What smells like gas but probably isn't gas?

[Mr Pounder]

Any new tenants? Somebody cooking sprouts? They smell and taste disgusting. Onions can also stink. Any Asians? Their food stinks. I am not a racist .................

[Bod]

You're not !?

[Mr Pounder]

+1

Or a rat under a floorboard - takes a while for the smell to go away,

[george - dicegeorge]

some electrical things smell funny when they're getting a bit burnt/old?

[polygonum]

Certainly can. In a former life I was usually first at work and switched on various kit - including an old Laserjet 4. Some days, maybe one in four but without any obvious pattern, it would stink for a while. A strange "organic chemical" smell - towards petrol but not quite.

[QuackDuck]

Thank you very much everyone for the replies! There are so many so I'm not going to quote them all, but that has given me a lot to investigate.

And yes, it smells like the cooker gas, so it's definitely that chemical that's added to gas (or something that smells similar - I have also noticed that garlic residue under my fingernails after cooking dinner smells like that!).

Dead animal: we did have mice in summer, so it could be that. It did occur to me but I didn't think it could last for four weeks and come and go, but if someone has experienced this with a dead rat then it's a possibility.

Washing machine: I've done a couple of "service washes" with mine recently using soda crystals and 95C water, hasn't made a difference but could be one of the neighbours.

A leak outside: another possibility - BT came and dug up our street a few weeks ago (1.5 weeks after smell had started) and seemed to be using water pumps. Our phone line had gone crackly so I think the heavy rain had flooded something underground. Surely if they had noticed gas they would have smelled it though, and we can't smell it outside (but then, it's not an enclosed space).

One of the neighbours' boilers is under the stairs, actually. The flue outside stinks of gas when it's on, but the gas guys tested the boiler along with everything else and said it was fine. I suppose it could be the flue smell, but I don't see why a) it would come back inside, and b) it would suddenly start now, after being fine for years.

[harry]

It has twice the calorific value.

I seem to remember the comparison they were making was with electricity which at that time had solid hotplate cookers

[Murmansk]

I had to have British Gas out once (in the days before Transco)when I thought I smelt gas, the bloke who came also thought it was gas, but it turned out to be coming from next door where an Asian family lived and was a cooking smell.

There's certainly one spice called asafoetida that really pongs as I remember buying some and everyone at work was commenting on the smell even thought it was inside my rucsack inside two plastic bags!

[polygonum]

I smelt gas, the bloke who came also thought it was gas, but it turned out to be coming from next door where an Asian family lived and was a cooking smell.

buying some and everyone at work was commenting on the smell even thought it was inside my rucsack inside two plastic bags!

It is used by ENT consultants to check people who claim to have lost their sense of smell!

When I have consumed a relatively large amount of it (in truth a tiny fraction of a teaspoonful), even I can smell it in my sweat for a day or two after.

[Java Jive]

[<me9]

Faster than electric for heating the pans, no lag.

[<me9]

[snip]

I've been taken in several times when SWMBO has creosoted (or some other supposedly wood preserving product) the fence. The smell leaks into the house from the garage and has sent me looking (sans match!) for the gas leak.

[polygonum]

Was that not true for town/coal gas as well?

[Mike Barnes]

charles :

Interesting. We get a very localised gas-type smell here after rain, and we've never tracked it down. I've entertained the theory that it's being washed out of the soil, and it's good to hear about something similar. But although there is an currently above-round gas pipe in the area concerned, which has been checked twice, it's unlikely that there ever was an underground gas pipe there.

[mogga]

More annomia-ish - but more easy to track down.

Dead bodies smell a bit cabbagey-drainy after a week. Any neighbours not appeared recently?

[Bill]

In message , Mike Barnes writes

Maybe a scary thought, but what was there before the houses were built? Any chance that there are some nasty chemicals that are getting lifted to the surface with the rain?

Any one who knows Widnes will know about contaminated soil :-) I always thought that one area smelled of cress, the sort that you have with salad, but it was just the mix of chemicals that had been dumped over the years.

[Mike Barnes]

Bill :

Open fields (in 1801).

Funnily enough the outside bogs were in about the right place.

[harry]

That likely won't fix the problem. If the flue is faulty, it needs fixing. If the flue gas is leaking into your house, this is a very dangerous situation. You could be gassed.

[js.b1]

It is not sufficient to test gas pipework.

NG inspectors should insist they test all services. For example supply cable entering via a duct will track a gas leak some dis= tance away from the house into that house. BT damaging an underlying gas pi= pe in this way led to a large explosion some years back.

This is one reason they dig up many areas to find a leak because it can tra= ck - clay is the worst for this, rain opens up clogged areas and the leak c= an be hundreds of yards away.

Rotting organic material can give a gas smell, but it does not have the sam= e additive. However, vapourised paraffin can have a similar smell - greenho= use & similar burners can create unusual smells. Someone who is not used to= the house when walking in can typically spot the smell of a gas leak well,= because it is very distinct.

That it has undergone conversion could mean there is pipework no longer con= nected, this CAN hold a gas smell for some time and only release it occasio= nally if vented only at the bottom. An example being open at the bottom but= still containing lighter than air gas right up through the house.

It is not uncommon for lead gas mains to run under houses, so beware. There= can be faults out of sight resulting in occasional release of gas trapped = under an otherwise impermeable layer during rain. Gas leaks into the sewer = network are very bad news - but usually obvious re a stinky area due to peo= ple's soil pipe vents.

[js.b1]

Would you stick to eating greens, much healthier :-)