Gas like smell

[shelleystewart42]

Hi we have been living in our bungalow since March and never had any proble ms with smells but after being away for ten days we can home and there was a really bad gas like smell in the little hallway and in the bathroom that leads off the hall way although it wasn't in the lounge and bedroom next to this hall. It went away after two hours we had a knock from a gas man toda y as our neigh our had also reported a gas smell in their kitchen he checke d their home and metres etc. And then checked ours but found no leak. Wen m y husband went to put our suitcase in the attic he opened the loft hatch an d the same gas smell hit him again from the loft. So we again called the ga s board and a different man came he checked the loft with a machine but not hing registered although he cud smell something. He checked the boiler and metre again and still registered clear. He said he was certain there was n o leaks . We are still very concerned as we have children as to what this o dour is if not a gas leak . Can something else cause this gas like smell ?

[Scott M]

Sewer gas smells? If there's an internal soil stack terminator (damned if I can think of the right name) in the loft it could be playing up and not sealing properly.

Otherwise probably is a mains gas leak but of such small amount that it takes a long time to build up enough to be noticeable. And is then easily wafted away when you open a door/loft hatch etc. While it wants to be sorted, I don't think these normally build up to a dangerous level.

[Andy Burns]

Checked for old cabbages in a cupboard? If it's more 'fishy' then it can be e.g. a plastic lampholder decomposing.

Or it could just be France at it again

[Cash]

Durgo Valve or Air Admittance Valve - before I had ours taken out as part of a roof renewal, the bloody thing used to sometimes jam or freeze open. To be fair though, it had seen many years service.

Cash

[Tricky Dicky]

Stink horn mushrooms can give off a gas like smell look for a phallic like growth in any undergrowth under hedges and trees. The smell attracts flies which help to spread their spores, if you have any do not handle them other wise you will stink from it but dig the testicle like root out and dispose in a sealed plastic bag.

Richard

[google]

On Saturday, October 10, 2015 at 9:56:00 PM UTC+1, [e-mail] wr ote:

lems with smells but after being away for ten days we can home and there wa s a really bad gas like smell in the little hallway and in the bathroom tha t leads off the hall way although it wasn't in the lounge and bedroom next to this hall. It went away after two hours we had a knock from a gas man to day as our neigh our had also reported a gas smell in their kitchen he chec ked their home and metres etc. And then checked ours but found no leak. Wen my husband went to put our suitcase in the attic he opened the loft hatch and the same gas smell hit him again from the loft. So we again called the gas board and a different man came he checked the loft with a machine but n othing registered although he cud smell something. He checked the boiler a nd metre again and still registered clear. He said he was certain there was no leaks . We are still very concerned as we have children as to what this odour is if not a gas leak . Can something else cause this gas like smell ?

We had a gas smell, and after lots of investigation (e.g. some floorboards up), I found that the builder had hammered a pipe, which must have been a b it proud, so that they could plaster over it. Over time, the plaster had c orroded the copper. I mention this because we twice had someone from the g as board out, and they didn't detect a leak. I think it's because a very s mall leak 'passes the test', as it were, but whatever they put in it (ethyl or methyl mercaptan, I think) so that we can still smell it is very detect able by the human nose.

[alan_m]

Do you live anywhere near a petrol station? Where I live, a few times a year and when the wind is non-existent the fumes from a petrol station delivery linger and smell like a gas leak. Much more noticeable outdoors but if the fumes linger around long enough a trace permeates indoors.

[polygonum]

Mushrooms do not have roots!

They only stink for a short time - a few days. They seem especially partial to appearing under holly bushes/trees.

[Brian-Gaff]

I'd go for the sewer gas first. Often due to a build up of organic gunge somewhere and it comes up in any drain nearby, ewhich makes me wonder if this house has one of those pipes that sticks up above the roof and its coming in somehow that way.

The issue of build up of gass to an explosive mix depends on whether the leak and the drain from where its going are sufficiently different to let it gradually increase, then switch on a light or a thermostat goes over etc, and kerboom, like the old tin trick we did at school. Brian

[Tim Streater]

A square foot of gas, eh? Like it, like it.

[Vir Campestris]

It's more a corpse-like smell, which to me is nothing like gas. Equally unpleasant though.

Andy

[polygonum]

Definitely not a scent to be applied delicately to one's person.

What does smell like gas is: "Tricholoma sulphureum, the Sulphur Knight, used to be referred to as the Gas Works Mushroom because of its strong pungent odour."

[whisky-dave]

A few a couple of months ago, I noticed what I thought was a sewage/gas smell when I walked past the colleges main building, I mentioned this to one of our H&S peole who told me it ws the flowers they planted on the front area of the college. He didn't know what they were but others had noticed the stink too.

[DJC]

Ginko tree? There is one just in the entrance to University College that smells like vomit at this time of year.

[whisky-dave]

Could be, I wonder if anyone here (qmul) knows, or should I blame the students, they have their uses. Maybe it's to please the chinese.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Many fungi species smell weird - like s**en is the species I am thinking of.

:Lots of fungi in October.