Gas leak alarm

[Dippydocus]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place!

Is there such a thing as a reliable battery-operated alarm for a natural gas leak? I found some previous topics about it here, but they are all pretty old, and I think the tech has probably improved since then. In any case, the alarms that were being recommended then have been discontinued or just give a 404 now.

(To give the background, my mum's neighbour recently had a small gas leak where the pipe comes into the house. He noticed the smell, called the gas company out and got it fixed. My mum's pipe comes in through the cellar. She's in her 80s, and she can't really get down the ladder into the cellar anymore. She's panicking that if there is a gas leak there, she won't smell it, and there will be an explosion. I think she'd smell it either inside or outside the house, even if she couldn't get into the cellar, but if there is some sort of alarm I could easily install, it might give her some peace of mind. Whether she'd be able to hear an alarm in the cellar is another issue, but if it was as loud as a smoke alarm, I think it would be OK. There are no electric sockets down there, so battery-operated would be easier.)

I found this online for about £100
https://www.zetaalarmsystems.com/gas-detection/standalone-gas-detectors.html

but I have no idea if it's any good. I don't really know what I should be looking for. I don't want anything that will give false positives because that will make it worse. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[dilalio]

Better to see if she qualifies for free annual gas safety check.

Contact her energy provider.

 

[Dippydocus]

Thanks, she's not eligible, but she has a contract with a local firm to service her boiler and so on, so I guess they could do something similar. I'm not sure it would work long term though. She will just start worrying again in a couple of months.

 

[ChrisJP]

Better to see if she qualifies for free annual gas safety check.

An annual check will certainly be valuable but doesn't address the OP's question which is how to assure his mother doesn't get a leak between annual checks.
I tried a quick Google for "natural gas leak detectors" and it came up with quite a few choices - some with reviews. One of these will certainly provide the sort of assurance that is sought.

 

[kidgreen61]

Why on earth would she suddenly get a gas leak?

 

[dilalio]

doesn't address the OP's question which is how to assure his mother doesn't get a leak between annual checks.

Nor will having an alarm prevent her having a gas leak.

 

[ChrisJP]

Nor will having an alarm prevent her having a gas leak.

My bad wording. I should have said: "how to assure his Mother that she hasn't got a gas leak between services"
And OK, it's highly unlikely that a gas leak would develop, but the OP was asking advice on how to assure his Mother that she didn't have a leak. I don't think the OP just telling his Mother she doesn't have a leak, and would never get one, would achieve this.

 

[dilalio]

My bad wording. I should have said: "how to assure his Mother that she hasn't got a gas leak between services"
And OK, it's highly unlikely that a gas leak would develop, but the OP was asking advice on how to assure his Mother that she didn't have a leak. I don't think the OP just telling his Mother she doesn't have a leak, and would never get one, would achieve this.

Only the OP know his mother.
If installing one for her, reassures her then that's the best route, but it's still advisable to have an annual check... I think all properties with gas should be required to have one, having personally found so many dangerous situations that have gone un-noticed.

As for recommendations, no idea, never been asked to supply and fit one as it's not really a gas safe engineer's role. I would if asked, but I'd be getting them to procure it.

 

[Dippydocus]

I'm so sorry for the slow response, I didn't get a notification about the other replies (or if I did, I didn't see it.)

There's absolutely no reason why she would suddenly get a gas leak just because a neighbour did. She's lived there for 40 years and never had a problem with it.

She's had an annual check done now (everything is fine), and she'll get that regularly in future, but she's still going to worry because she's old, and on her own, and she worries about everything now. My main concern is that she's going to start trying to go down there herself to check, and she'll fall trying to get up or down the ladder. If it stops her doing that, I'll get anything she wants fitted, even if it means I have to get electric run down there.

The alarm I linked to in the first post is the only one I've found that works on batteries. If there are others out there, I didn't find them, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. The company that does her gas stuff said they don't know anything about these alarms, but they could fit it if we get one. They didn't think it was necessary though, and I still have to buy one first. (And I'd really like to avoid the extra expense of getting an electric supply there.)

(I'm a she, not a he, btw )

 

[dilalio]

I'm so sorry for the slow response, I didn't get a notification about the other replies (or if I did, I didn't see it.)

There's absolutely no reason why she would suddenly get a gas leak just because a neighbour did. She's lived there for 40 years and never had a problem with it.

She's had an annual check done now (everything is fine), and she'll get that regularly in future, but she's still going to worry because she's old, and on her own, and she worries about everything now. My main concern is that she's going to start trying to go down there herself to check, and she'll fall trying to get up or down the ladder. If it stops her doing that, I'll get anything she wants fitted, even if it means I have to get electric run down there.

The alarm I linked to in the first post is the only one I've found that works on batteries. If there are others out there, I didn't find them, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. The company that does her gas stuff said they don't know anything about these alarms, but they could fit it if we get one. They didn't think it was necessary though, and I still have to buy one first. (And I'd really like to avoid the extra expense of getting an electric supply there.)

(I'm a she, not a he, btw )

You have to do what you have to do.