Gas smell under stairs?

iandv

Hi

Our gas meter is under our stairs and whenever you open the door of the cupboard there is a smell of gas, is this normal?

I bought a Kidde CO2 Carbon Monoxide alarm is the reading shows 0 so that is fine, but is the smell of gas just coming from the meter normal?

Or should we call someone? We has gas engineers out about a week ago and they did not report any gas leaks etc when they were installing/testing a new feed to the cooker - when they put the pressure gauge on it was not showing any significant drops.

Should I call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800111999 for them to come round and check it out for me

tony6403

If you can smell gas then YES get in touch with the National Grid immediately.

ormus

natural gas is nearly all methane.

CO2 is carbon dioxide. usually harmless. the bubbles in your cola and beer.
CO is carbon monoxide. the stuff that kills you. the silent killer.

you need a natural gas detector to sniff out the gas.

if you can smell gas , then shut off the main gas valve and call out the gas suppliers.

BaldPlumber

In existing installations the regulations state that a tiny leak is permissible over a 2 minute timed test. This is only allowable if there is no smell of gas. Call 0800 111 999 and the national grid people will turn up and test. Be aware though, they will not fix anything and will only make safe - which normally means capping your gas supply completely.

iandv

Its strange I have just had gas safe engineers out and they fixed a leak by cutting off the old pipework by the meter and run a new feed to the gas hob and boiler.

Transco came about 4 weeks ago and found no trace of a gas escape - and the gas safe engineers have done pressure tests which have been fine? so not sure why there is still a smell of gas coming from the meter? It must be the meter that is causing the smell? and would transco fix this if it was the meter?

Canucklehead

Hi,

Hopefully you have had a visit from National Grid.

I suspect all will be sound but you must get it checked.

Now you need to get the crew who altered your pipework back to CAP or otherwise SEAL the old pipework they left with open ends.


GSR.

ic

Its quite possible that next door have a leak and you're smelling that - is the cupboard adjacent to theirs? Knock on and ask your neighbours. Its quite likely that the engineers you have are so used to smelling gas whilst doing their tests (some inevitably escapes whilst they do it) that they didn't smell it.

However, as others have said - call National Grid NOW. There is no charge to do so.

My grandparents could smell gas one time, we called out British Gas (now National Grid) the guy came round, confirmed there was gas and that their supply was OK, and then promptly booted down the door of the neighbours and disconnected their supply - the leak was in their cellar and was coming through the brick work.

crawford2110

hi we had the same issue with ours meter in the cupboard under the stairs, we called out british gas who said that although there was a leak (cracked pipe joint) it was within guidelines and that they did not need to deal with it. needless to say we were not happy with this and called out are own gas man who said although british gas were correct it was better to repair the crack and quoted 80 pound to replace the joint which we agreed to. he came back to us a few days later with a compound that sealed the joint tested the area again and alls clear and charged us 10 pound

rockin_plumber

crawford2110 - If you could smell gas then it wasn't within guidelines


iandv - I actually had a problem here at my house about 8 months ago, where the pipework and meter passed the tightness test but I was still getting a whiff of gas now and again...

I managed to track it to the governor (controls the gas pressure would be on the top left hand side of the meter)

It was leaking but only when gas was being used, called 0800 111 999 and they came out and verified that's what it was and changed it.

crawford2110

the leak was a non hazardous grade 3 leak.

gas4you

crawford2110 wrote: »

the leak was a non hazardous grade 3 leak.

!!!!!! does that mean. Never heard of that. If there is a smell of gas then no leak is allowed, whatever so called grade they call it:eek: