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View Full Version : New Basement smells like gas


elisafra
Jul 27, 2012, 10:15 AM
We have re-finished the basement and now all of a sudden half of the large living area smells like gas. Only half of it though. The rooms adjacent to it do not. The laundry room - dryer, furnace, water heater all do not. The gas line running from the meter to the equipment including the stove in the floor above the laundry also does not. The gas company has come out 3x and said its not gas. There is an abandoned, capped low pressure gas line that runs out to the street and is located in the room where the smell is. We opened up the wall to show it to the gas company and they still insist its not it either.

I am not convinced because the morning after they shut off the gas as a precaution the first time they came out it did not smell. Then we dug up outside and opened up on the inside to reveal the low pressure line for the gas co to inspect, they ruled it out and turned the gas back on... couple hours later the smell was back. We called them back and though they smell something, they claim its not gas and their instrument also does not register it.

What gives? What do I do? I am worried.

joey4029
Jul 27, 2012, 12:29 PM
We have re-finished the basement and now all of a sudden half of the large living area smells like gas. Only half of it though. The rooms adjacent to it do not. The laundry room - dryer, furnace, water heater all do not. The gas line running from the meter to the equipment including the stove in the floor above the the laundry also does not. The gas company has come out 3x and said its not gas. There is an abandoned, capped low pressure gas line that runs out to the street and is located in the room where the smell is. We opened up the wall to show it to the gas company and they still insist its not it either.

I am not convinced because the morning after they shut off the gas as a precaution the first time they came out it did not smell. Then we dug up outside and opened up on the inside to reveal the low pressure line for the gas co to inspect, they ruled it out and turned the gas back on...couple hours later the smell was back. We called them back and though they smell something, they claim its not gas and their instrument also does not register it.

What gives? What do I do? I am worried.

Shut off the gas

Disconnect your side of the meter and cap it off at the meter.shut off/cap the appliances line too
Then put a pressure gauge on the line overnight .They do this for new installations.This will prove that the line holds pressure, or not
Call the gas company and ask what pressure you should test lines to .I would think about 12 psi ,as gas is only about 3 psi
If the gauge shows full pressure from the day before,you can start looking for other possibilities
Is the gas meter anywhere near the house?like next to the basement wall?
A faulty regulator on the meter bleeding off gas once in a while(on a hot day) is possible