Hi,
I've noticed over the past few days a very very slight smell of gas from around our meter which definitely hadn't ever been there before. It coincided (well I think it was coincidence) with our boiler springing a water leak which the guy we called out couldn't diagnose as, bizarrely, it stopped after I reset it. Now the boiler's packed up altogether (and can't get anybody to come and fix it) and so I've just turned off the supply to the meter. My problem is, I've obviously going to have to call british gas to get them to fix it but I'm worried that they'll simply come along and condemn the meter and leave us without any supply for days on end, when I don't really know just how dangerous it is at the moment. Has anyone any experience of what happens when you call british gas's emergency number - do they actually fix the problem promptly?
Thanks
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"Don't mess about call the national gas emergency number now 0800 111 999 and worry about the details later.
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>> "Don't mess about call the national gas emergency number now 0800 111 999 and worry
>> about the details later.
>>
Agreed.
We wouldn't what another like this....
tinyurl.com/34wfrpb
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A few years back i thought i was clever and removed the fire and stripped down the top piece and painted this to match the fire as it was discoloured with heatl
This was in the summer comes winter fired it up and could smell gas!!
Removed it checked for leaks non found stuff it rang Transco they came plugged the machine in the meter nothing found checked fire and boiler nothing found, The penny dropped it was the paint non heat stuff just black aerosol.!!! Doh.................
Never told Transco....................
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....Don't mess about call the national gas emergency number now 0800 111 999...
Is it one for the emergency number, though?
A conked out boiler is not an emergency, and I would have thought some unburned gas could easily escape while the boiler is in the process of conking out.
The OP has done the responsible thing by turning off the supply, from what we know, there is now no risk to his household or that of his neighbours.
I would be inclined to log this as a service call - I read on here British Gas has a good offer at the moment for 'one-off' jobs.
Don't mislead the engineer, tell him the boiler's broke and you've turned off the gas supply until it's fixed.
See what he makes of it - no need to press panic button just yet.
Incidentally, does the OP have any elderly or what these days are called 'vulnerable' people in the house?
If so, it's worth mentioning to British Gas because it may lead to speedier service.
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For fixed price boiler repairs, call before 10am and they will visit the same day, go to
www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/maintenance-and-repair/boilers-and-heating/boiler-and-heating-repairs.html
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Sun 7 Nov 10 at 17:16
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Smell of gas would worry me enough to call the emergency number though.
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Well I've done the responsible thing and called them, they say they'll be over within 2 hours. Just hope they fix it. Yeah I know it's better to be cold and have no hot water than a pile of rubble but I think it's been doing this for a few days, the smell was so slight I thought I was imagining it, and SWMBO couldnt smell it. But now I've turned it off it's definitely gone so I know I wasn't.
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Felix - hope it gets sorted quickly and cheaply, whatever the issue is - keep us up to date
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I've smelt gas around the cock - downstream of my coal effect fire for a few years now,
I can even smell gas when the cock is turned orf,
We're still alive so I'll leave it for now.
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I was blown up in a gas explosion in a hotel many years ago. I still can't hear through my left ear very well. Some were killed, many were badly injured. Saw people on fire, others with terrible injuries, missing limbs etc. Took me ten years before I'd live in a house with a gas supply. Still don't like the stuff.
Get it checked. Now. Please.
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I've smelt gas around the cock I can even smell gas when the cock is turned orf
You need to wash properly try shower gel or soap in that area.!! lol.............
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>>You need to wash properly try shower gel or soap in that area.!! lol.............<<
I did think that after I'd posted ... its the way I tell em :)
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I would not worry if it is only a slight smell.
Do you have to be just a few inches from the meter to smell it or is it stronger than that?
I have just been rebuilding a cupboard around a meter and there is a very slight smell but I am just a few inches away.
Do you have suspended floors or solid floors.
IIRC a small amount of leakage is often permitted.
I have lost count how many times I have called out the gas board for leaks in the street or other non domestic situations.
There was a leak by a main road near me for weeks. I could smell it easily when driving by at 50mph with the windows shut. I recently knocked on the door of a house with a leak outside in the street. the owner smiled and said its been like it for years and they have had lots of tries to fix it.
The good news is that YOU can smell it. Many cannot.
I have in the past had a few hard words to the Heathrow "experts" Re a gas leak. Ist visit -" No leak sir. There is no gas in the whole building." I called them in anger for a 2nd visit "We have now discovered a capped main that is leaking in the basement"
If the gas lads are unhappy they will slap a banned notice on the boiler if it is the problem.
They did this to my cooker.
