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Brief gas smell in shower

silver17
Posts: 33 Forumite

In the last month or two, occasionally when using the shower I
get a gas smell - it seems to happen as the water reaches temperature
rather than immediately, and goes away quite quickly.
It doesn't happen when I use the bath (shower is in the bath if that makes a difference) or when I use any other taps or the toilet. Only my water and heating are done by gas and everything else is electric. There is also no smell around the boiler or meter when I check them, although wouldn't know if they smell when I use the shower as I live alone.
I had a gas engineer do my annual check a month or so before I started noticing this and everything was tip top although he only checked the boiler and meter.
I've
googled and it's suggesting sewer gas but it doesn't smell 'rotten' or
have a sewage vibe to it, it's just a smell of gas that goes away
very quickly. I'm not sure if it sewer gas given how limited and fleeting it
is and the smell not matching the description I read.It doesn't happen when I use the bath (shower is in the bath if that makes a difference) or when I use any other taps or the toilet. Only my water and heating are done by gas and everything else is electric. There is also no smell around the boiler or meter when I check them, although wouldn't know if they smell when I use the shower as I live alone.
I had a gas engineer do my annual check a month or so before I started noticing this and everything was tip top although he only checked the boiler and meter.
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Comments
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Could it be the trap in your shower?0
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Or a failing durgo/air admittance valve0
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As the shower is over the bath, presumably having either a shower or a bath will cause the boiler to fire up so the fact that when you have a bath the plug is in might suggest the smell comes from the waste - which hasn't got the plug in when you have a shower?
Try pouring half a bucket of water into the bath with the plug not in and see if you can smell anything? If you can, it'll show it's not gas (as in the stuff that makes the boiler get hot) but maybe some kind of gas/pong from the drain0 -
Is your boiler flu, directly besides or below the bathroom ?Ours is - and when the wind is in the wrong direction - we can smell the output from the boiler - this does have a faint whiff of gas !
If I was half as smart as I think I am - I'd be twice as smart as I REALLY am.0 -
Murmansk said:As the shower is over the bath, presumably having either a shower or a bath will cause the boiler to fire up so the fact that when you have a bath the plug is in might suggest the smell comes from the waste - which hasn't got the plug in when you have a shower?
Try pouring half a bucket of water into the bath with the plug not in and see if you can smell anything? If you can, it'll show it's not gas (as in the stuff that makes the boiler get hot) but maybe some kind of gas/pong from the drain
I'll try the bucket idea and am also going to have a few days showering with the plug in, just to see what happens! Thanks for your help!
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MouldyOldDough said:Is your boiler flu, directly besides or below the bathroom ?Ours is - and when the wind is in the wrong direction - we can smell the output from the boiler - this does have a faint whiff of gas !
Thanks for replying. Boiler and meter are in kitchen - the meter is directly below the bath taps/shower head and the boiler is below the other end of the bath. Would a wind theory not affect it coming up through the bathroom sink too which is right next to the bath?
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silver17 said:MouldyOldDough said:Is your boiler flu, directly besides or below the bathroom ?Ours is - and when the wind is in the wrong direction - we can smell the output from the boiler - this does have a faint whiff of gas !
Thanks for replying. Boiler and meter are in kitchen - the meter is directly below the bath taps/shower head and the boiler is below the other end of the bath. Would a wind theory not affect it coming up through the bathroom sink too which is right next to the bath?
Works to fix the plumbing properly, including having a company round to unblock and descale the drain have completely fixed the issue, plus the neighbours kids are now of an age where they're out of nappies.0
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