British Gas (Gas Leak)

[Deleted User]

Hi Mark, take it from me the sort of gas leaks which end up blowing house up are quite big, I ve heard and smelt a couple over the years . You could hear the gas escape hissing, and one I went in with a plumbers apprentice upstairs in the bathoom, the gas was coming out full blast and he never felt at all queasy, even tho you could see the prescence of gas in the air.I think the volume of gas to air has to be extreme to reach the explosion catergory. We come accross hundreds of smallish leaks which would never get to the explosion category. We had a small leak from our meter, our property for years and did nt even notice it until a plumber did a vacuum test. I suppose theres no harm in trying for a bit of compo though

ValHaller

sacsquacco wrote: »

Hi Mark, take it from me the sort of gas leaks which end up blowing house up are quite big, I ve heard and smelt a couple over the years . You could hear the gas escape hissing, and one I went in with a plumbers apprentice upstairs in the bathoom, the gas was coming out full blast and he never felt at all queasy, even tho you could see the prescence of gas in the air.I think the volume of gas to air has to be extreme to reach the explosion catergory.

From http://www.nclabor.com/osha/etta/hazard_alerts/GasPurging.pdf

Natural gas is a highly flammable gas that readily burns in air and can explode when it accumulates in a confined space. The flammable limits in air for natural gas range from 3.8-6.5 percent (lower explosive limit, “LEL”) to 13-17 percent (upper explosive limit, “UEL”).

Natural gas is also a simple asphyxiant and will readily displace oxygen in air at higher concentrations. The immediately dangerous
to life and health (IDLH) level is 1,200 parts per million (ppm).

Once natural gas reaches a concentration between 3.8% and 17% it is potentially explosive

[Deleted User]

My experience says those very low figures of concentration are misleading. "Potentially" and " confined spaces " are in the wording. with my plumbers apprentice in the bathroom, the meter was in a confined space ( pantry under stairs ) gas was hissing out at full pelt . without using my torch I turned control valve off. opened all windows, the escaping gas from the doors and windows could be seen as a sort of mirage effect. In the pantry itself the smell of gas was choking. I lived to tell the tale, no explosions with gas volumes at such a high level. This is my experience , not some health n safety stuff. Very alarmist to predict explosions in someones kitchen or living room at low 3% level

ValHaller

sacsquacco wrote: »

My experience says those very low figures of concentration are misleading. "Potentially" and " confined spaces " are in the wording. with my plumbers apprentice in the bathroom, the meter was in a confined space ( pantry under stairs ) gas was hissing out at full pelt . without using my torch I turned control valve off. opened all windows, the escaping gas from the doors and windows could be seen as a sort of mirage effect. In the pantry itself the smell of gas was choking. I lived to tell the tale, no explosions with gas volumes at such a high level. This is my experience , not some health n safety stuff. Very alarmist to predict explosions in someones kitchen or living room at low 3% level

Nothing alarmist about it. Upper and Lower Explosive limits are not limits for spontaneous explosion. A source of ignition is still required. Natural gas probably would never explode spontaneously at any concentration in air. But taking the more restrictive limits of 6.5% to 13%, an explosion is almost certain if there is a source of ignition

ollski

5 - 15% were the flammability limits in any gas training I ever had.

thegirlintheattic

Mark71 wrote: »

Thats because it is the same question, me and my partner both put a post on here, I was going to delete my thread but could not figure out how.
Also yes it is about compensation, and why not, if the house had of exploded due to the engineers negligence you would be reading about in the paper or seeing it on the news, these things do happen so why not put in the complaint and get justice, you put trust in there engineers to carry out work correctly and dont think for a moment that they could do such a botched up job and put peoples lifes at risk, the whole street could of gone up, what would you do? accept there apology and let it go?.

IMHO, anyone who doesn't call the gas company when they smell gas for 24 hours (never mind getting sick and knowing work had recently been done) doesn't deserve comp.

C_Mababejive

If you have ever experienced 5% gas in air concentration within a building you will realise that in comparison,most reproted escapes are miniscule. The human nose can detect gas concentrations of a few 10s of parts per million and so escapes are reported in the majority of cases long long before they enter anything close to the combustible zone.

[Deleted User]

Mark71 wrote: »

Gas made an offer of compensation as it was there error, £2000, so just goes to show you it does work to complain.

Ha Ha Ha Ha:D
Numerous new forum accounts and two different threads. Compensation agreed within 24 hours.
Ooookaaaay.:T