Neighbours Boiler Flue blowing steam into my house

Gemsgalore

Our neighbour got a new gas boiler last year and the smell of gas from the flue stinks. I live in a terraced house too and the flue is to the side of their kitchen window, next to which is my back door then my kitchen window. I now can't open my back door or kitchen window or the smell permeates throughout the house. I have even put sellotape over the back door lock.

I got British Gas to come out and inspect their boiler as I couldn't believe the stench of gas could be right. They said his boiler is fine and the boilers spent gas ''just smells like that''. My boiler is nearly 20 years old and there is no smell from my flue.

So unfair that I need to just put up with this horrible smell. My neighbours know and have made no offer to move their flue

khublaikhan

Thanks to everyone for their help and support. I rang the letting agency and after some heated exchanges they agreed to look into the matter, although, judging from my experience with them over the last 10 yrs I am not holding my breath.

I rang the local environmental health service and the gentleman on the other end said he had never come across this type of situation, he kept me on hold for a few mins whilst he sought advice and then said, without seeing the pics, it was difficult to judge but it was dependent on my access rights over the alleyway. I will look into this.

Anyway - I am going to wait for the builders to come back to me with a solution for a day or two, if not I will ask for a Gas Safe Inspection and take the pics to the environmental health dept.

I am pretty sure that the builders' van says "Corgi Registered" I will take a pic of that too!

I am angry and frustrated that I have to do the running around and kicking up the fuss about this - anybody with an ounce of common decency would hold their hands up and say its a fair cop and agree they would not allow these fumes into their own house.

Thanks again for the help advice

rockin_plumber

khublaikhan wrote: »

I am pretty sure that the builders' van says "Corgi Registered" I will take a pic of that too!

This doesnt mean he is allowed to do gas work

But if you know the name of the company you can check they are registered on the Gas Safe Register website

dannyxx25

gemsgalore the only gas that should be coming out of the flue should be steam, exactly the same at what comes out of a kettle, therefore it should have no odour. You dont need to put up with it look at rockin plumbers post above yours, and give that number a ring.

khublaikhan i hope you get this problem resolved, common sense in this country was lost a few xmas' ago!!

plumb1_2

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Are they allowed to discharge the overflow into a gully?

Yes, but the pipe is the incorect size 19mm, should be 32mm.

Why is there 2 air bricks high leval??? If it to vent the roof its a poor job, just like the boiler install.

Gemsgalore

dannyxx25 wrote: »

gemsgalore the only gas that should be coming out of the flue should be steam, exactly the same at what comes out of a kettle, therefore it should have no odour. You dont need to put up with it look at rockin plumbers post above yours, and give that number a ring.

khublaikhan i hope you get this problem resolved, common sense in this country was lost a few xmas' ago!!

Thanks for reply Danny. So why does it stink of gas then? The inspector could certainly smell it in my garden every time their boiler clicked on and the fumes came out of their flue.........and like I said, he says that the smell is normal with these new boilers. I don't see what else I can do as I have had them out and it's been checked

iamcornholio

Get in touch with your local council - Environmental Health Dept ( but it may be called something else nowadays) and complain that your neighbours flue is causing a Statutory Nuisance ( EPA 1990 if you want to google).

The council will investigate and serve a notice on the neighbours if it is deemed a nuisance, requiring them to recify it within 21 days

rockin_plumber

Also your second picture about 3 bricks up from where the condensate pipe exits the building is what looks like a 15mm copper pipe poking out through the wall.

This is the safety valve discharge pipe.

And as this is what is classed as a public access area it could be seen as bad practice to terminate the pipe where it is.

The pipe must have a continuous fall and be routed to a position so that any discharge of water, possibly boiling, or steam cannot create any danger to persons.

So the flue is discharging causing a nuisance

The safety valve in my opinion is termainating in an unsafe manner

Even if it wasnt causing nuisance it should have a flue guard on if it is lower than 2m above ground level. (without measuring this is just an assumtion)

The condensate appears to not be clipped, should be increased to 32mm or lagged

And this is just what we can see :eek::eek::eek:

1984ReturnsForReal_2

rockin_plumber wrote: »

Also your second picture about 3 bricks up from where the condensate pipe exits the building is what looks like a 15mm copper pipe poking out through the wall.

This is the safety valve discharge pipe.

And as this is what is classed as a public access area it could be seen as bad practice to terminate the pipe where it is.

The pipe must have a continuous fall and be routed to a position so that any discharge of water, possibly boiling, or steam cannot create any danger to persons.

So the flue is discharging causing a nuisance

The safety valve in my opinion is termainating in an unsafe manner

Even if it wasnt causing nuisance it should have a flue guard on if it is lower than 2m above ground level. (without measuring this is just an assumtion)

The condensate appears to not be clipped, should be increased to 32mm or lagged

And this is just what we can see :eek::eek::eek:

Bit of a sh*te job then...

I wonder how much he [STRIKE]was conned out of [/STRIKE] paid?

:rotfl:

dannyxx25

gemsgalore, by law your neighbour should've had a condensing boiler installed, therefore what is emitted from the flue is called "pluming" which basically means steam/water vapour, and you may see a little bit of water running out of it. It should certainly be odourless. But despite this it should still be in a position where it doesn't cause any nuisance.