Gas supply switched off by Network Gas

[archiehunter]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this (mods please feel free to move) but over the weekend we had a slight smell of gas in the lounge. Called Network Gas out and the guy did a few checks around the few appliances we have (gas fire, cooker, boiler) as well as a couple of unused gas points in 2 bedrooms. Nothing showed up untoward but when he connected up the meter, it was showing a pressure drop of a couple of mb or so. He disconnected us and capped the meter saying we need to get a corgi engineer. What sort of checks for leaks should now be carried out ? I assume each appliance as well as pipes under the floors etc. Also what is a reasonable amount of time and cost for this sort of work ? We have a couple of guys due out to quote for us so it'd be nice to know what's reasonable.

 

[kirkgas]

you couldnt give a price for this only an hourly rate, however i would expect a good tradesman to know how to logically explore the options to test/locate/repair the leak to minimise the bill, rather than someone jumping from pillar to post checking but not getting anywhere.
obviously the place to start is where the smell is, disconnecting appliances is the easiest place to start, but depending on flooring etc i might start elsewhere and cut and cap sections of pipework to give a clue as to where the leak is, likely to be a bit of a pain to be honest

 

[archiehunter]

Thanks for you reply Kirkgas. I thought it might be a pain. We've had one guy now quote us £40 / hour. Does this sound around the right ballpark ?

 

[kirkgas]

i would say £40 is quite reasonable, you could get someone cheaper but as i said if they dont know how to logically trace & check you could end up paying more in the long run, what to do is have a chat with the person who quoted to discuss the options/battleplan, depending on the layout you could possibly get the unused supplies blanked off, this would check the unused pipework and even if it isnt there you are getting rid of a potential future problem, lifting some boards and blanking the unused gas supplies back as short as poss shouldnt take too long and will be a start, then he/she will need to look at the pipe route to the appliances you use and cap them in such a way as to trace whether the leak is behind or in front of the blank and work from there, keep us posted how you get on,

 

[archiehunter]

We got a quote off another Gas Safe registered company, who seemed to offer the best solution. They suggested rather than ripping up all the floorboards upstairs and checking redundant gas pipes for leaks, it would be better to cap these off and make new pipework connections to the gas fire & boiler. Originally, the pipework to these came via the upstairs pipework. The cooker pipework was OK anyway. So now we have a lot simpler set of pipework with all the old stuff capped off.

 

[Happyplumber]

Alot of times these type of leaks are quite obvious to gasman so if you know where you can smell it just point it to him and he can check it with a sniffer to pin point the exact leak

If its more then one leak then alot of times its far simpler to repipe the whole gas carcass especially when its all going to one area and this can save you quite a bit of money on the fault finding side,maybe worth spending an hour on tracing and if that doesn't work time for new pipework

good luck hope it all goes well for you

 

[adlplumbing]

if FGA they can locate gas leak by using that if u can point them in wright starting point

 

[joinerjohn]

Years ago, my dad had a very slight gas leak. BG replaced the pipe from the meter to the gas fire/back boiler (only things that needed gas). Re-checked and the slight leak was still present. Eventually traced to the connection at the gas fire. Luckily at that time he had taken out insurance with BG so it didn't cost him anything.

 

[Agile]

This is always a difficult arena.

We usually quote £75 to come and trace the leak based on up to 1 1/4 hours spent on the job.

If we cannot identify the leak we dont charge anything.

If it can be fixed within that time thats all they pay but there can be considerable additional costs if its a corroded pipe needing renewal for example.

90% of the time its easy to find and fix within 30 minutes! In a very few cases with laminate floors and a leak under the floor we have to say its beyond our capabilities unless the floor is opened by others and so we dont charge anything.

Tony

 

[namsag]

Archiehunter.
Why do you think renewing gas pipes is the better option . If the leak is on the appliance then this will have achieve nothing other than making your pocket a bit lighter.
So as has been said needs someone who can find the leak in a logical manner not just renewing bits #