Reply With QuoteTwunts !!!
My gas provider turns up at the house today to install a new gas smart meter. The fitter isolates the old meter and does a leak down test of my domestic gas piping, by isolating the source of gas supply and measuring any fall in pressure. This detects if there are any leak from the gas piping or appliances, but gives you no clue as to whereabouts of the leak.
It drops 3.78 mbar in 2 mins from a starting pressure of 20 mbar which he says is high, but acceptable if no gas can be smelled anywhere in the house. Once it reaches 4 mbar they cap the meter whether gas can be smelled or not, so you can see it is nip and tuck. I have never smelled gas once in the 15 years i have lived in the house, and neither has the rest of the family, so we have a small leak but it is definitely not being released in the liveable part of the house
He refits the new smart meter and runs the leak down test again. It comes it a 4.1 mbar. Next one 3.99 mbar and then just over 4 mbar again. Sorry, sir I am going to have to cap your gas. Great timing as it is -6 degC tonight, and freezing for the rest of the week!
I am well aware of the dangers of gas, but explain the no gas can be smelled and believe it is an acceptable risk to allow me some time to sort out the leak without shutting down our gas supply in one of the coldest weeks of the winter. Computer says no.
Next step, his boss and then regional manager. Another fitter is dispatched with a new meter a couple of hours later as I am ringing around gas-safe installers, realising if the leak difficult to trace (e.g. under floor boards etc) this could take days to sort out.
The new fitter arrives with a new meter, in case the previous meter is out of calibration as 0.3-0.4 mbar difference between tests is not expected.
I have had approval that as long as the two new readings are less than the original 3.78 mbar (before they replaced the meter) my gas will not be capped. A nervous few minutes later and I'm watching the test on his phone and the pressure decay in real time. First result is 3.73 mbar and second is 3.62 mbar. A couple of calls to head office and I have heat and hot water tonight.
They have advised to get SGN in as they will sniff the property for free, which I will do. Hopefully that will hone in on the leak to allow me to pay a gas safe technician to sort it out.
The whole irony is that the new gas meter will not communicate with the existing smart electric meter, so my new gas meter is dumb. But, at least I now know I have a smaller leak I need to get sorted.
Twunts !!!
In September my mate a gas fitter come all round fully qualified heating engineer worked through my place and identified the leak which was below normal tolerance in 20 mins he then isolated said appliance job done.
Out of interest where was the leak and could you smell it? And how did he test for it?Originally Posted by hilly10
We have a gas boiler, cooker and fire and I cannot smell gas from any of them when they are switched off.
Sod’s Law it will be from a soldered joint of a pipe under the floorboards or behind the kitchen cupboards.
Last edited by noTAGlove; 23rd January 2023 at 21:25.
He did a check as a safety check, when he put his apparatus on the meter it was showing a borderline acceptable leak he then went through the appliance's and identified the lounge fire as the culprit. We never use it as it’s more for show, but to be safe he isolated it
Did your neighbours not complain when their "free of charge" gas supply was cut off.
What kicked off the problem in the first place? Did you smell gas?
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What meter did he put on?
If it's an E6 meter you may be allowed up to an 8mbar drop depending on pipework installed.
These pressure drops are only allowed with appliances connected.
Did they test with appliances disconnected as no drop is allowed.
Did they also carry out a let by test which would establish whether the ECV is passing as well.
When you have any work done to the gas supply it should be tested before any work is carried out.
In this instance this was done as a new meter was being fitted.
This is how I have read it.
It is a G4 or that is what it says on the meter.
All appliances were connected when the leak down test was done.
They adjusted the ECV to get 20 mbar (or something like that). Then let it stabilise for 1 min. Then a 2 min test.
If it is the appliances I’m baffled as I can’t smell anything and neither can anyone in the family. Maybe I’ll sniff the boiler flue and get my head in the gas fire when these are both off tomorrow.
I have already sniffed the gas ovens, gas hob and gas-oven connector and smell nothing.
Guy said at 3.8 mbar i would smell it in the house, so maybe it is dispersing to atmosphere. But all gas pipe are on the ground floor.
Not quite the same, but we had a similar problem when our old meter was replaced about 10 years ago. The fitter cut us off and disappeared.
We eventually discovered the leak was in the flexible pipe connecting the supply to the meter, and as such was British Gas's problem to sort.
We never received an apology.
They could've isolated the appliances one at a time and then tested.
Once all appliances are isolated no drops are permitted.
This would've been my first approach although I don't know what meter installers are permitted to do.
The gas meter (GSME) doesn't communicate with the Electricity meter (ESME). It communicates with its corresponding Gas Proxy Function which is on the Communications Hub (CH; the box that fits on to the top of the Electricity Meter).
GSME's communicate with CH's using Zigbee which comes in 2 flavors, 2.4GHz (high bandwidth less penetration and propagation) and 868MHz (less bandwidth better penetration and propagation). The former being used in installs where the GSME is close to the CH and the latter where the GSME is more remote from the CH. GSME's are 'sleepy' devices and only send small amounts of data at occasional intervals so bandwidth is not an issue. What's more important in penetration and propagation.
It may be that your CH is 2.4GHz only (single band) when you actually need 868MHz (dual band). Generally if your GSME is more than 10 meters remote from the CH or if there is an obstacle between them (say a wall or two) you will need a Dual Band CH.
If you need a Dual band you will need to request this from your Energy Retailer. If you are able to let me know who makes the CH and it's SKU number I can tell you if you have Single or Dual Band CH in your existing installation.
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