On 16/09/2013 19:04, polygonum wrote:
On 16/09/2013 14:27, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Mon, 16 Sep 2013 14:16:09 +0100, Phil L wrote:

Muddymike wrote:
Hi Folks,
Not really a D-I-Y option but we're looking at getting an old property
connected to the gas. There is what appears to be a steel pipe running
into a corner of the property capped off. I can only think it is an
old gas service that was fitted when gas was run along the street but
never connected up.
Would the gas board (Wales and West) ever use an old pipe such as this
or would they insist on running a new plastic line or even running a
smaller plastic line up the inside of an old steel pipe?

Looks like the neighbours possibly have their gas piped up a similar
old steel pipe.

I'm waiting to hear back from Wales&West but thought someone here
might have come across the same situation.

Don't for one minute think I am recommending this course of action but
I did know a guy some 40 years ago that found a pipe just like the one
you describe in the basement of an old house he had just bought. A few
months later he had full gas central heating and hot water running off
it. He lived there for at least ten years and never did get a gas
meter!

He probably did get a meter, just not one that any gas company knew
about - they are freely available.
I've known a few people do this, a chap I knew had extensive work done
on his house, one of the jobs he did himself while all the suspended
floors were being filled in with mot prior to concreting, was to branch
off the gas main so that he had another meter coming up under his
stairs, needless to say, his CH and HW came from this, while the
official meter supplied his gas hob

I wonder how efficient the gas fraud detection systems are ? Presumably
with electricity it's a fairly easy job to say "we made X GW of energy,
but only got paid for Y" (where YX). Especially if you meter down to
substation level.

Is the same possible with CuM of gas ?

Considering that a fraud detection system could also be of value in
detecting leaks, it would seem to be an excellent idea to have such a
system.

My experiences of gas leaks over the past five to ten years suggests to
me that they have absolutely no idea where a huge proportion of gas
goes. They might know to the kilowatt hour exactly how much they push
down the pipes - and then they lose track of it.

In our own case, when our water main burst, the gas people found five
leaks. (I had reported the smell of gas on three occasions over the
years. Once they checked it out and said it was insignificant.)

In several parts of town where we regularly drive, a very noticeable
smell of gas has existed for years. Nothing done. Then one day they
clearly do an emergency repair. Smell disappears at that precise spot. A
few tens or metres up or down the road, the smell still continues. A few
weeks/months/years later they fix that.

Back in the days when I still lived at my parents, we called out BG
three times to a smell of gas in the porch. They insisted there was no
problem. We then called them out a fourth time and pointed out the leak
in *their* pipework to the meter, which we'd found simply with soap and
water.

SteveW