Help horrible smell!

jen1

Hi there is a really horrible fishy smell coming from behind my fire place and is getting worse by the day. Does anyone know what it might be and who can i get to sort it ie Plumber, Builder etc as we have a pine mantel.
Any help would be much appreciated Thanks

Sue_B_4

Don't want to worry you , but - a similar thing happened to me and the fishy smell turned out to be smouldering electrical wires.

jen1

Great who did you get round to sort the job. I do hope not sounds expensive!

Gem_

Are we talking a gas fire or an electric one?

Gas = get a plumber who does central heating
Elec = Electrician

The norm with these things is that you can move the fire out without taking the mantel down. If you do need to take the mantel off then it is probably only attached with a couple of screws.

Smoldering wires sounds like something you should check for ASAP

G

jen1

Thanks its a gas fire luckily im not using it at mo due to warm temps.

ariba10

It could be a bird has fallen down the chimney and died. If so the smell will go after a week or two.

jen1

Would i have an wires behind a gas fire to burn out?

hazeyj

This smell in my experience is always down to electrics. Your gas fire will need to use electricty to turn it on.

jen1

Thankyou just trying to get hold of plumber now. fingers crossed

Trishh_2

We had the same smell in our hall .... turned out it was coming from the electric meter cupboard.... It was overheating (or something) and melted, nearly caused a fire. Thankfully it happened in the daytime and not at night, when we'd have been asleep. Got an electrician out as soon as I realized where it was coming from and he replaced the whole thing. Don't hang about with this, it's far too dangerous.

emilyt

There has been a couple of threads on here already about this problem. Definately electrical. Ours was coming from the electric switch for the shower. Also bakerlite can cause the same smell. Hope you sort it out soon.