DIYbanter - Odd comment re British Gas

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Odd comment re British Gas

A member of our family has a very newly installed Glow Worm 30SXi
boiler which cuts out for no apparent reason. The local fitter has
called in Glow Worm since it is under warranty.
The Glow Worm person has ordered a new gas valve.
Rather surprisingly, the GW man declared that he'd seen similar
problems on three other boilers in the area and that he believed it
was being caused by an additive which BG were adding to the gas so as
to reduce leaks.

Questions:
Is this plausible?
Do BG dope the gas in this way?
If BG do this, why will a new valve be any better?
How reliable are Glow Worm's boilers, (I'm planning to instal a
30HXi)?

TB

"Timbrook99" wrote in message
om...
A member of our family has a very newly installed Glow Worm 30SXi
boiler which cuts out for no apparent reason. The local fitter has
called in Glow Worm since it is under warranty.
The Glow Worm person has ordered a new gas valve.
Rather surprisingly, the GW man declared that he'd seen similar
problems on three other boilers in the area and that he believed it
was being caused by an additive which BG were adding to the gas so as
to reduce leaks.

Questions:
Is this plausible?

I can't offhand imagine any gaseous additive which would be able to act as a
leak sealer but there again I aren't a chemist perhaps one of our regulars
can add something here?

Do BG dope the gas in this way?
If BG do this, why will a new valve be any better?

I've never met a problem which could be ascribed to a gas borne additive. I
have on very few occasions met with a fine powder being carried through a
gas pipe and which slowly clogged the fine strainer situated in the inlet
port of some gas valves. On two occasions this appeared to be a black
(oxide?) which "might" have come from the inside of a copper pipe. On
another which was in a large industrial (newish, 100mm steel gas pipe)
installation there was a pale powder which some wag said would be salt from
the North sea but which I would have thought more likely to be plaster or
similar which had got into the pipes accidentally or otherwise during the
construction phase of the job.

How reliable are Glow Worm's boilers, (I'm planning to instal a
30HXi)?

I'd say you had made a good choice there. I've installed a few and they have
been no trouble either to install or service as time went by.

I recall BG spraying the insides of the gas main in the street where I
lived, about 15 years ago, to reduce leaks. I believe (i.e., I don't
know the details) that this involved pushing a small plastic pipe,
similar to a drain jetter into the mains to spray it. I didn't hear of
any subsequent problems.

It seems it wasn't very effective, since they dug up the street and
replaced the steel/CI mains with MDPE a year or two later. I don't know
if they still use this technique.

It sounds like blarney to me.

Aidan wrote:

I recall BG spraying the insides of the gas main in the street where I
lived, about 15 years ago, to reduce leaks. I believe (i.e., I don't
know the details) that this involved pushing a small plastic pipe,
similar to a drain jetter into the mains to spray it. I didn't hear of
any subsequent problems.

It seems it wasn't very effective, since they dug up the street and
replaced the steel/CI mains with MDPE a year or two later. I don't know
if they still use this technique.

It sounds like blarney to me.

There's a core of historical truth if you go back far enough. Because
coal (town) gas was made by a process involving steam, it contained
significant water vapour. Natural gas did not, so it had to be
deliberately humidified to prevent the packed pipe joints from drying
out and leaking.

That problem is obviously disappearing as the distribution network moves
towards plastic. No doubt plastic brings problems of its own, but there
are limits to the things that can be added to the supply, given that it
mustn't affect the calorific value, and any additive must be safe to be
burnt in an open kitchen.

Come to think, a likely reason for the sudden presence of dust or powder
is that new pipe-laying has required some temporary re-routeing of the
supply, which has disturbed some old deposits.

--
Ian White
Abingdon, England