Potential Gas leak in house we are buying

mattdragon2

Thanks all, there was a leak, only a small one they said but it's all been fixed now.

Misslayed

Glad it's sorted, more to the point safe.
 But just as an aside, when we moved into this house in the 90s, we detected a very strong smell of gas around our front door. Phoned the emergency number, they arrived very quickly, with their 'sniffer probe'. They were mystified, as they could all 'definitely smell gas', but the sniffing machine wasn't registering anything. After much head scratching and consultation, our neighbour arrived home and pointed them to a plant by her front door called, I believe, dragon lily! Much hilarity ensued, neighbour even gave them a cutting! The team said they had been called out to dead rats, blocked drains, but never a plant. 

Ultrasonic

Misslayed said:

Glad it's sorted, more to the point safe.
 But just as an aside, when we moved into this house in the 90s, we detected a very strong smell of gas around our front door. Phoned the emergency number, they arrived very quickly, with their 'sniffer probe'. They were mystified, as they could all 'definitely smell gas', but the sniffing machine wasn't registering anything. After much head scratching and consultation, our neighbour arrived home and pointed them to a plant by her front door called, I believe, dragon lily! Much hilarity ensued, neighbour even gave them a cutting! The team said they had been called out to dead rats, blocked drains, but never a plant. 

That does rather beg the question of why someone would choose to have a plant that smells like a gas leak!

jefaz07

Wilko cat repellent also smells remarkably like gas. 

If gas can be smelled and no readings found then samples of air can be collected and send to the chemist to be analysed. 

Gerry1

Ultrasonic said:

That does rather beg the question of why someone would choose to have a plant that smells like a gas leak!

jefaz07 said:

Wilko cat repellent also smells remarkably like gas.

Perhaps the neighbour wants to repel cats?

Ultrasonic

Gerry1 said:

Ultrasonic said:

That does rather beg the question of why someone would choose to have a plant that smells like a gas leak!

jefaz07 said:

Wilko cat repellent also smells remarkably like gas.

Perhaps the neighbour wants to repel cats?

I'd much rather have a cat by my front door than a smelly plant  .

elsien

Ultrasonic said:

Carrot007 said:

Ultrasonic said:

A smell of gas means a definite leak I'd have thought. 

No many things smell like "gas"  and are safe.

For instance if the owner was a bodger and decided to seal around pipework with something not right for the job the place could well smell of gas, and I guess if it's in the garage you would want to seal it. (I haev been a witness to this sort of thing and it did smell but it was safe).

But I would want to know the gas emergency no was called and confirmed it was not gas juts to be safe before proceeding.

I don't really follow your example there. What would smell like mains gas in your example?

For me I think it's a pretty distinctive smell, as of course it's intended to be. 

A bowlful of swede left out overnight. 
Left both myself and the gas emergency man scratching our heads when his machine was showing no leaks but the smell was definitely still there. 

markin

Ultrasonic said:

Gerry1 said:

Ultrasonic said:

That does rather beg the question of why someone would choose to have a plant that smells like a gas leak!

jefaz07 said:

Wilko cat repellent also smells remarkably like gas.

Perhaps the neighbour wants to repel cats?

I'd much rather have a cat by my front door than a smelly plant  .

Unless the cat uses it as its toilet,