should I turn off the gas valve behind the dryer before I leave? No. The manufacturers' plan is to leave and call; reaching behind a dryer means moving it and spending time in the room. The utility will shut off what needs shutting. ### The smell went away after a few minutes. Can I still call? Yes, and you should. A smell that fades may be odor fatigue rather than a stopped leak, and utilities would rather check a false alarm. ### Does an electric dryer ever smell like gas? It burns no gas, so a rotten-egg smell near one comes from something else in the house, such as a water heater or furnace. Leave and call just the same. ### Do propane dryers smell the same? Propane is odorized too. Leave the house and call your propane supplier or 911 from outside. ## The problems behind it. Each has a page of its own: what it usually means and the causes in the order worth checking. [All 17 problems](https://dryerrepair.center/problems/) Fire or gas risk ### Dryer Smells Like Gas 5 causes, cheapest first Fire or gas risk ### Dryer Burning Smell 5 causes, cheapest first Problem ### Dryer Not Heating 6 causes, cheapest first ## When it needs a technician. The repairs on the right are where this guide ends when the checks do not settle it. ### Gas burner and igniter repair A gas dryer that tumbles without heat, or heats and quits, repaired at the igniter, the flame sensor or the valve coils. ### Diagnostic visit One visit that turns damp clothes, a silent drum or a hot smell into a named part and a price. ## More in fire and gas safety. What a burning smell means, what to do if you smell gas, and which warning signs mean stop the dryer now. [The whole section](https://dryerrepair.center/guides/safety-and-food/) Is it safe to keep using ### Dryer Fire Warning Signs and What Each One Means Slow loads, a hot cabinet, a weak flap at the outside hood: the signs that come before a dryer fire, and which ones mean switch it off now. Is it safe to keep using ### The Dryer Thermal Fuse and Why It Blows What the one-time heat cutoff protects, the airflow problems that open it, and why a new fuse alone rarely fixes a dryer. Guides ### All 18 guides Six sections, by what you are trying to find out. --- **[Read on the site: Gas Smell Near the Dryer: What to Do | DryerRepair.center](https://dryerrepair.center/guides/gas-dryer-smell-what-to-do/)** **[Book a visit with DryerRepair.center](https://dryerrepair.center/schedule/)**