Smell of Gas from Glow worm 18si boiler

todolist

For the last two weeks I've been getting a smell of gas from the boiler after switching it on.This has been happening intermittently.Sometimes there's no smell when you switch it on other times there is a strong smell of gas.I called the Gas board who sent an engineer to check it but he couldn't find anything wrong.As I said,it happens intermittently,the day the gas board guy was here there was no smell at all.Today I but the boiler on twice and both times there was a strong smell of gas.What could be happening.I'm really worried as we have a little 3 year old boy.Please give me some advice.

MiniGolf

todolist wrote: »

For the last two weeks I've been getting a smell of gas from the boiler after switching it on.This has been happening intermittently.Sometimes there's no smell when you switch it on other times there is a strong smell of gas.I called the Gas board who sent an engineer to check it but he couldn't find anything wrong.As I said,it happens intermittently,the day the gas board guy was here there was no smell at all.Today I but the boiler on twice and both times there was a strong smell of gas.What could be happening.I'm really worried as we have a little 3 year old boy.Please give me some advice.

Where do you live?
I or some of the other RGI members on here may be able to help!

Joey the lips

This happens to some of people. What usually is the problem is the back door is open and the gas going out through the flu is smelling as its being blown back in. Is your boiler near the back door or window

I am not saying this is what is happening to you but it may all be what it is. Especially if the gas board did not find anything.

Close your door and temp close the vent in the room.

ps: If you need a list of RGI Member its www.rgii.ie

todolist

MiniGolf wrote: »

Where do you live?
I or some of the other RGI members on here may be able to help!

I live in an apartment.The boiler is in a small utility room.The air conditions are always the same so I can't figure out why there is sometimes a strong smell and other times there's nothing.I bought a Carbon monoxide alarm two weeks ago and I've got readings of 34 on one occasion and another night i got a reading of 95.This was after 30 minutes of boiler use.I'd really appreciate it if someone could let me know what's happening.

This kind of boiler needs a bit of love on first set up and any following servicing, it would require a flue analyzer to set the boiler up correctly so that it fires and Burns correctly, if this has not been done then when the boiler starts up it may not light the gas straight away, blowing the unlit gas out the flue, as Joey mentioned the gas can get blown back in, i would have the boiler serviced by a service engineer with a analyzer to confirm all setting are as per the manufactures instruction, also read the manual(http://www.glow-worm.co.uk/products/pdf/current/Ultracom_sxi_installation_manual.pdf) and get used to the fault codes which will help any engineer who calls to you if you can give them to him(if any codes show up), Gary.

todolist

gary71 wrote: »

This kind of boiler needs a bit of love on first set up and any following servicing, it would require a flue analyzer to set the boiler up correctly so that it fires and Burns correctly, if this has not been done then when the boiler starts up it may not light the gas straight away, blowing the unlit gas out the flue, as Joey mentioned the gas can get blown back in, i would have the boiler serviced by a service engineer with a analyzer to confirm all setting are as per the manufactures instruction, also read the manual(http://www.glow-worm.co.uk/products/pdf/current/Ultracom_sxi_installation_manual.pdf) and get used to the fault codes which will help any engineer who calls to you if you can give them to him(if any codes show up), Gary.

This boiler is only one year old and we never had a problem until 2 weeks ago.I called Board Gais emergancy the first time we smelt gas because I thought it was a leak.They said it wasn't.Told me to get it serviced.A guy came out,spent an hour in the utility room trying to get any carbon readings on a machine he had.After 25 minutes of that he opened the boiler and said it was "Like you just took it out of the box".He then closed the boiler and that was that. He smelt no gas and got no carbon readings so he couldn't explain what the problem could be.That will cost us €140 euro on our next bill meanwhile the problem still exists.Idon't know what to do now.

MiniGolf

todolist wrote: »

I live in an apartment.The boiler is in a small utility room.The air conditions are always the same so I can't figure out why there is sometimes a strong smell and other times there's nothing.I bought a Carbon monoxide alarm two weeks ago and I've got readings of 34 on one occasion and another night i got a reading of 95.This was after 30 minutes of boiler use.I'd really appreciate it if someone could let me know what's happening.

