Rotor

YES in the sense that leaked/accumulated gas in a confined area such as your lounge or even a cupboard is a bomb , just switching on a light can ignite it.

Rotor

All burnt fuel gases emit CO (Carbon Monoxide) , also known as the silent killer , there have been many cases of deaths in Spain as well as the UK through incorrectly flued boilers and heaters, also worth remembering that even woodburners without correct fluing can be fatal.
People have even died of CO poisoning using disposable BBQs in tents and vans.

Pulaski

That is mostly true (properly adjusted gas appliances produce negligible amounts of carbon monoxide, if they produced anything more than negligible quantities no gas-burning appliances, including cookers, would be allowed indoors), but all of which has absolutely nothing to do with the smell of a gas leak, which is necessarily unburned natural gas, which contains no measurable concentration of carbon monoxide.

Your post concerns poorly maintained and/or poorly ventilated natural gas appliances, which can, indeed be dangerous, potentially producing both carbon monoxide, which is toxic, and carbon dioxide, which can suffocate and can also interfere with blood chemistry and breathing patterns.

Rotor

You are being pedantic and your small amount of knowledge on the matter makes you quite dangerous , see all my related posts .

Pulaski

This is from someone who mixes up advice about the dangers of leaks of unburned natural gas with the dangers of combustion products of gas-burning appliances.

Both are very real dangers, but they are entirely unrelated to each other! I don't consider that to be pedantic, nor would anyone who understands the risks associated with the supply and usage of natural gas.

I wouldn't be surprised if you have more practical knowledge than me (though given your posts, I can only wonder ), but your advice is presented in a confusing manner and will likely serve mostly to confuse people, not help them.

Rotor

No doubt there will soon be a case of an expat blowing themselves up or gassing themself , his epitaph will be "I knew better"

Rotor - CORGI qualified 1999 -2004.

Pulaski

So you were disqualified in 2004?

Rotor

Nope , sold the business and moved into a more lucrative business

Jon-Bxl

Putting aside the disagreements and getting back on topic. We have discussed this before and there is a very strong case to switch off the gas, as an alternative, for both full time and secondary residents. The options being gas bottles or an electric immersion-type heater. Thus both options save the gasco's standing charges.

In our case we simply don't have room for the gas bottles, (plural, as many people have 2 with a 'switch over valve-gizmo' so you know whan one is empty, switch to the other, and you have time to refill the first, without losing supply.) So its electric for us. (We also have no lift, so its a heavy lug up several flights of stairs )But we need to get a suitably shaped tuit first. A 'round tuit' that is

Here is a thread and if you read from post 7, I've been well-helped in my questions around the efficacy of electric boilers. However there's other info from the first post too. Which I think covers the whole subject - if you read the following posts.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/ayamo.../#post11995206

With this as well, you'll have all the info on the options so you can choose the one that works best in each situation.

On the other topics, any smell of gas would worry me personally and would immediately seek a solution and if that means switching it off to stop the money grabbing gasco's - I'll do it. What's a standing charge for if not to protect ourselves with the equipment THEY put in!!? Disgraceful.

Anyway its been decades since I left and been an expat, but I hope that British Gas still have a priority on gas smells and insist you report them, for which they will treat it as a priority (as it used to be - 'back in the day')

Safety first.. I would always recommend a Carbon monoxide (CO) detector, for gas boilers, heaters etc. We've all seen horrible stories of deaths from this odourless killer gas. However in our case, and many peoples as well, the boiler is in the room next to the kitchen, closed off by a door. The other side is virtually fully open to the outside with those grey bricks with the big gaps. So we haven't bought a CO detector, and we don't heat with gas. If we had a gas heater we would spend a few euros for a CO detector, as the doors and windows have a rubber seal and so there is less free-flow of air.

We live on the top 2 floors and have no issues, phew!! In fact the shower even on the top floor is great, one of the best I've used outside the US. I love power showers and in the UK I renovated a couple of places and always put in a shower pump for that.

Have a 'gas' checking out the options - and maybe you can get Francisco to hum Handels water music whilst working

Jon