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last gas bloke that came to my squaler left a container full of gas find stuff
you spray it where you think you have a leak and big bubbles appear
magic stuff
unfortunately it got knocked over and leaked so now i just use matches like i did before the last house blew up :-(
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You may joke (you are joking?) but I have seen a British Gas fitter look for a leak on a meter with a lighted match. Gas was leaking out of the face glass on the meter. It was many years ago, in my parents house. Not all elfin safety is pink fluffy dice. :-)
John
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 9 Nov 10 at 10:16
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Well there's a result - it's fixed. There was a flexible corrugated metal hose on the inlet into the meter which had a tiny pin-hole leak which you could see by spraying it. Replaced the hose, 10 minutes later we're ok. Now I just need the boiler to work... had 3 engineers let me down this weekend, who all promised to come out and then never did. So much for checkatrade!
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Great - we can all sleep tonight now!
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>> Great - we can all sleep tonight now!
I live miles away, the bang was never going to wake me.
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>> Salad days eh!
>>
Sure was.
It took many days to find, buy and get installed a replacement cooker.
I was begining to feel like a rabbit at the end!
I was especially upset, that although it was an old old cooker it had a feature that I am told that " is not posssible" - That was a brilliant thermostatic control on one of the gas rings.
Turn on, adjust flame size, dial in the required temperature and leave it to do its thing.
I could, without any worry, leave a saucepan of milk on that ring to smimmer just of boiling point . Progress ? what progress?
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...gas cookers...
A friend of mine is a private landlord in a small way - a couple of houses.
Gas cookers came up in conversation one day and she told me in a rented property the cooker had to be anchored to the wall by means of a short chain.
As far as she knew, it was to prevent the cooker being knocked over.
Which begs the question, if a free-standing cooker is deemed dangerous in a property for a rent, how can it be safe in a property occupied the owner?
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mines chained to the wall
it was a stipulation of the fitter over 10 years ago and we are on the next cooker since then so it must be the law rather than tenanted thing
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I chained all my cookers to the wall but they reported me. Ruddy equality, I don't know.
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The chaining thing has been around a while. We moved up here (Northants) from Hertfordshire in 1990. The bayonet gas connector on our cooker didn't match the one in the house and we had to get the gas board in to supply a replacement
The fitter insisted that he was required to attach a safety chain and drilled/plugged the cavity wall for this purpose. The cooker was a sixties Cannon model built of very solid enamelled steel. Mrs B and I had needed a friend's assistance to get it downstairs from a flat on our previous move; you couldn't have toppled it if Mike Tyson sat on the (downward opening) oven door.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 7 Nov 10 at 21:54
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...so it must be the law rather than tenanted thing...
It may be enforcement is more widespread in rented properties because landlords are obliged to carry out an annual gas safety check.
Unless someone's about to tell me owner occupiers are supposed to do the same thing.
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Five pints of the same Martin ?
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...Five pints of the same Martin ?...
I was thinking the same thing.
Perhaps he's starfished outside in the car park.
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Sorry it was a poor joke based on the request for the landlord !
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All free standing cooking appliances should have either a chain secured to the wall or a bracket fixed at floor level, which engages in a slot at the base of the oven, regardless of the property it is fitted in, for the purposes of stability.
Gas supplies are dealt with by Transco and not British Gas and any leaks or pressure problems should be reported to them.
With pipework and old existing appliances fitted, when performing a gas tightness test, a drop of four millibars over 2 minutes is permitted or 8 millibars depending on the volume of the meter. New pipework, new appliances no drop allowed.
Over the years, I have seen quite a few gas bodges and at one house I was working on, the tightness test was outside limits so I spent a couple of hours crawling around under the floorboards examining every joint and testing it with leak detection fluid.
The cause of the leak turned out to be a copper pipe joint that had NEVER been soldered and was in fact held in place by the flux used in the soldering process. It had been like that for years !
At another job, I tested the system prior to starting my work and again the drop was out of limits. I told the customer and she said that British Gas has serviced the boiler a few days before !
British Gas is not the same as it was many years ago, it is now very sales orientated and a lot of trusting people pay way over the odds for new boilers etc, when supplied by them.
Last edited by: MrTee43 on Sun 7 Nov 10 at 21:10
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Just came back. Made me Titter. Oh! Matron.
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>> Which begs the question, if a free-standing cooker is deemed dangerous in a property for a rent,
>>how can it be safe in a property occupied by the owner?
The same way as all waste paper baskets have to be fireproof (i.e. metal) in a rented property, but can be any material you like in your own house...
At college we've been told that basically, a home owner can do whatever they like to their own property, but tradespeople must adhere to certain safety rules re gas and electricity installations. Stops them being sued when it all goes wrong I suppose.
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Sun 7 Nov 10 at 22:46
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We had a leak in the main outside our house.
