Oven aromas range from pleasant baking scents to warning odors that indicate danger. A pungent rotten-egg smell is the most discernible sign of a natural gas or propane leak. Natural gas and propane are odorless, so mercaptan has been added since the 1930s to produce a sulfurous, marshy aroma that signals leaks. Other indicators of escaping gas include hissing noises, rapid death of nearby houseplants, unexplained dizziness, and headaches. Some mercaptan smells can be normal during oven ignition or from a brand-new oven, and those odors should dissipate once the burner lights.
Since the 1930s, however, energy companies have infused these gases with mercaptan, a naturally occurring compound found in rotting food, such as wine that's gone bad, for safety reasons. The odorant contains sulfur, giving it that unique, marshy aroma that alerts home cooks and professional chefs alike that something is amiss in the kitchen. Odors aren't the only way to find gas leaks, either. For instance, a hissing sound coming from the oven could also denote escaping gas, as could the rapid death of nearby houseplants. In addition, unexplained dizziness or headaches may be the result of breathing in leaking fumes.
There are some times when the smell of mercaptan (or other off-putting scents) is completely normal and doesn't typically indicate a gas leak. For one, when starting up your gas oven, the appliance fills with, well, gas, as the igniter attempts to light the burners. When opening the oven during this ignition phase, the distinctive mercaptan smell may be present, but after a few minutes, the smell should dissipate after the burner lights. If your oven is brand new, it might give off
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