Gas smell, slightly

[SS]

gas boiler in garage, on a couple of ocassion there seems to be a vague gas type smell, I dont suspect a gas leak or the thing would be off and services called. It is a combi boiler about 18 months old. And wondering if it could be one of 2 things.....

1. Could in the correct circumstances fumes from the exhaust outlet be coming into the garage? They would need to travel about 20 feet turn a right hand corner and come back in an open garage door.Would these fumes have a gas type smell?
2. I did on a couple of ocassions (due to freezing condensate pipe) disconnect this pipe internally and let drip into a tray til weather got warmer and maybe I have not sealed properly. Would this give a gaseous type smell?

The smell although very faint does seem to be in the area of the boiler, but only on a couple of ocassions, I have turned the boiler up to run it constantly for say half hour turned off and gone into garage and smell nothing, I cannot recreate the smell at will.

Any thoughts on this.

[brass monkey]

If it's intermittent I'd get it checked and ensure I got a chit to prove it.

[Derek G.]

We had an intermittent smell of gas in our house and also in the street for the first 15 years from new. We had the gas board out to it more than once. The gas board emergency fitter just said "These things are warnings" and proceaded to try and sell us a service contract.

Then one of the neighbours had a kitchen extension and on demolishing an internal wall exposed an end feed solder fitting on a gas pipe which had never been soldered (just pushed together). 8-((

End of problem.

Derek G

[BartC]

I rented a bedsit once, with a constant faint smell of gas which I assumed went with the bedsit.

But after a few weeks I measured at the meter, and it was using 0.3 cubic feet overnight! Turned out there was a leak from the cooker.

This bedsit also had a coin operated electric meter (fortunately at opposite corner from the gas meter), which gave me an electric shock every time I put a £1 coin in.

[Spamlet]

Combustion fumes would not smell of 'gas' - ie. what they put in the gas to make it smell; though they may have a smell of their own.

Check any easily accessible joints with dilute washing up liquid and water to see if they blow bubbles, and you can nip up any loose nuts (give it time for bubbles to develop, and differentiate from any you make yourself when you paint the solution on). Any joints in the boiler are for the fitter to check.

As it's the garage, check that you haven't bashed into and damaged any of the pipes and fittings.

As your boiler is only 18 months old I would call the fitter back to check his work.

One other possibility: if like me you salvaged old iron pipes from under the floors when the system was redone, and you have them in the garage, they retain the gas smell for years. I was amazed at the smell when I cut them, and almost thought I'd made a mistake and cut pipes that were still connected.

S

[A.Clews]

Thus spake BartC ( [e-mail]) unto the assembled multitudes:

I wonder how much of that £1 was used up in giving you the electric shock? Adding insult to injury, IMHO :-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Spamlet explained :

The purges and first few seconds before the gas is lit, would smell of gas.

Is the flue properly sealed into the wall or what ever the flue passes through?

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 19/12/2010, harry supposed :

A basic check, when the boiler is to be off for a good long period - check the reading on the meter, then check it again just before the boiler is turned back on. If no other appliances have been used, it should read exactly the same.

[newshound]

Do a standard "leak test" using the test point on the meter with a home-made manometer? The correct procedure has been posted (by Ed?) but I can't find the link for the moment.