Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back
door and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen.
It carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away
leaving only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before so
is it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe? If
so, could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in about
nine months.

Nick

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

"Nick Odell" wrote in message ...

Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back door
and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen. It
carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away leaving
only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before so is
it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe? If so,
could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in about nine
months.

Nick


Low gas pressure would do that.

Possibly a short term massive leak on the local supply down the street -
anyone working down a hole in the road nearby?

Andrew

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 10:44, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Nick Odell"Â* wrote in message ...

Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to
flicker yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the
other burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back
door and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen.
It carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away
leaving only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before
so is it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe?
If so, could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in
about nine months.

Nick


Low gas pressure would do that.

Possibly a short term massive leak on the local supply down the street -
anyone working down a hole in the road nearby?

I'll have a wander round later and take a look.

Thanks,

Nick

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 10:44, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Nick Odell"Â* wrote in message ...

Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to
flicker yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the
other burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back
door and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen.
It carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away
leaving only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before
so is it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe?
If so, could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in
about nine months.

Nick


Low gas pressure would do that.

Possibly a short term massive leak on the local supply down the street -
anyone working down a hole in the road nearby?

Andrew

Alternatively a little bit of salty water in the system? There's
"incomplete combustion" yellow (daffodil?), and Sodium yellow (a bit
darker and closer to orange, like old fashioned low pressure sodium
lights). Actually you don't need salty water, there will very likely be
dried salt in the burners, just a few droplets of water to mobilise it?

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

Well, it could have been foreign bodies but apparently they burned offwith
no problems so one would assume the same is true in a boiler. It would be
pretty naff boiler if it could not cope with some pollution to the gas. I
don't expect you will ever know what it was, another form of gas, some
water, who knows?
Brian

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"Nick Odell" wrote in message
...
Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back door
and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen. It
carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away leaving
only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before so is
it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe? If so,
could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in about nine
months.

Nick

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 12:03, newshound wrote:
On 09/01/2019 10:44, Andrew Mawson wrote:
"Nick Odell"Â* wrote in message ...

Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to
flicker yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the
other burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no
personal effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened
the back door and continued cooking with the open air blowing into
the kitchen. It carried on like that for another few minutes and then
it went away leaving only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before
so is it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the
pipe? If so, could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is
due in about nine months.

Nick


Low gas pressure would do that.

Possibly a short term massive leak on the local supply down the street
- anyone working down a hole in the road nearby?

Andrew

Alternatively a little bit of salty water in the system? There's
"incomplete combustion" yellow (daffodil?), and Sodium yellow (a bit
darker and closer to orange, like old fashioned low pressure sodium
lights). Actually you don't need salty water, there will very likely be
dried salt in the burners, just a few droplets of water to mobilise it?

Could be: I had just poured the pasta into the boiling salty water. But
it's not something I've noticed before and, for the avoidance of doubt,
I have boiled pasta in salty water on that stove before :)

It didn't do it again. Still, it gave me an excuse to clean all the
parts, dry them and put them back together and it is still working just
as it always has. Just one of those things, eh?

Thanks,

Nick

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

"Nick Odell" wrote in message
...

Alternatively a little bit of salty water in the system? There's
"incomplete combustion" yellow (daffodil?), and Sodium yellow (a bit
darker and closer to orange, like old fashioned low pressure sodium
lights). Actually you don't need salty water, there will very likely be
dried salt in the burners, just a few droplets of water to mobilise it?

Could be: I had just poured the pasta into the boiling salty water. But
it's not something I've noticed before and, for the avoidance of doubt, I
have boiled pasta in salty water on that stove before :)

It didn't do it again. Still, it gave me an excuse to clean all the parts,
dry them and put them back together and it is still working just as it
always has. Just one of those things, eh?


