They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak
from their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but
they have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They
have had the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

We had a problem where we thought there was a gas leak at the last house, turned out to be stink horn mushrooms/toadstools amongst the trees and bushes next door. I suspect it might be a bit late in the year for them to be a problem now.

Richard

In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak
from their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but
they have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They
have had the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...

it is probably coming out of the old pipes. We had a smell for over year
when they replaced our mains.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak from
their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but they
have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They have had
the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...


If the smell persists I'd seriously consider getting a gas detector for
your underfloor space. It wouldn't be the first time that a house has been
destroyed by a leaky old iron gas main leaking into a house basement.

Tim

On 24/11/2014 16:28, Tricky Dicky wrote:
We had a problem where we thought there was a gas leak at the last
house, turned out to be stink horn mushrooms/toadstools amongst the
trees and bushes next door. I suspect it might be a bit late in the
year for them to be a problem now.

Richard

I have seen stinkhorns in more months of the year than I have not seen
them! Very variable.

I'd never mix up a stinkhorn with mains gas, but there is a certain
similarity. When we had a bad gas leak, the smell of the free gas was
distinctly different to that coming from the contaminated soil.

Not familiar with any gases from mines, etc., but I don't think they
have mercaptan added so possibly don't have much smell.

There is one mushroom that smells very much like the old town gas plants
- Gas Works Mushroom:

http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/tr...sulphureum.php

--
Rod

"charles" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak
from their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but
they have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They
have had the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...

it is probably coming out of the old pipes. We had a smell for over year
when they replaced our mains.

Odd that 'they' didn’t work that out for themselves tho.

on 24/11/2014, Tim+ supposed :
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak from
their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but they
have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They have had
the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...


If the smell persists I'd seriously consider getting a gas detector for
your underfloor space. It wouldn't be the first time that a house has been
destroyed by a leaky old iron gas main leaking into a house basement.

Much as I would have liked one, we don't have a basement, but we are
100yds from the smell anyway.

We have suffered an intermitant sewage smell in the downstairs toilet
for a couple of years. Which I have tried several times to trace,
though it smells quite sweet at the moment. The guys called out to
check out the sewers today, reported that there was a blocked main
three doors upstream of us and I think cleared it. I'm now wondering if
the smell might have been due to varying air pressure in the main,
downstream of the blockage?

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 24/11/2014 16:14, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak from
their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but they
have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They have had
the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...


Mercaptan is remarkably smelly - a leak in Rouen last year could be
smelt in Berkshire. It occurs naturally in marshes and as a by-product
from some marine bacteria. It also found in asparagus pee - a smelly
effect from eating asparagus. So, do you have any marshes, sea or avid
asparagus eaters in your area?

--
Colin Bignell

Well, it could be a kind of marsh gas which is being channelled from some
way away. I'm not convinced that everyone knows what is under the ground
when they build in any case. Land fill is not a new idea after all.
However, most naturally occurring gas has no odour whcih is why its
dangerous, so if you can smell it it needs to be looked at just in case its
some old pocket of gas leaked there some years ago.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
. uk...
They have dug the same bit of pavement up repeatedly over the last 12
months, I have reported the smell twice, but the cannot find a leak from
their new pipes. It smells like gas, rather than a sewage leak but they
have had the water people out to check and nothing found. They have had
the smell analysed and its not their gas....

So what could it be?

Its an 18th and 19th C mining area, might it be gas rising from the old
mines? They say mines would be too deep...

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In message , Harry
Bloomfield writes
on 24/11/2014, Tim+ supposed :
We have suffered an intermitant sewage smell in the downstairs toilet
for a couple of years. Which I have tried several times to trace,
though it smells quite sweet at the moment. The guys called out to
check out the sewers today, reported that there was a blocked main
three doors upstream of us and I think cleared it. I'm now wondering if
the smell might have been due to varying air pressure in the main,
downstream of the blockage?

I have posted this before...

Sewage pong in downstairs toilet. Worst in wet weather. Eventually
traced to a minor leak where builders had failed to fully seal a fresh
connection to an existing inspection pit.

A downstream blockage (half brick in the pipe from the same builders I
suspect) would leak raw sewage into the pea gravel surrounding the new
pipe. A high water table would carry the pong back along the pipe trench
and under the house.

A proper leak test by building control would have spotted this!


--
Tim Lamb

The scariest gas leak we ever had was at the previous house when we could smell gas coming out of an electrical socket in the space below the stairs. Turned out there was a gas pipe left buried in the wall which went to the original kitchen. The previous owner installed the socket with the back box pressed against the pipe, a joint further along failed due to reaction with the plaster the gas worked itself along the pipe and came out the way it could!

Richard

On 25/11/2014 09:51, Tricky Dicky wrote:
The scariest gas leak we ever had was at the previous house when we could smell gas coming out of an electrical socket in the space below the stairs. Turned out there was a gas pipe left buried in the wall which went to the original kitchen. The previous owner installed the socket with the back box pressed against the pipe, a joint further along failed due to reaction with the plaster the gas worked itself along the pipe and came out the way it could!

Richard

Reminds me of rewiring my first Victorian house, how I discovered that
the small diameter lead gas-lighting pipes were all still "live". A
significant part of the wiring was surface mount, single conductors with
cotton/rubber insulation run in wooden double channels.