Rotten egg smell Vaillant ecotec 837 boiler - bacteria?

[deev256]

Are you sure this is not a natural gas smell? If you have concerns call the emergency gas service 0800111999 now and get them to make safe and call your gas safe registered engineer to carry out tightness test and full appliance check.

It's not natural gas i'm sure. The guy who fitted it did come back out and tested it and couldn't find anything, not sure if he did a tightness test though but will find out.

 

[gasmarc]

it could be a light fitting or socket or something dead on a heating pipe perhaps

 

[that bloke.]

does the flue go through a cavity wall? could it be coming from the cavity if it is?

 

[SciencenotPlumb]

Try this link.
Sulfates, Hydrogen Sulfide, Rotten Egg Odor, Sulfur , Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Drinking Water Testing Analysis Treatment
Note the bit about "ocassionally a hot water heater . . ."

Solder contains about 1000ppm of sulphur as impurity BTW. Your nose can detect about 1ppm H2S.

 

[stevetheplumber]

id be looking at the condensate pipework

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

id be looking at the condensate pipework

as everyone else is saying a common issue if its done wrongly

 

[ecowarm]

Try this link.
Sulfates, Hydrogen Sulfide, Rotten Egg Odor, Sulfur , Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Drinking Water Testing Analysis Treatment
Note the bit about "ocassionally a hot water heater . . ."

Solder contains about 1000ppm of sulphur as impurity BTW. Your nose can detect about 1ppm H2S.

0.00047ppm is the level 50% of the population can detect the odour of Hydrogen Sulphide, workers in the Petrochemical industry carry alarms set to go off at between 5 - 15ppm
less that 10ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hrs a day

10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.[13][14]
320–530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death.
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure (LC50).
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
I dont think you have a H2S problem unless you have a petro/chem plant under your stairs.

But i could be wrong

 

[Blackcatgas]

0.00047ppm is the level 50% of the population can detect the odour of hydrogen sulphide, workers in the petrochemical industry carry alarms set to go off at between 5 - 15ppm
less that 10ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hrs a day

10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.[13][14]
320–530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death.
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure (lc50).
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
I dont think you have a h2s problem unless you have a petro/chem plant under your stairs.

But i could be wrong

lol:d!!

 

[Reg Man]

Is this an edjucated guess? lol

 

[deev256]

Nice thinking, maybe the condensate just drops into an untrapped 1 1/4 pipe?

Well it seems this was the cause of the smell. On Friday i rodded the offending waste pipe and all manner of gunk came out - it's a long pipe run from a food packing room. The condensate pipe taps into it around 3 feet from the end. Since i cleaned it out, no smells at all. My only question is how the odour escaped from it, given that it definately eminated from within the boiler rather than near the pipe work?

 

[mrlennie]

0.00047ppm is the level 50% of the population can detect the odour of Hydrogen Sulphide, workers in the Petrochemical industry carry alarms set to go off at between 5 - 15ppm
less that 10ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hrs a day

10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.[13][14]
320–530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death.
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure (LC50).
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
I dont think you have a H2S problem unless you have a petro/chem plant under your stairs.

But i could be wrong

Does this mean i should stop licking the solder before i make a join?

 

[ecowarm]

keep licking the lead solder