Domestic gas supply seems a bit weak...

I just turned the gas on in a house I bought 6 months ago. I guess the gas gas not been used for about a year. The gas pressure seems weak. I just connected up a gas cooker, and if you have a single ring buring, the flame gets as big as you'd expect, but if you have all four rings burning, each ring only produces a rather low flame - probably about half the power it should be. It gets even worse if you light the grill and the oven. Is there anything I can do about this, other than calling transco in and facing a hefty bill? Or do you think the pressure will increase after a while?

Many thanks.

Al

Reply to
AL_n
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A friend had a similar problem in a 'new old' house - it turned out that the gas supply pipe was full of water and the gas had to bubble through. Transco ended up replacing the supply to five houses as it ran across all the back gardens/patios - didn't cost her anything!

But I think that you will need to get a gas engineer in first to check where the problem is.

Peter

Reply to
Peter Andrews

IIUC transco have a requirement to supply gas at a minimum pressure (about 21mBar dynamic pressure after the main governor), so if you suspect its low I would call them and ask. I expect they treat this as a potentially serious fault since the repercussions of an unattended gas ring extinguishing due to a boiler firing up etc are potentially severe!

Reply to
John Rumm

Yes, I can confirm they come out PDQ, and for free, if there's any suspicion of low pressure. Apparently it's usually a faulty governor on the meter, and so not the householder's problem

Reply to
stuart noble

Call 0800 111 999 and tell them your concerns.

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"If you smell gas or are worried about gas safety, you can call 0800 111

999* at any time, day or night. Your call will not cost you anything**. Just pick up the phone, dial the number and you will be put through to a trained operator who will take all the details.

*All calls to the National Gas Emergency Service and National Enquiry lines may be recorded and monitored.

**Some mobile phone network operators may charge you for the call."
Reply to
Dave Osborne

"AL_n" wrote in news:Xns9E1EB2028BEC0zzzzzz@130.133.4.11:

Have you any other gas consumiming appliances connected to the same gas meter? eg gas fire, boiler, warm air heater.

If so how do they seem to be burning?

Did you connect the cooker with a hose already fitted or did you connect the hose to the cooker prior to plugging in or even alter the pipework yourself to enable the cooker to be fitted?

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---

Reply to
Heliotrope Smith

Heliotrope Smith wrote in news:Xns9E1ED2A508FA2smithheliotropemoc@202.177.16.121:

The only other thing in the house *was* a gas fire, which was ripped out prior to my buying the house. There is no gas at all getting to that point, for some reason. There's a gas tap in the pipe, just prior to where someone cut the pipe to remove the fire. Turning the tap on, doesn't result in any gass coming through. Of course, that pipe maye have been long-disused; maybe not even connected to the gas supply any more. Other than that, the cooker is the only appliance.

The hose was already on the cooker when I pluggesd it into the mains. I got the cooker second-hand a few days ago.

Thanks,

Al

Reply to
AL_n

stuart noble wrote in news:ceZxo.3611$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe07.ams:

Thanks for the responses. That's good to know. If it doesn;t improve after a couple of days or so, I'll give 'em a buzz.

Al

Reply to
AL_n

This does not sound like something that will fix itself. Either your supply is substandard or your cooker has a problem. One way or another you need to get it sorted ASAP.

Reply to
John Rumm

John Rumm wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

Is there a way I can test the cooker? Is this sort of thing a known fault with gas cookers?

Al

Reply to
AL_n

You can check the obvious stuff like making sure the hose is not kinked when you slide it into position. TBH, its much easier if you know the gas pressure is ok first.

Reply to
John Rumm

Call National Grid.

There will not be a charge if that is what you are worried about. You have low pressure when turning on more than one burner which is a quite genuine reason to call them out.

They will check their meter, regulator, ECV & anaconda (stainless flex pipe). They will check appliances are getting the correct pressure. They will check pipework for leaks (pressure drop & extremely sensitive sniffer). They will check the gas cooker fittings are correctly fitted. They will check the disconnected gas fire point is safe.

Up to the meter, and the meter, they will fix because it is their equipment.

After the meter, they generally resolve any problems which may be rectified in a reasonable time. They are not going to "fix your boiler", but subject to time they can go as far as resoldering a whole pile of pipework (relative had circa 12 joints resoldered originally installed by BG, NG were here best part of a day, no charge).

A fault with the regulator (or anaconda) is a clear safety matter which needs ruling out ASAP.

Reply to
js.b1

"js.b1" wrote in news:aec0450f-09a0-4ae2-ae52- snipped-for-privacy@r14g2000yqa.googlegroups.com:

You're very helpful - thanks! Thanks also to the other respondees.

Al

Reply to
AL_n

John Rumm wrote in news:B8WdnTiaB snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

Thanks. I checked the hose which seemed fine, so I called Transco and there was a engineer here within an hour. It was the meter. The battery was flat. He put a new battery and thumped the meter a few times to bring it to life (!) and hey presto, gas at the right pressure! So thanks to all here who advised on this one!

Al

Reply to
AL_n

Well you learn something every day - I did not know there were gas meters out there with batteries in. I suppose its a fancy digital one?

Still nice to know the old engineering stalwart of "percussive maintenance" is still in use ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

Probably a prepay meter.

I have just nipped out to look at my new gas meter. Installed on 19/09/2010. No batteries needed. And 28 units used to date- that does not seem to be right.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

John Rumm wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

Yup - and a prepayment meter.

Yes. Luckily his clenched fist did the trick. I was glad he didn't have resort to the 9 lb "gentle persuader". ;-)

Al

Reply to
AL_n

Have you had the heating on? Doing just hot water, even our inefficient lump of a boiler can keep the water hot for about 0.7 units a day.

Reply to
John Rumm

After engaging my brain and ignoring the date on the meter I can guess that the meter was actually installed on the 19/07/2010.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

If you're being charged prepayment meter rates for your gas, you might like to consider switching to Ebico (Equitable Billing Company).

By means of refunds on the bill, they ensure the price you pay for your gas is independent of the method of payment.

They supply electricity on the same basis.

More here:

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Reply to
Terry Fields

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