Gaseous emissions

We woke up on Saturday morning to a faint smell of gas in the study. So faint, in fact, that we couldn't really be sure it was gas, so we didn't think too much about it at the time and it was faint enough that when we'd been sat in the room a while we didn't notice it any more.

When I got back from picking the girls (and Nat's boyfriend) up though, it was much more noticeable. Faint in the hall but quite strong in the study - which is weird because we don't have any gas appliances in the study, or anywhere outside the kitchen for that matter - and this time definitely gas. I checked the boiler and the cooker in the kitchen. Not only was there no smell near them there was none in the kitchen at all. I made us all some cheese on toast and by the time we'd eaten it and gone back upstairs the smell in the study was even stronger.

I called the National Gas Emergency number and they instructed me to turn off the supply, not turn any lights on or off, and someone would be with us within an hour. We opened the window in the study and our bedroom to get a through draft and air the place out. After twenty minutes of that we were (a) gas free and (b) freezing so we closed the window again. After another ten minutes, the smell was back - just as strong as before.

How could that happen, I wondered, when we'd shut off the supply? Surely there wouldn't be that much pressure in the pipes, even if there was a gas pipe in the study we weren't aware of? Nikki wondered if it might be coming through from next door. Our neighbour is in his eighties and lives alone. We guessed it was quite possible he'd left a gas tap on - maybe even on a bedroom gas fire on the other side of the party wall? This theory was given added credence when I knelt down near that wall and discovered the smell was even stronger there.

True to his word the gas engineer was with us in around 40 minutes and took only a few minutes to declare the house gas-tight (which was a relief as the evening's large pan of chilli hadn't quite finished cooking!). We explained where the smell was and he fetched his gas "sniffer" device up to the study. He waved it around all over the room, even near the wall where the smell was worst. Not a peep out of it. "I'm not even sure that smell is gas," he said. "It doesn't really smell like gas to me, and if there was any gas in here at all, this thing would be going crazy."

Well it sure smelled like gas to me, but I wasn't about to argue with him. He's the expert, right? We mentioned the guy next door, and the gas man asked me to go with him to explain why we were there. The chap is Polish and although he understands English quite well, he's a little slow with it. As soon as he opened his front door, you could smell it - really strongly. When we walked into the hall it was unmistakable and in the kitchen it was overpowering - you literally could hardly breathe. He'd left his oven on, unlit. He'd been at home all afternoon and not noticed!

I had a chilling moment when the gas man went to check the meter and our neighbour helpfully turned the light on for him. As you can tell by the fact I'm writing this, there was no explosion.

I found it slightly disturbing that an expert gas engineer had doubted that the smell was gas, and that his detector had not detected it. For the gas to have seeped through to our house it must have been on for some time. Maybe even since the night before. But what was even more disturbing was when I later telephoned his son to report what had happened. I just thought he should know, you know? He might want to buy his Dad a replacement cooker. An electric one. He didn't seem too concerned. "Oh," he said, "thanks for telling me. He doesn't do that very often."

!!!