Discuss Problems with smells and question about flushing out radiators in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Hello All,
I have been having just the worst problems with the heating system where I am renting a house. The smells that the boiler and radiators put out have been doing me in, both physically and mentally. I, by the way, know really nothing about boilers. I am just trying to survive all of this, as I have breathing problems and the smells make it difficult to breath and I am vomiting, getting headaches, having a difficult time sleeping, as I have to barricade myself in my bedroom at night to keep the smells out, and put towels underneath the door, etc.

The basic problem is that it works alright for a certain amount of hours when I put the boiler on a certain setting, but then the smells begin. And the only way to get rid of the smell is to change the settings on the boiler. It doesn't seem to matter what settings I change it to, as long as I change it. This makes me wonder if it is overheating? I know they had to change the expansion vessel, whatever that is, because I asked them to check the fan and it started making alot of noise.

Also, besides the regular sort of 'fuel oil' type smells, it puts out gas smells and it immediately goes away whenever I go turn the gas meter off. But when I call the emergency place with the gas provider they say they can not find a leak.

The kitchen radiator now has black water, and a bitter smell, and it burns my eyes. This happens sort of off and on. I looked it up online and it says the radiators should be flushed out or it can get clogged up, both the radiators and the boiler? But the repair man just always says it is a contained system. But aren't they all?

They put in a new radiator in the hallway, the bedroom, and the living room, but still the smells. To me it is obviously from the boiler. When I first moved in, the kitchen around the radiator smelled like gas. But then once I started using the heater after awhile it went away. And the living room and hallway radiators were both making clunking noises when I first moved in too, and it ended up that there was a bunch of brown wet mucky stuff on the living room floor under the living room radiator where the end knob is. It stopped eventually, at least the noise part of it, anyway.

Both the hallway and bedroom radiators were putting out a chemical smell when I moved in and kept doing it, till finally I had to just turn them both off, and keep them off ever since then.

They put in a new living room radiator but made it where it wouldn't put out heat and where I couldn't be able to turn it off if it put out smells, making both ends the same with no way to turn it off. They finally fixed it the other day so I could be able to have heat in the living room, I was freezing cold. Also the brand new radiator they put in the bedroom started leaking. I had only tried using it a couple of times and noticed a brown spot at the end of it, on the carpeting, and tried it again and noticed it was also wet, and I felt behind it and it was all wet. They came and fixed that but won't do anything about the kitchen radiator with the bitter smells and black water that is burning my eyes.

Can anyone please give me any insights into this, because the Landlord and their boss are coming here in a couple of weeks to discuss this with me; this is after months and months of me having to endure this. I finally started putting in formal complaints about it all.
 
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I simply changed the settings, as in like, Timer on, Timer off.

And turned the on/off button for the boiler, off as they told me to do at the emergency center. And now and then I end up having to unplug it for the smells to stop- as I read Online that they said to do if you have any certain smells, and when the gas smells are there, turn off the gas meter lever, as the gas company told me to do. As far as I know, I have done nothing wrong at all.

But I find it strange, to be honest, that it always seems people start to accuse me, even though you say you are not doing so. They tried to do that to me here too. But then I told them, 'Well you just told me that you tested the boiler and there was nothing wrong with it, and so I could not have damaged it then, since you claim its in great shape. 'That shut him up real quick. But they are always trying to focus the attention back on me, to divert it away from themselves. It was funny too that the repair man wanted to print out the report for me on the safety test, to make it seem like nothing was wrong with it, and I said no thats okay I wouldnt know what any of it meant anyway. But then I sent and email and told them I changed my mind about it, and wanted it to prove that I hadn't done anything to damage it as they were implying, suddenly. heard nothing back from them and they wouldnt send me a copy.
 
There was no offence intended however I’m sure you can see where I’m coming from. You’ve been told it’s safe by numerous gas engineers so sometimes you have to think outside the box. Could it be something else
 
There was no offence intended however I’m sure you can see where I’m coming from. You’ve been told it’s safe by numerous gas engineers so sometimes you have to think outside the box. Could it be something else

Actually I think it is THEM who need to think outside the box, not me. As an example I found out that they don't check EVERYTHING when they do the gas check. By law, they are only required to check certain things.
 
They are required to test the safety of the unit so it doesn’t kill you. Please don’t go on the attack with me as I and my colleagues here are happy to help but you’re being very defensive when you’re asked simple questions
 
And I don’t think any of the engineers you’ve had over previously would have been accusing you. We are entering your home once a problem has occurred. We have to ask if anything’s been changed recently to ascertain potential faults. Put yourself in their shoes you do all the necessary tests on the boiler and there is nothing wrong. You have to ask questions
 
But anyway, good-bye ...sigh
I will make two 'out of the box' suggestions.

Firstly, can you get a friend or family member to stay the night and see if they can smell the same things you do?

Secondly, you wrote that the smell stops immediately when you switch off the gas supply or change the boiler settings. If this is accurate, it makes a physical cause related to your heating/boiler, less likely because if gas/smoke/vapour has permeated a building it is more likely to take several hours to disperse.

If you are the only person who is experiencing these smells, there are a several medical conditions and also drug side-effects that have the symptoms you are describing. See, for example

Phantom smell - Burning & Smoke - Respiratory Disorders - MedHelp

So, I suggest you see your GP and tell them that you are experiencing smells that no-one else can smell or find a cause for and that you suspect a medical cause.
 
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There is obviously more to this problem than we can advise you on, but rest assured all the professionals who give their free time just to help you and others certainly do not want cause any upset and bad feeling , we have a duty of care to protect life and property and in so doing we have to sometimes ask some tricky questions , is there a family member you can talk to about this you should not have to llive in a flat that is making you ill . Regards kop
 
There are other things that can give gas like smells.
A dry drain
A bit of gone off food behind the washing machine
The inside of the bin
Something the cat carried in
 
I will make two 'out of the box' suggestions.

Firstly, can you get a friend or family member to stay the night and see if they can smell the same things you do?

Secondly, you wrote that the smell stops immediately when you switch off the gas supply or change the boiler settings. If this is accurate, it makes a physical cause related to your heating/boiler, less likely because if gas/smoke/vapour has permeated a building it is more likely to take several hours to disperse.

If you are the only person who is experiencing these smells, there are a several medical conditions and also drug side-effects that have the symptoms you are describing. See, for example

Phantom smell - Burning & Smoke - Respiratory Disorders - MedHelp

So, I suggest you see your GP and tell them that you are experiencing smells that no-one else can smell or find a cause for and that you suspect a medical cause.
Good thinking Chuck, I cannot see a UKPF related problem
Rob Foster aka centralheatking
 

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