They repaired it by cutting a section out, live. It sounded like a jet engine. I suppose there's no chance of ignition if the atmosphere's totally gas.
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Years ago I came back from holiday, at 2am on a very still, cold night. As I got out of the car there was a strong smell of gas. I rang the emergency number and within an hour a gang was out digging up the road. When the sun came up I got the Great Telling-off of 1990 from neighbours fed up with the noise. I asked them if they were interested in physical activities of a particular nature, combined with travel and the matter was closed!
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If the smell was in the street, then I sympahise with your neighbours. A typical, "only me" attitude to something you know nothing about.
We all get a whiff of gas in the street from time to time, even when they dig the road up they tend to leave for days on end, usually with a smell of gas eminating. The flammable range in open air is not sufficient to cause an explosion unlike being bottled up in a confined space like a house. The mixture has to be right.
The fact you could have waited until the morning more than shows the attitude of your neighbours. A bit of common sense wouldn't have gone amiss here.
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Well they turned out AND said I had done the right thing so I am not interested in your opinions, unless you are a qualified gas engineer and were there at the time.
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Mon 8 Nov 10 at 09:15
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...so I am not interested in your opinions...
If that's the case, there's not much point in posting on a forum.
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Good grief what a rotten start to the week some of you are having! There is plenty of point in posting - there already 38 posts on this thread including those from strange people who think that a strong smell of gas is something to ignore until later. They can be ignored too! Thank you Zero, a voice of common sense!
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Mon 8 Nov 10 at 09:23
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If it was not dangerous, the crew would not have turned out at 2 in the morning to fix it, would they.
Gas in the street can and does pool in cavities in the earth and seeps along services into the lower ground floor of houses, cellars, drains.
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Is there any other gas that can give the same smell? I ask because there is a section of road between Kiddy and Blackedown where it goes into a dip and there's always a smell which smells like gas... There's a house in the dip and I've wondered if it could be a badly ventilated cess tank?
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>> Is there any other gas that can give the same smell?
Being pedantic, IIRC, the smell is something they add. I guess one of the requirements for the smell was that it was unlike anything else.
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What an extraordinary point of view you have CF. I think most people would be grateful to have neighbours who cared. I certainly would
People are odd though. Many years ago in East London I noticed a house chimney on fire. I knocked on the door to tell them and was met with an extraordinary stream of abuse and threats of violence.
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Not odd at all CG:)
If you called the fire brigade out to a chimney fire, you used to get charged for it. If you let it burn the soot away you didn't have to pay to have the chimney swept!
Pat
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..If you called the fire brigade out to a chimney fire, you used to get charged for it...
And fifty gallons of water down the chimney didn't do a lot for the lounge carpet.
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We have a "gas pressure station" at the bottom of our road. A few years back I smelt gas whilst walking the dog early morning when all was quiet, no wind.
I duly phoned the gas people and about 1 hour later there was Mr Angry at the door - "I've been called out to a smell of gas" - "You reported it, there's no leak and everything seems OK"
I duly went with him and after about 10 mins he agreed there was a smell of gas about 20-30 feet away from the gas station.
3 days later after digging up mountains of earth they had located the leak and fixed it - it was a pipe connector that was leaking.............never got the apology.
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Good customer service ! (not)
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I've reported a few leaks after cycling to work on a still morning, although once the wind speed didn't matter - it had been raining and you could see it bubbling up at the side of the road! It was quite rural and not near any houses. They were fixing it when I cycled home.
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The boneheads who installed the fibre optic cables in a town near me were always cracking gas mains.
There were several sightings of 'burning pavements'.
It happened outside a pal of mine's house who told me the gas was left to burn for several hours.
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Carpet? Lino, more like.
Pat
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"And fifty gallons of water down the chimney didn't do a lot for the lounge carpet"
Not quite.
We use chimney rods like the "sweeps" and attack from the grate using a bucket of water and tubing connected to a stirrup pump. The head/nozzle providing a fine mist as it goes up the chimney. Stirrup pumps, you must remember those from the war Iffy.
PDA, in 29 years of service we have never charged for a chimney fire. There is the possibility that due to poor workmanship that joists could become affected, so it is treated as a normal fire call.
Last edited by: Cpt. Flack on Mon 8 Nov 10 at 15:10
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>>Has anyone any experience of what happens when you call british gas's emergency number<<
try this!!! excert from my complaint letter to Energy watch!
upon checking my meter in order to send you a correct reading I discovered that the digital reading was totally blank, also shortly prior to this I noticed that my appliances were starting to go wrong (if I lit the fire, the cooker would go out, or if I opened a tap the fire would go off).
