Very, very faint smell of gas every now and then

BishBashBosh86

Hi,


So for several months I've noticed a very, very faint smell of gas every now and then when I'm in the living room. It is not constant and I can go days/weeks without noticing it. Each time I've found it very difficult to work out where it was coming from as there are no obvious gas pipes in the living room from my knowledge.



Last week I was working out on the floor and picked up a faint whiff of gas. I pressed my nose right down to a spot where the skirting meets the carpet and that's where it was coming from.

When I moved into the property (its an 80s ex council house - concrete floor) there was an electric fire and when I took this down, behind that there was a hole for what I assume was an old fireplace. There were no obvious pipes sticking out the ground or in the hole so we just covered the hole - the covered hole is right where I am getting the faint whiff (at the bottom of the skirting).

However its not a constant smell.

I initially thought something weird was going on with the boiler flue maybe being connected to the original flue for the chinmey but having gone up into the attic, the boiler flue goes straight out the side of the house and does not go near the original flue. I then thought maybe the gas smell is being blown across from the flue and down the chimney and is trickling in through a tiny hole from the original fireplace but that doesn't really make sense.


So I'm thinking there maybe an old gas pipe there that was originally capped off when they took the original fireplace away - tbh I don't know for certain. But if it was leaking why dont I smell it all the time? Why does it just come and go - surely a leak would just continue to well, leak?

I'm not sure how concerned I should be about it - obviously its not great that I can smell gas even if it is really faint. It's not constant - it's not like there is a constant stream of gas coming out that I can smell.
Can you even call out the gas company to just see if they can detect any pipes there? Or should I just monitor it and if it gets worse call out the gas company?

Doozergirl

Do you get your boiler serviced? You can call your gas engineer to do a pressure test for you and it will determine if there's a leak.

You can call the gas company out, but if there is an unacceptable leak, they'll cap you off and not fix anything so you'd need a gas engineer anyway!

FreeBear

Doozergirl wrote: »

You can call the gas company out, but if there is an unacceptable leak, they'll cap you off and not fix anything so you'd need a gas engineer anyway!

Had a whiff of gas when I had the floor up in the kitchen many years ago. Called the gas board (current nymber is 0800 111 999) and they came out within an hour or so. Found an old iron pipe under the concrete that had been capped & very rusty. This was from an ancient gas installation and the meter had been removed sometime in the 60s.

After tracing the pipe, they dug a hole on the other side of the road and disconnected the pipe from the gas main - Cracked the main in the process and had to do an emergency repair to it pretty darned quick.

Pointed out that the pipe also fed the neighbour's house, but was assured "we don't do that sort of thing". Suffice to say, neighbour returned from holiday to find his gas supply had been cut off. The same crew came out a day or two later to fit a new meter and gas supply - Had to say it.... "Told you so"

At the end of the day, neighbour was happy, because he got a meter installed outside which he had always wanted, but wasn't willing to pay the price to have it moved. The gas board had to do it free of charge. They didn't charge me either for "fixing" the leak.

bris

The gas can leak but pass a tightness test if the drop is less than 4mb.


The problem is though if the drop is less than 4mb but there is a smell of gas then it fails the test and needs to be capped. So because you can smell gas you really need this seen too.


Get a gas safe engineer to come out with a gas sniffer, a good one can pick up even small traces. This will give them a place to start the trace for the problem area.

BishBashBosh86

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Would it just be easier and quicker to call the Emergency gas number?
Im aware that this could lead to my gas being turned off but tbh if there is a leak where I think it is, the gas will get turned off one way or another.

I could call in the morning and hopefully get it seen too pretty sharpish.

FreeBear

BishBashBosh86 wrote: »

Would it just be easier and quicker to call the Emergency gas number?

If you can smell gas, call the emergency number any time of the day and they will be out very quickly. Better to be safe than have the place blow up in the middle of the night.

fezster

Agree with above, call the emergency number and get someone from your gas network out. I believe most gas networks allow 30 minutes to identify and fix the source of the leak - but IME, it does very much depend on the person who comes out and how bothered he can be to do so. Therefore, assume the gas will be turned off and you'll need an engineer out to fix the leak.

p00hsticks

fezster wrote: »

I believe most gas networks allow 30 minutes to identify and fix the source of the leak - but IME, it does very much depend on the person who comes out and how bothered he can be to do so.

This is very optimistic - we had a leak last year and it took 48 hours to get the gas supply restored, and a couple more days for the hole outside the house to be filled in. It took about six blokes altogether and involved laying a whole new set of pipes to replace the existing one underground that had obviously fractured somewhere.



I was very impressed with the overall service - we were given electric fans and a hot plate to use while the gas was off, the whole thing was dealt with very efficiently by Cadent, and as the leak was the the public side of the meter the work was free of charge - the OP may not be as lucky in this repsect.

chrisw

You need to ensure there's no gas leak as a priority.

However, sometimes blocked drains or a slight air leak from the sewers can also cause a gas-like smell. Could that be a possibility? Are there any manholes in the vicinity?

fezster

p00hsticks wrote: »

fezster wrote: »

Agree with above, call the emergency number and get someone from your gas network out. I believe most gas networks allow 30 minutes to identify and fix the source of the leak - but IME, it does very much depend on the person who comes out and how bothered he can be to do so. Therefore, assume the gas will be turned off and you'll need an engineer out to fix the leak.

This is very optimistic -

No, just based on experience with SGN. I had similar circumstances to the OP where I would occasionally smell gas for a few seconds in the garage, but it wouldn't be consistent.

SGN sent somebody around who did a tightness test and it all checked out. However, in that time, he also noticed the smell of gas, so spent a good 10 mins checking the gas pipe in the garage and found the source of the leak. He then proceeded to resolder the fitting and that's when he said they are allowed to spend up to 30 mins to investigate and repair.

In my case, I had the offending fitting replaced by my own engineer as it began to leak again a few months later.

stator

It could also be a dead rat or mouse. I know someone who called out a gas engineer and it turned out to be a dead rodent


If you get your hands on an endoscopic camera, you could shove it down the hole and see what's down there