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Gas leak after mains replacement / meter move.

cubegame
cubegame Posts: 2,042 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
Hi. I wonder if anyone can offer advice. Last week our holiday home had the mains replacement work done by SGN during which the meter was moved.

Unfortunately, after connecting back up the fitter found a leak. He promptly capped the supply, told us we needed to get the leak repaired, passed us a safety notice to acknowledge and left.

After a mad busy week in which I've been struggling to find someone to fix it (we need someone at the weekend) it occurred that I should have challenged him more and wonder if I should be hassling SGN as their fitter either caused the leak in disturbing the pipework or didn't follow procedure.

After a bit of reading I understand he should have done and recorded a drop test before moving the meter which would have indicated a leak. Is this true?

Second, I understand that on finding a leak he should have individually isolated each appliance in order to determine where the source maybe. Is this correct?

We're in the fortunate situation where it's not essential for us to need the gas at the moment but it seems a very odd procedure they follow. Am old and vulnerable person would be left to flounder!

Comments

  • Skools_Out
    Skools_Out Posts: 258 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    cubegame wrote: »
    Hi. I wonder if anyone can offer advice. Last week our holiday home had the mains replacement work done by SGN during which the meter was moved.

    Unfortunately, after connecting back up the fitter found a leak. He promptly capped the supply, told us we needed to get the leak repaired, passed us a safety notice to acknowledge and left.

    After a mad busy week in which I've been struggling to find someone to fix it (we need someone at the weekend)....

    There are 24/7/365 gas engineers out there - look in yellow pages.

    But their charges may be very high for an emergency/weekend call out.

    They will advise you further if there has been any issue in what has been done so far. Your understanding appears somewhat limited in this matter.
  • cubegame
    cubegame Posts: 2,042 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hey, all I know is that there wasn't a gas leak before and there is one afterwards.

    Coincidence? Nope.
  • Jonesya
    Jonesya Posts: 1,823 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 11 August 2018 at 9:51AM
    cubegame wrote: »
    Hey, all I know is that there wasn't a gas leak before and there is one afterwards.
    .

    Difficulty is, I'd suggest that you don't know whether or not you had a leak before, and you don't know where the leak is. Depending on where the pipework runs, it's possible you could have had a small leak which went undetected until now.

    Either way, things are how they are, I'd suggest trawling the yellow pages and the trusted/which trader pages to find a gas fitter to come and locate and repair the leak.

    I don't think you get much luck expecting the meter fitter to start testing and working on the gas pipework and appliances inside your house - that's the homeowner's responsibility.
  • Skools_Out
    Skools_Out Posts: 258 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    cubegame wrote: »
    Hey, all I know is that there wasn't a gas leak before and there is one afterwards.

    Coincidence? Nope.

    As i said, your knowledge appears somewhat limited in this matter. Nonetheless you will need an expert witness to support any allegations you wish to put in any court claim.
  • kaya
    kaya Posts: 2,465 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    cubegame wrote: »
    Hey, all I know is that there wasn't a gas leak before and there is one afterwards.

    Coincidence? Nope.

    And how do you know that? unless you are a competent gas engineer that performed a drop test immediately before the engineer removed the meter i'm afraid your just guessing, you could have had a small leak there since the last test was performed and never known about it, being as they are qualified and i'm assuming from your posts you're not you don't have a legal leg to stand on i'm afraid
    Your only salvation is if you get a fitter in to repair the leak and he doesn't find one and writes a report to say so
  • cubegame wrote: »
    Hey, all I know is that there wasn't a gas leak before and there is one afterwards.

    Coincidence? Nope.
    You are not going to smell a small gas leak venting out somewhere not enclosed. We had one in the kitchen and without a drop test we never noticed it at all. Only when it vents within a closed cupboard or under stairs which does nt get opened too much will you notice that rotten cabbage type smell.
    People of advanced age will lose part of the sense of smell which could locate the smell easily.
    Suppliers mention that to meter readers of "poor smell " on their info on their PDA s on the details of customers if they are very elderly. That is the reason
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