I telephoned your helpline, and spoke to one of your operatives, and informed her of the problems and that I was unable to supply a reading, she advised me to turn off the gas at the wall, as it was a pressure problem, and she would send an engineer out to fix the problems. The Engineer arrived within two hours (very impressive) and changed something on the meter, but did not exchange the meter or rectify the fault with the readout.
After he had left, I telephoned the helpline again and spoke to a person called Sxx Sxxxxx, she arranged for the meter to be changed on the 13th August 2005, no engineer turned up.
I telephoned the helpline again (13-8-05) and spoke to a person called Pxxxxx, she arranged for the meter to be changed on the 23rd August 2005, no engineer turned up.
I telephoned the helpline again (23-8-05) and spoke to a person called Sxx, he arranged for the meter to be changed on the 5th September 2005, no engineer turned up.
I telephoned the helpline again (5-9-05) and spoke to a person (I didn’t catch his name) who then proceeded to get in touch with the meter dept to find out what had gone wrong, they tried to fob me off with what is obviously a stock fob-off story, in that they said they did come to the property at seven minutes past twelve, and nobody was in, when I insisted that I was in all day they then asked if I had a white front door, when I said it was glass, they said they must have got the wrong address. This same story was also proffered the next time I rang as well.
Following this Telephone call I wrote to Mxxxxx Txxxxx (one of your customer service managers) and he arranged that the meter would be changed on the 18th October 2005, this job he “farmed” out to United Utilities, who proceeded to cancel the appointment at 21:30 hours on the 17th October 2005, by leaving a message on my answer-phone, and leaving a contact number that when rung, was unobtainable. However they did make another appointment for the 25th October 2005, when they sent a meter reader, not an engineer!
I telephoned the helpline again (25-10-05) and spoke to a person called Phxx, he arranged for the meter to be changed on the 2nd November 2005, no engineer turned up.
Finally on the 10th February 2006, I spoke to a person named Dxxx, who could not believe what he was hearing, and immediately put me in touch with a manager (Saxxxx Rixxxxxx?) who promised the meter would be changed on the 17th February 2006, which it was.
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I too am having problems with BG but with electricity.( BG bill for gas and electricity)
The meter at my daughters flat needs changing ( 10 years old ?).
A letter arrived address to the previous owner of the flat ( he sold it nearly 2 years ago.
Eventually the letter got to her but after the appointment date.
Got a new appointment but the job was aborted.
Called the sub contractor and had a moan about wrong name.
BG feed us the data so BGs fault please take it up with BG.
Called BG and moaned that they address the bill correctly but screw up getting details to the workers.
BG Thicko could not grasp that if BG sub contract then the customer still blames them for not controlling things so I gave up talking to him.
I emailed BG and repeated the situation.
Got auto ack re email
Then got a useless reply wanting the meter serial no so that they can update their records plus " We have delivered on our promise to respond to your enquiry within 24 hours"
Replied asking them to read my previous email
Got ack with subject "thanks for your email........." but no contents in the email.
When I try phoning the sub contractor it is a long wait or leave a message and they call back.
But we were out each time. Their web site is only for " choose some times dates and we will see if we can be there"
Still awaiting reply from BG.
Someone must be at the flat to switch off the consumer unit and they retest after the meter change.
Murphys law. When the lads did visit near the start of the saga they found a cheap "developers fix" two flats share one company fuse SOOO Both flat owners need to be on site when the work is done so it is probably a Saturday job.
It appears that customer service is so often very very patchy.
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hmm very grim, if I'd read that I might not have been so quick to call. As it happened the guy that turned out for me was very affable and efficient and found the leak in seconds. Said it wouldn't have been dangerous as it was. I just wish my experience of other gas engineers was as good. I still don't have a working boiler and the guy that called last night took an hour to reach the same conclusion as to where the fault was as I'd got to tentatively myself. Of course by then he couldn't get the replacement part and may not even be able to come back to day.... hope there's no typos but it's cold here :-)
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British Gas. British Telecom. Virtual pint to the first person to spot the connection (sic)
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>> spot the connection (sic)
martin is moaning - Again?
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I once smelled gas outside an approx. 100-year-old house I used to own. I called the gas board (as it then was) and the response was impressive. Several board vehicles rapidly appeared and the road was blocked off, much to the chagrin of neighbours. The techicians sniffed around with their allegedly super-sensitive instrumets for about half and hour and certified there was no leak. They all packed up and the road was reopened. However, just as the last one was leaving the doorstep he said "Hey, wait a minute, I can smell gas!"
The feed pipe was dug up. In section, the thickness was as new at the top, tapering by corrosion to nothing at the bottom. The gas had been held in by the underlying clay.
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I smell gas - CGNorwich