That didn't really answer the question!
I meant, What area of the country do you live in/ part of Dublin??
The Carbon monoxide readings are more than I would expect but not anywhere near a dangerous limit.
I would not put much faith in the first Bord Gais visitor as he would only be searching for pure gas leaks and not Carbon Monoxide - resulting from incomplete combustion.... dodgy boiler in laymans terms!
As Gary71 says a proper gas engineer that actually knows how to read his gas analyliser and understands the readings he is getting is what you need.
If you can get a manufacturers approved engineer to look at it, that would be a place to start.
Did the person that carried out the service give you a safety certificate? (RGI - Declaration of Conformance)

You have had your gas pipes checked, so you know your pipe work is sound, the carbon monoxide detector is of no use to you because it's gas you say you are smelling not products of combustion, if you had a leak of gas after the point Board gais tested to when they first came out, then most likely you would smell it all the time as it would be a constant leak, there are things that can make a boiler miss fire and a good gasman would look for them, if the engineer was looking for carbon then that also would be no good to you, i would advise you going straight to the manufactures and get them involved even if you have to ring the UK or send them a email, i say this as another manufactures technician, they should have a trouble shooter like me who deals with unusual faults, the boiler would have to be checked with a fine tooth comb to prove it's OK , the settings on the boiler would have to be checked, the components and the incoming gas supply should be looked at to see if it is being maintained at the correct pressure, at this stage a boiler technician or as i said the manufactures tame technician would have to be involved to do these checks, there is always a answer and normally it's something simple, good luck, Gary.

Deisekickboxing

have you any other gas appliances in the apt?

todolist

Deisekickboxing wrote: »

have you any other gas appliances in the apt?

No.We just have heating and hot water.

todolist

MiniGolf wrote: »

That didn't really answer the question!
I meant, What area of the country do you live in/ part of Dublin??
The Carbon monoxide readings are more than I would expect but not anywhere near a dangerous limit.
I would not put much faith in the first Bord Gais visitor as he would only be searching for pure gas leaks and not Carbon Monoxide - resulting from incomplete combustion.... dodgy boiler in laymans terms!
As Gary71 says a proper gas engineer that actually knows how to read his gas analyliser and understands the readings he is getting is what you need.
If you can get a manufacturers approved engineer to look at it, that would be a place to start.
Did the person that carried out the service give you a safety certificate? (RGI - Declaration of Conformance)

I live near Dublin city center.The board Gais guy who came to "service" the boiler had what he called a "very sophisticated piece of kit to detect carbon monoxide.As i said before he switched on the boiler and took readings for about 25 minutes.He said they were normal.The only paperwork i got from him was a little receipt type piece of paper with the readings at different times.Basically that's all he done.He opened the boiler and said the everything looked ok.That's what so fustrating about this.It's intermittent.If it was a constant smell everytime we switched it on then maybe someone could explain what's happening.I switched on the boiler this morning a 8am to heat up the place and after 25 minutes there was a noticable smell of gas and the carbon monoxide alarm had a reading of 164.I might switch it on later and get no smell and a zero reading on the alarm.

I'm going to bore you now, the only difference between the boiler at the start and after 25 minutes would be the heat output of the boiler, it is possible when a boiler gets up to temperature and modulates down to it's lowest output for the boiler to miss fire, if this was the case it would be intermittent, only happening now and again, it would have to be checked by someone who knows what they are looking for. There is a difference between a service engineer and a technician, you need to get the manufactures involved or a technician, i can spend hours standing in front of a boiler with a funky fault because thats my job, a service engineer is not in the position to do that, Gary.

todolist

Had a guy from Board Gais again today.This guy was very thorough,checked everything and finally found the problem.He said there is a crack or a break somewhere in the flue.He said what we were smelling wasn't gas but the fumes from the boiler.We have to shut it off completely until the flue is fixed.Phoned the management company who said it had nothing to do with them.Gave me the number of the plumbing co who installed the boiler and flue.We're only living here a year and a half so I'm wondering if they're obliged to fix it or will they charge us? The apartment block is only two years old.

It's good that the fault has been identified, it maybe that you will have to pay for the repair, possibly whoever commissioned the boiler or whoever has worked on the boiler could be held accountable, anybody working on gas is responsible for any faults/safety issues they have missed on a job, it depends on how obvious the fault was, but at least from this point on wards you are safe, Gary.