enter

Where a pipe goes into the top of the meter (the feed) I can smell a faint whiff of gas. Is this a job for EON or should I contact my gasman to check?

Benny Kovacs

I always thought that, as with the water, anything before the meter is their responsibility and after the meter is yours.

Gas has a habit of exploding/catching fire so I would get someone/anyone out ASAP

Peter_in_Hungary

This is a job for your service provider (EON ?). They own the meter and are the ones who have to do any maintenance on it. There will be a number to call for faults on the paperwork that comes with your bill ( I think) otherwise from the EON website there are 2 numbers listed for faults, (24/7 numbers),
South Transdanubia region
06-80-42-42-42
Central Transdanubia region
06-80-301-301
if you call the one for your region they should either accept the call out or tell you where to phone.
As Benny said above you don't delay if you smell gas 'cos nasty things can happen

enter

All sorted thanks all, the number for Somogy area is 0680424242 for emergencies.

FenTiger

Did they trace the leak?

enter

Yes they did, their feed into the meter.

wolfi

Something similar happened to us near Hévíz. Daughter in law got crazy because she smelled some gas.
When we looked/smelled for it we realised that it came from the neighbour's gas meter, similat to what happened to enter.
To calm her down I bought an electronic "gas detector" (similar to a smoke detector) and put it somewhere in the guest apartment.

enter

What was interesting is that the initial report of a suspected leak at the meter outside the house, the EON (Fogas) staff member did not say turn off the main gas pipe outside immediately. I would have thought that this would be a priority.

FenTiger

I've got a carbon monoxide monitor somewhere in one of the boxes stored in the outbuildings so I better try and find it. Not that we have a whiff of gas here but more for safety reasons. I note in UK it's recommended every household has a smoke detector and carbon monoxide monitor but where we are staying in Hungary there's none. Also I don't recall seeing a single one of either in any houses we have viewed.

Benny Kovacs

Unless it is also a gas detector a carbon monoxide detector will only detect carbon monoxide which is only produced after the gas is burned.

Carbon monoxide like natural gas is colourless and odourless so you don't know it's present however the difference is that before natural gas is delivered to you they add a chemical to give it that distinct smell.

Gas leaks you can easily smell, carbon monoxide you can't and unless you have headaches and feel drowsy and recognise what is happening it will kill.
They don't call it the silent killer for nothing.

As for not seeing any alarms in houses bear in mind that in a lot of respects Hungary can be 40 years behind UK in some attitudes and many things we take for granted are novelties. Which for me just adds to the charm of the place especially out in the sticks on the Eastern Plains where we are.

Attitudes and regulations are changing though, for instance if you have a gas cooker you must have an extractor fan fitted, however, this then means you cannot also have a wood burner as there is a possibility that the extraction unit will pull carbon monoxide back into the property from the wood burner flue.

Peter_in_Hungary

This used to be the case but gas cookers have now been taken out of this part of the regulations because it was realised that this regulation applied to cookers was totally unpractical and unworkable.

wolfi

As Benny wrote there are several types - a monoxide detector or smoke detector is important too of course.
It happened in Germany last autumn:
A group of teenagers had a big party in a garden house. When they didn't return the next afternoon someone went there and found them all dead - because of their gas heater's monoxide.
But you also might look for a propane/natural gas detector which will also signal a leak in a gas bottle (especially if you use gas from a bottle for cooking). We got ours for around 10 000 Forint - has a lithium battery good for at least 10 years.