Gas meter connection -safe?

To this non-expert viewer, it looks terrible. Maybe send that picture to the gas supplier for comment and information? Even show it to the local firemen.

It's a basic reg (from what I have picked up over the years) that none of the ribbed sections should touch each other.

Try a Google for gas anaconda.

That looks dreadful. It's easily solved but doing so is the job of the installer.

Thanks. I've Googled for that and anything I thought similar but cannot find anything 'official', only diynot comments which aren't going to cut it with Siemens who installed it.

Agreed, I'm not going anywhere near it and am not getting anyone in. I'm just wanting to get something rock-solid to face them with rather than get the brush-off.

I'd still get a second opinion myself. I have no gas, but even when I did I was not very impressed by the standard of workmanship in the, shall we say out of site out of mind areas. That is one reason I got rid of it. Brian

If it was mine, I would just move the pipe below the valve over to the left a bit. Can anyone confirm the technology, is that a pressure-formed bellows but with a rubber hose inside it? If there *is* a rubber hose then I don't think I would worry much as the stresses in it are not going to be high and there is still some secondary containment. I would certainly be a bit unhappy if the bellows is the primary containment.

It looks a bit as though it might be inside a garage, which means the ventilation will be pretty good, so the chances of getting an explosive mixture if it fails are not so high. If it is in a basement or cellar that seldom gets visited, with poor ventilation, so that a leak might not be detected, then risks are higher.

Doesn't look as though it meets Adam's criterion of convolutions in contact, so I would not feel embarrassed about reporting it. You could always say "I thought I smelled gas" rather than "It doesn't look right to me", since even if it tests out OK on leakage the gas guys are more likely to change it to be on the safe side.

Going off at a not totally irrelevant tangent, just came back from a holiday cottage that had no broadband for the first half of the week. It had apparently taken Openreach a fortnight to come out and look (various c*ck-ups on the way). The techie quickly confirmed that the problem was

The valve and anaconda are on the supply side of the meter, so SEP.

I don't think there's a hose inside it, just (hydroformed?) stainless steel.

Thanks. The pipe with the valve at the top is a very sturdy length of 2" steel which rises out of the concrete garage (good guess!) floor so, unfortunately, it's not going anywhere.

I do like the 'I think I can smell gas' solution.

SEP?

Google warns against leaving any flux that might have dropped on it as it will rot through and leak so I assume there's nothing beyond the metal.

someone else's problem, if the O/P is concerned about it ask the meter fitters to come back and improve it, if they won't, call transco and say you're concerned about the safety of it ... make sure you call at a time when it'll be convenient to have no gas for a few hours.

Sorry, I had completely misinterpreted the picture. In that case I would be trying to move the meter. If that's too difficult, then it would be on to the phone! Actually (not being a very convincing liar, owing to my Aspergers) I would probably say "My wife thinks she can smell gas. I can't myself, typical neurotic woman, but I suppose you have to err on the side of safety".

My mistake, see later post!

I wasn't sure. I've used them a bit on vacuum and low pressure kit.

Reporting smelling gas gets you instantly cut off & your install condemned, regardless of the cause.

NT

Only if a leakage is confirmed. I have a good nose, regularly spot leaks outside and report them. Most recently I smelled a leak from our local pressure regulator station.

while on holiday in a rented flat in Rothesay in the 50's my mother went looking for a town gas leak with a match and found it with a nice wee flame spouting from a pipe........

If it were anything like some of the holiday lets I experienced in those days - or even the post war prefab my parents were housed in after my dad came out of the army - there was very little chance of gas build up thanks to the howling gales which forced their way through all the cracks.

Nick

Are the people who install smart gas meters Gas Safe certified or are they simply trained up as meter installers?

Nick

Had my meter replaced recently, and the ribbed bits definitely touch at a drastic 90 degree bend. Mmmm.

Being replaced again next week with a smart meter - I'll raise it with them.