Gas leak? I feel like a numpty!

[Spencer0220]

I know everyone is saying I did the right thing but I feel incredibly stupid.

I live in a large block of flats. On Saturday it was discovered we have a gas leak outside in the main car park. I live on the opposite side at the back.

This afternoon I smelled gas in the bedroom. Really strongly. So I phoned the gas emergency line and my landlord.

Gas people arrived 15 minutes later, after landlord had told everyone to stop using electric supply in case of a spark. This inconvenienced a number of mums cooking kids tea.

Turns out I don't have a gas leak. My window is by the boiler flue for a number of flats and what I smelled was the flue pushing out unburnt gas while a boiler fired.

DH thought I was mad, because he couldn't smell anything. A number of mums got peed off.

And I feel like a prize idiot for squealing about a gas leak, when what happened is perfectly normal. I just didn't know it was a thing.

I know I smelled gas definitively because we've had a leak before and I know what that was like.

Needed to get that off my chest. I feel better. Thanks MN.

You were right to report it. Better safe than a gas explosion

Better to be safe than sorry.

I would be concerned though from what you say about whether flue gases were making it into my house. Boilers should combust gas completely, not vent unburnt gas into the atmosphere.

@GasPanic is that so? The engineer who came said that if a boiler isn't working efficiently it can happen.

At the time, it was very windy and sideways rain.

I didn't even think to question it.

If my kitchen window is open I can smell gas when the boiler fires as I turn the hot tap on. My boiler is 2 years old, has been serviced and the flue to window/patio door openings is all correct. It’s just a smell.

@ThanksButNoThanksImDoneNow reassuring. Thank you

How old is the flat? Flues have to be a minimum distance from an opening window to be compliant. Of course it may have been at the time the flats were built and the regulations changed. Maybe ll could fit an extension to discharge fumes away from your window.

The flat is 3 years old. We were the first tenants.

It's an office conversion. That might make a difference as I know rules can be different?

Even a small amount of gass can smell very strong especially if your not used to it.

I can't count the number of times I've been called into one of our classrooms (science) as the teacher thinks there is a leak. For it just to be the kids messing with the taps and a small amount of gass leaks out even when the main valve is closed.

Thanks @MigGirl that makes me feel better

Another resident smelled gas again this morning.

This time somebody's gas meter was switched off. So there's another leak inside the building that has to be fixed

Sounds like you might not have been wrong then OP?

Definitely better safe than sorry with gas!

@ThanksButNoThanksImDoneNow im so pleased to read your post. My boiler is exactly the same, the flue is next to my kitchen window and patio doors (tiny house). The boiler is 4 years old, is serviced annually and I've been assured it's in perfect working order, but when I have my window/patio doors open and I turn the hot tap on at my kitchen sink or first put the heating on etc I get a gas smell wafting in for a few seconds. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one!

@Papillon23, I don't know for certain but I'm assuming the leak isn't my side of the building. The lady who called the gas company lives on the other side

It doesn't matter how stupid you feel, always be extremely cautious when it comes to gas. It could save lives.

Fun fact: has has has no smell. They add something to it so it can be detected as it's so bloody hazardous.

news.sky.com/story/edinburgh-house-explosion-gas-likely-caused-fatal-blast-as-investigators-focus-on-internal-installations-13022826

You definitely did the right thing - and I'd say that even if I were standing outside at 3am in the snow because it was my life that you had potentially acted to protect.

The alternative is do nothing - and the consequences of that could be catastrophic.

I knew that 😊

Is the smell meant to be an awful one? The smell alone makes me want to heave. I can't stand it. That's part of how I knew yesterday I definitely smelt gas.

You mean even if I'd dragged you out of bed for a false alarm?

No, I wouldn't call a gas smell awful as such. I'm very smell sensitive, it's never made me feel sick. But it is very noticeable.

Rather you are wrong, than we be reading about a block of flats destroyed in an explosion. Even at 3am!!

Much better safe than sorry.

I saw your post and immediately thought of the link someone posted above.

I live in Edinburgh and hear the explosion 6 miles away. I also heard all of the sirens. Terrifying.

I understand how awful it could be. I think I started feeling worse after a load of the mums got in a huff about cooking and then never thanked me for checking

Also, that link doesn't work for me. It keeps saying page not found 😬

Pics attached. An 84 yo man died. I remember wondering in winter last year if people were illegally tapping gas supplies due to costs, because I read about four residential gas explosions in the news.

@KievLoverTwo thank you. So glad I phoned up. Those pictures are horrific

Yes - because if I was a dick about it, you might not report a smell next time and I'd end up a footnote in the local rag as one of the people who died.