National Grid cost me £60

scruffian

Hi

I thought I smelt gas in our property back in June. I wasn't sure but my wife said it was better to be safe than sorry, so I called National Grid, the man came and took a measurement. He said we had a severe gas leak and he would need to turn off the gas immediately. At this point no one could smell gas.

A few weeks ago we arranged for someone to come and repair our leak. They took a look at the system and could find no leak. His theory was that the National Grid engineer didn't account for the pilot light on our boiler and so what appeared to be a leak was simply the pilot light, and he reinstated our gas and charged us £60.

This was very frustrating - a slight whiff of gas cost me £60. I called National Grid to complain about their engineer, and went through their complaints procedure - they say there is nothing they can do, and that their engineer acted appropriately.

This post isn't so much a question as a warning - DO NOT CALL NATIONAL GRID UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE A LEAK.

I spoke with some detail with the person on the phone and they told me that a Gas Safe engineer can turn the gas on if the leak is between 0 and 4 millibars, but their engineers HAVE to turn it off if there is any leak at all. I don't believe that this is my situation but it does mean that a call to National Grid can easily cost you money.

I hope this helps someone.

HappyMJ

scruffian wrote: »

Hi

I thought I smelt gas in our property back in June. I wasn't sure but my wife said it was better to be safe than sorry, so I called National Grid, the man came and took a measurement. He said we had a severe gas leak and he would need to turn off the gas immediately. At this point no one could smell gas.

A few weeks ago we arranged for someone to come and repair our leak. They took a look at the system and could find no leak. His theory was that the National Grid engineer didn't account for the pilot light on our boiler and so what appeared to be a leak was simply the pilot light, and he reinstated our gas and charged us £60.

This was very frustrating - a slight whiff of gas cost me £60. I called National Grid to complain about their engineer, and went through their complaints procedure - they say there is nothing they can do, and that their engineer acted appropriately.

This post isn't so much a question as a warning - DO NOT CALL NATIONAL GRID UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE A LEAK.

I spoke with some detail with the person on the phone and they told me that a Gas Safe engineer can turn the gas on if the leak is between 0 and 4 millibars, but their engineers HAVE to turn it off if there is any leak at all. I don't believe that this is my situation but it does mean that a call to National Grid can easily cost you money.

I hope this helps someone.

Smell gas ... call the national grid emergency number or take a risk that your house will explode. OK ....I'll check all my gas appliances myself...Should I use a match to check for leaks?

I'd say the £60 charged to you by your gas engineer was £60 well spent.

Wywth

scruffian wrote: »

Hi

I thought I smelt gas in our property back in June. I wasn't sure but my wife said it was better to be safe than sorry, so I called National Grid, the man came and took a measurement. He said we had a severe gas leak and he would need to turn off the gas immediately. At this point no one could smell gas.

A few weeks ago we arranged for someone to come and repair our leak. They took a look at the system and could find no leak. His theory was that the National Grid engineer didn't account for the pilot light on our boiler and so what appeared to be a leak was simply the pilot light, and he reinstated our gas and charged us £60.

This was very frustrating - a slight whiff of gas cost me £60. I called National Grid to complain about their engineer, and went through their complaints procedure - they say there is nothing they can do, and that their engineer acted appropriately.

This post isn't so much a question as a warning - DO NOT CALL NATIONAL GRID UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU HAVE A LEAK.

I spoke with some detail with the person on the phone and they told me that a Gas Safe engineer can turn the gas on if the leak is between 0 and 4 millibars, but their engineers HAVE to turn it off if there is any leak at all. I don't believe that this is my situation but it does mean that a call to National Grid can easily cost you money.

I hope this helps someone.

You did have a leak. You smelt it. Even if it was leaking from an unlit pilot light.

Many appliances should have an automatic cut off if the pilot light goes out. Perhaps that was faulty too.

National Grid won't repair faulty appliances, - they simply make things safe. And they don't charge you either.

Whoever you called charged you £60 ... and may only have done half a job by the sounds of it.

scruffian

I didn't have a leak. The pilot light wasn't leaking, it was lit. There was no leak, just a slight gassy smell in the house. We weren't at all sure that there was a leak, but we thought better safe than sorry. Now we know better!

HappyMJ

scruffian wrote: »

I didn't have a leak. The pilot light wasn't leaking, it was lit. There was no leak, just a slight gassy smell in the house. We weren't at all sure that there was a leak, but we thought better safe than sorry. Now we know better!

What is your recommendation if you have a smell of gas in the house?

A ) Ignore it it'll go away
B ) Call the national grid emergency number to turn the gas off within a half hour for free if a leak exists
C ) Call a gas engineer to come out within a few hours charging you £60 and fix the gas leak

scruffian

My recommendation is to be a little bit more circumspect when calling. Don't just think, oh I think there might be a leak but it might just be that someone let off in here, I'll call just in case, as it will probably cost you £60. Instead just be sure that you really can smell something before you call.

Wywth

scruffian wrote: »

I didn't have a leak....!

Yes you did.
Not only by the fact you smelt gas, but also by the fact

scruffian wrote: »

...National Grid, ... came and took a measurement. He said we had a severe gas leak...

scruffian

The reason he said we had a severe gas leak is that the pilot light was lit, so gas was being released through the system. He didn't think to check that we had a pilot light, so he assumed that the reason that gas was leaving the system was because of the leak, not because of the pilot light.

HappyMJ

scruffian wrote: »

The reason he said we had a severe gas leak is that the pilot light was lit, so gas was being released through the system. He didn't think to check that we had a pilot light, so he assumed that the reason that gas was leaving the system was because of the leak, not because of the pilot light.

What else happened?

I've had a leak before and the gas engineer that arrived used a gas leak detector with a wand to find the leaking gas appliance then capped it off.

scruffian

He tried using a gas leak detector with a wand but was unable to find any leak.

closed

lots of assumptions going on

you're assuming one professional is, and one isn't, but what if it's the other way around.

if the pilot light was lit, and the flue was expelling everything outside, you shouldn't smell anything inside. Was there a gale blowing?

if flue gas is getting inside, you might want to buy a carbon monoxide detector

who used the wand, and what was the basis for the disconnect.