fumes from boiler flue nauseating- please advise

[Trisha88]

Hi

Hope someone can help!

The flat below me has a boiler flue near to my living room window. Sometimes I hear a very loud pumping/whirring type noise from the flat below and it coincides with the most awful acrid smell- similar to a motor bike revving it's engine- coming from the flue into my livingroom. The smell is so strong it makes no difference if the window is shut.

The flat is let and the previous tenant said that the boiler was rarely checked in 5 years. The landlord is very unreasonable and difficult.

Can anyone tell me if these fumes are harmful?

I should point out this is not the normal condensation/steam which comes from the flue. I see that daily & it's odourless & I assume it's linked to the hot water being used in the flat. These pungent nauseating fumes only occur when the noise from the flat's central heating/boiler (?) occurs...

I look forward to hearing from someone. :juggle:

 

[zzzjim]

issue began back in 2007 .... fumes are nauseous ....

See if you can get a friend to help identify the smell , may gives clues to what it is ?

 

[Dotty]

Whereabouts are you Trisha? One of us may be close by..... And some of us are really scary looking!

 

[REDSAW]

not going to tell me this is a kitchen extractor venting un-savoury kitchen smells are you?

 

[Trisha88]

""One clue is that they might come out of a small grid below the flue and not the flue itself? It's a rectangular metal grid which juts out slightly on the external wall.""

I said this last week but I am wrong & I take this back. Just videoed the fumes pouring out of the white plastic wall extractor and coming towards my window. They do not come from the metal grid. They are the same looking fumes that come out daily but when they coincide with the mechanical pump type noise these fumes are very pungent.

Also- someone here asked what they smell of... very easy....exactly the same as someone revving a large engine...but more acrid!

I'm burning an incense stick right now as the smell flooded my living room.
The CO detector ahsn't buzzed though, I'm pleased to say...

 

[Dotty]

You've enough posts to allow you to post the video Trisha, can you do that for us please?

And whereabouts are you? I'd love for one of us to pop in and take a butcher's, if only to calm your mind and satisfy our curiosity!

 

[Stuthewarrior]

If this such a problem Trisha would pay for someone to give there professional opinion.....

 

[theanalyst]

I have come across a stinking flue like this before and am surprised this hasn't been mentioned already....
I would bet it is a fan flued boiler, and the FAN IS NOISY (hence the startup noise) and when running at hi speed its faulty bearings are causing the plastic to overheat creating an acrid smell which is being discharged into the flue.

If it is a plasticcy burning smell (it cant be car exhaust smell as the boiler isn't petrol powered!) I would bet money on it being that.

Unless your neighbours growing some kind of drugs.

I wouldn't give a damn about falling out with people. This is your health and burning plastic is carcinogenic and not very nice to breath in (if it is even that)

Im not sure what else you could do about it but if your that bothered you could offer to pay for the boiler to be inspected and repaired (get someone good off here as has been recommended then you wont get ripped off) , or move out!! or ignore it until the boiler dies.

 

[e/bourneplumber]

could it not be the extractor fan in the bath room making the noise and smell (the small vent / grill that sticks out a bit) - maybe the fan is knackered, and you're associating it with the boiler when you see it pluming, when say for example, your neighbour is running a bath or is in the shower? or as above the boilers fan is at fault.