When a pan of salty water boiled over, it affected all the burners of the
hob and also the gas fire in the next room (and maybe the boiler - can't see
the flame). I wonder if some water managed to flow backwards down the pipe
beyond the hob to a common feed for hob, gas fire and boiler. It took a
couple of weeks to go away, even though I cleaned all the burners as soon as
it happened.

It only take minuscule amounts of salt to tint the flame: I remember from
chemistry that the flame test is very sensitive.

I've noticed that fir cones dipped in copper sulphate (sold to brighten up
an open fire or wood-burning stove) cause *all* the flames to go blue, not
just the flames from the cones themselves.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

Nick Odell laid this down on his screen :
Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Sometimes water or moisture gets into the pipes from them working on
them. Sometimes so much gets in it can cause problems and they have to
drain the pipes down.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

"Nick Odell" wrote in message
...
Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back door
and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen. It
carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away leaving
only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before so is
it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe? If so,
could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in about nine
months.

Nick

the west coast of scotland gets iron filings through the supply but the east
coast doesn't ......work that one out.....

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

NY explained on 09/01/2019 :
When a pan of salty water boiled over, it affected all the burners of the hob
and also the gas fire in the next room (and maybe the boiler - can't see the
flame). I wonder if some water managed to flow backwards down the pipe beyond
the hob to a common feed for hob, gas fire and boiler. It took a couple of
weeks to go away, even though I cleaned all the burners as soon as it
happened.

Very unlikely that water could manage to makes its way back through a
tiny gas jet, a jet which would be preceded by the air mix holes.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 17:09, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
NY explained on 09/01/2019 :
When a pan of salty water boiled over, it affected all the burners of
the hob and also the gas fire in the next room (and maybe the boiler -
can't see the flame). I wonder if some water managed to flow backwards
down the pipe beyond the hob to a common feed for hob, gas fire and
boiler. It took a couple of weeks to go away, even though I cleaned
all the burners as soon as it happened.

Very unlikely that water could manage to makes its way back through a
tiny gas jet, a jet which would be preceded by the air mix holes.

Surely the jet is before the air mix holes? In any case, many jets have
a large diameter counterbore on the upstream side before the actual
metering jet.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

After serious thinking newshound wrote :
Surely the jet is before the air mix holes? In any case, many jets have a
large diameter counterbore on the upstream side before the actual metering
jet.

Not so far as any spilled water is concerned. Water would spill out of
the air inlets, before it could get to the jets, then into the pipe
work.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 17:55, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
After serious thinking newshound wrote :
Surely the jet is before the air mix holes? In any case, many jets
have a large diameter counterbore on the upstream side before the
actual metering jet.

Not so far as any spilled water is concerned. Water would spill out of
the air inlets, before it could get to the jets, then into the pipe work.

But if you follow the thread you will see that *I* wasn't talking about
spilled water in the gas. Spilled cooking water can deposit salt on the
burners. Water *in the gas* can spray out of the jets as an aerosol,
pick up dried salt on the inside of the burners, and carry it into the
flame.

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage mycombi?
 

On 09/01/2019 16:58, The Scottish idiot ... wrote:
the west coast of scotland gets iron filings through the supply but the east
coast doesn't ......work that one out.....

Thats due to the electric brae :-)

Is there such a thing as "Dirty Gas" and could it damage my combi?
 

On Wednesday, 9 January 2019 10:29:40 UTC, Nick Odell wrote:
Cooking on the gas hob last night, suddenly the flames began to flicker
yellow.

First thought: dirt on the bottom of the pans - so I turned on the other
burners and they were doing the same.

Second thought: low oxygen (panic!) but even though I felt no personal
effects and the house is old and draughty as hell, I opened the back
door and continued cooking with the open air blowing into the kitchen.
It carried on like that for another few minutes and then it went away
leaving only normal, blue flames.

Everything is AOK normal this morning and it's never happened before so
is it reasonable to presume there was some contaminant in the pipe? If
so, could it have damaged my combi? Next combi service is due in about
nine months.

Nick

Probably something you've spilt on the burner evaporating and burning off.