British Gas can't find a leak, but one of our rooms smells of gas

[GQuigley67]

methane doesn't have a smell they add a chemical to it to give it that distinctive smell so you can detect a leak.

 

[GQuigley67]

isnt that sulphur ?

 

[kirkgas]

it wouldnt be the first time a gas guy has been called to a "smell of gas i think" for it to be traced to a broken drain with the sub floor completed flooded with raw sewage, given the work all ready carried out, and the fact there is a smell, it MUST be coming from somewhere,

 

[kirkgas]

methane doesn't have a smell they add a chemical to it to give it that distinctive smell so you can detect a leak.

i appreciate that, but the transporter adds "something" to piped gas so we can smell it, and we add "something" to our gas and as a by product when you are near a choked manhole you can smell it as well, either way up it is possible a broken drain or dampness is causing the smell

 

[buster gonads]

I once had the corgi inspector to a house after the owner could smell gas but there was no drop on the test, turned out to be some dog food that had gone off, apparently rotton veg can also give off a gas like smell, have you stored any food in the garage in the past, just a thought.

 

[GQuigley67]

Methane itself does not have an especially pungent odor, making it nearly impossible to detect leaks via sense of smell alone. Thus, a foul-smelling compound is added to methane before it's used commercially, for safety reasons.

I know that mate I mentioned it earlier in the post 😛

as for kirkgas yeh I know what you mean I think its when it is mixed with hydrogen sulphite that gives it the eggy smell, which is a form of sulphur I think I'm not 100% sure.

 

[GQuigley67]

methane doesn't have a smell naturally it gives that eggy smell when mixed with hydrogen sulphite(sulphur i believe) which is produced naturally in our bowels.. So a combination of the 2 produces the eggy smell, methane on its own doesn't have a smell or if it does we can't detect it. That's my 2 cents anyhow may not be correct but I'm not a scientist I'm a Plumber 🙂

 

[kirkgas]

😛

whatever you sound like you will get a slap for your language, thats a certainty

 

[REDSAW]

i believe its ethyl butyl however its spelt.

 

[Bernie2]

ethyl butyl I think I knew a woman called that once!

Anyway ask Transco to run there sniffer over it. It does seem a bit of an unusual way of doing things to me. If you report a leak, Transco usually test your gas carcass and if a drop is found they shut and cap it off or tell you to get a Gas Safe guy in to find where the leak is.

But if your carcass is okay, they get their sniffers out and start to explore their mains supply.

 

[cobra]

just a guess- could it be radon gas that naturally occurs from underground in some parts of country. contact council to find out i think they should know on their plans etc

 

[ecowarm]

This is an old thread but RADON is odorless, tasteless and colourless gas and is produced by rotting uranium, it is also radioactive so I would suggest it is not the problem.

 

[Spanner2k7]

Anyway ask Transco to run there sniffer over it. It does seem a bit of an unusual way of doing things to me. If you report a leak, Transco usually test your gas carcass and if a drop is found they shut and cap it off or tell you to get a Gas Safe guy in to find where the leak is.

I had a problem with one where I moved a gas pipe in the kitchen, tested before I went home, everything was fine. The next the sparky was in re-wiring the kitchen, took the floor up and could smell gas, so the foreman rang me, could I go and have a look whilst I was in the same street, went around put a drop test on and it was fine, but there was defernitly a smell of gas, and my sniffer was picking it up.

The foreman came around and asked if I found anything, I told the u gauge had been on half an hour and probably dropped 1mb.

We had a look around and could not find anything until I realised, that was timber framed house and on the back of the kitchen was next doors kitchen, so I suggested the leak was coming from there, and the foreman agreed and we called transco. The next door void property which we could not get access.

Transco came out with there £1500 sniffer and said they could not detect any trace off gas.

Two weeks later, the goes into the void property, and theres a strong smell of gas coming from the cooker hose. God knows how long that was leaking, and could you imagine the consequences if that went up

 

[midge]

Also look in all the nooks and crannies for a dead rat or mouse

 

[andyplumber]

i had a job years ago where i was getting a 10mb drop on the installation so i capped the meter off with a disk and replaced the gas supply to the boiler and cooker as most of it was lead, did a tightness test again still a drop so i called transco and capped it again. they came out used their sniffer and couldn't find a leak so he did a tightness test and he said it must be on the installation, he packed up and as he was leaving i forgot i left the disk in the meter union so the tightness test we did was meter only, tuned out it was the seam on the meter after he replaced it it was spot on.. So it go to show that transco don't check everything they just detect a leak on a drop test and assume it the pipework.