Oh yes. I'd had the boiler turned off since it stopped working, and as the only other use of gas is the stove which I only use occasionally the meter readings had stayed without change for several quarters. The one time I read it for the gas company, and found that it had jumped by several cubic feet of gas. I couldn't smell any, but I looked at the dials and the end one was moving; I timed it and it indicated a couple of cu.ft. a week was going somewhere. So I turned it off (and checked that the dial was now stationary) and called the emergency number.
The man they sent round confirmed that it was losing gas, so blocked it at the meter and said I'd have to call a local company (he wasn't allowed to deal with user-side). So I called one (they also do TV aerials, I'd used them before for that).
When they came round, they 'sniffed' (with a meter) around the boiler, which was what I expected to have failed, and didn't find much. Then they 'sniffed' near the hole in the wall with the mains socket(!) and the meter went off-scale. Evidently the (old iron) pipe had failed somewhere under the (concrete) floor and filled the wall cavity. So I had them run new pipe just to the kitchen for the stove (which wasn't leaking) and cut off the old pipe to the back room and the boiler. When they cut it, they found that the pipe was down to about 1/32" thickness, years of condensation had just eaten it away.
As far as the cavity was concerned, there was nothing they could do, just let it dissipate through the vents over time. The wall is still there...
But if I want a new boiler put in it will need the gas piping through to the back room again (overhead, not under the floor). And, by now, probably the whole installation replaced, since the radiators haven't had moving water for several years. Not worth it, as far as I'm concerned, even if I did get the discount...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-01-06 11:41 am (UTC)The man they sent round confirmed that it was losing gas, so blocked it at the meter and said I'd have to call a local company (he wasn't allowed to deal with user-side). So I called one (they also do TV aerials, I'd used them before for that).
When they came round, they 'sniffed' (with a meter) around the boiler, which was what I expected to have failed, and didn't find much. Then they 'sniffed' near the hole in the wall with the mains socket(!) and the meter went off-scale. Evidently the (old iron) pipe had failed somewhere under the (concrete) floor and filled the wall cavity. So I had them run new pipe just to the kitchen for the stove (which wasn't leaking) and cut off the old pipe to the back room and the boiler. When they cut it, they found that the pipe was down to about 1/32" thickness, years of condensation had just eaten it away.
As far as the cavity was concerned, there was nothing they could do, just let it dissipate through the vents over time. The wall is still there...
But if I want a new boiler put in it will need the gas piping through to the back room again (overhead, not under the floor). And, by now, probably the whole installation replaced, since the radiators haven't had moving water for several years. Not worth it, as far as I'm concerned, even if I did get the discount...