Problems with smells and question about flushing out radiators

[C Thompson]

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.

 

[king of pipes]

What sort of boiler do you have this sound very worrying especially if it's a old open flue boiler my advice turn it off immediately ! and please don't use it until it is checked by a gas safe registered company , a landlord has legal requirement to have the boiler and any other gas appliances fitted in the property serviced every 12 months and a safety check carried out you shoud have a copy issued to you a CP12 , please put a picture up of your boiler this is very serious please please do not use it till it is checked. Kop

 

[C Thompson]

What sort of boiler do you have this sound very worrying especially if it's a old open flue boiler my advice turn it off immediately ! and please don't use it until it is checked by a gas safe registered company , a landlord has legal requirement to have the boiler and any other gas appliances fitted in the property serviced every 12 months and a safety check carried out you shoud have a copy issued to you a CP12 , please put a picture up of your boiler this is very serious please please do not use it till it is checked. Kop

Thank you, Kop for your reply.

They did check it for the annual gas safety check. They claim there is nothing wrong with the boiler.

It is a Worcester Greenstar Boiler MT10. I don't have any idea if it is an open flu boiler. I can see the pipes underneath it that you use to put more water in it to increase the water pressure.

I want to turn it off, believe me, but it is getting increasingly cold in here, and I have put in one complaint after another to them but they really just tell me there is nothing wrong with it. It smells usually alot worse at night for some reason, but when I call the emergency place so that they can witness the smells, they just tell me to turn it off and they will send someone out in the morning, but by then the smell will have gone away. It is very frustrating. And the thing is that no matter what I do, if I turn off the button for the boiler at the wall socket or even unplug it, then after awhile it will start putting off smells again. I end up having to turn off the gas meter. It is just a nightmare. I have even offered to buy a new boiler but they won't put a new one in. I just really don't know what to do. I am concerned not only for my own health and safety for for that of the neighbor below me, as I live in an upstairs flat.

The Head told me the other day that he would agree to have me call him at night to come out and verify the smells, and claims that he would know straightaway if they were caused by the boiler. He said he would do this if his Boss gives him permission. However, he has said things like this before, such as when he said he would see about if he could put in new radiators but that he had to find out from his Boss first if it were okay. Then I never hear back from him, unless I just keep on pressuring them. This puts me in a very awkward position, because I have only lived here for 1 year and am having problems trying to find another place to live, and don't want them kicking me out for complaining so much and ending up homeless.

I don't have picture taking capabilities on my mobile phone. Or else I'd show you the boiler. I just know they used to have a white board box around the bottom part of it where the pipes are, but the repair man who had fixed the extractor fan in the kitchen had taken it off when he fixed it because dust had gotten all down in the boiler and had to clean it out, and left the box thing unglued afterwards. I don't know what you mean by an open flue or what that looks like, or where it would be located?

 

[hammers4spanner]

This sounds bad turn the boiler off immediately and get it checked out.

 

[C Thompson]

This sounds bad turn the boiler off immediately and get it checked out.

I have tried but all they say is there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[C Thompson]

I just wanted to add that I thought it was kind of strange that when I first moved in here, and for months, the Water Pressure gage on the Boiler was just about down to nothing, almost in the red zone.

I knew nothing about boilers and I mentioned it. Then a repair man came out here and they put the water pressure way up without letting me know. And I noticed right away that the smells in the living room had become worse. This caused me to wonder if they purposely had the water pressure down low so that the Tenant that moved in wouldn't realize how bad it really was? Like perhaps having the water pressure way up would make the smells radiate out in the rooms or something? Like I say, I really know nothing about this, so I don't know. But I contacted the Worcester place Online and asked about it and they said that having the water pressure down so low would make it work inefficiently. So I would have thought that they'd of put it at the correct water preesure level before having me move in there?

Also, just as a side note, recently I was talking to a lady in this same complex and she told me that when she first moved in to her house here, it smelled like gas in the kitchen, around the boiler area, and I said, "same with me!"

 

[Scott_D]

What emergency place are you calling?

 

[C Thompson]

What emergency place are you calling?

Hi Scott,

This is a Housing Association, and they have the regular number to call for repairs and then they have the day and nighttime emergency phone number as well.

And so, I have tried 3 times in the middle of the night to call them but they always say the same thing to me.

 

[king of pipes]

As I said get it checked I would go as far as calling the emergency gas service better to be safe it costs you nothing if you dont it could cost you a lot more . Kop

 

[C Thompson]

As I said get it checked I would go as far as calling the emergency gas service better to be safe it costs you nothing if you dont it could cost you a lot more . Kop

View attachment 35266

Yes, I have already called the Gas Company, and every time they come out, they claim there is nothing wrong with it.

However, the last time they came out, which for the first time was during the day, the Man said he would do tests on it. So he went downstairs and did that, and claimed that there was nothing wrong with it. And after that I noticed that the Gas smell part of all of this seemed to have stopped. But then it started up again.

Ever since just a couple of days ago when the repair man fixed the living room and bedroom radiators, there was only a faint gas smell in the living room for awhile hours after turning on the heater, but that went away and I actually didn't have to go down to turn off the gas this time.

 

[C Thompson]

I will just tell you all one last thing.

One time, one of the more unusual incidents that occurred was that after the boiler repair men had put in the new expansion vessel, first lf all there was a horrible smell in the living room door area, when I turned the gas off downstairs, like a deep rubber-like smell. It literally made me vomit three different times, it was so awful. Then the night after they had installed the expansion vessel, I went into the kitchen during the middle of the night when I had gotten up to get a drink of water, and I opened the boiler door to check if the water pressure was all the way down, which it had been doing, going down to zero, with no water pressure at all. And the boiler repair men had advised me to keep it on ECO and so I noticed they had not put it back on ECO after they had installed the new radiators and put in the expansion vessel, and so I pressed the ECO button to turn it on again, and went back to bed. Almost immediately after I went to bed I heard some loud noises in the kitchen so I got back up to see what was going on. And to my complete surprise, the entire kitchen smelled like some sort of really strong perfume and rubber-like smell. It was really surprised and then I went into the living room and it smelled the same way, the whole room was like that. It is my assumption that odours like this are not supposed to be filling the rooms this way, and that everything are supposed to be 'contained' in the radiators, according to the boiler repair men. But instead of trying to find out what the problem was, when I told them about that, all they did was try to somehow put the focus back on me, by asking me what was I doing messing with the boiler in the middle of the night? Seriously, what does that have to even do with it? They ought to be worried about the fact that it would even be DOING such a thing, instead of me simply getting up during the night to put the ECO button back on after they had left it off and had formerly advised me to keep it on all the time, I would think? Unless this is a thing to have happen since they had just installed the new Expansion Vessel?

 

[Riley]

I’m intrigued with this but find it hard to believe it’s the boiler if as the OP says there have so many so called experts out to take a look. If you have no camera access then maybe speak to someone who does. We are happy to help but doing so blind is nigh on impossible. As above get cadent out if it’s made you ill. Unlikely to be CO as you’ve said there are smells and CO doesn’t have one

 

[Riley]

It does beg the question what have you done to the boiler??? Not in an accusing way but what have you touched/turned/disconnected/opened/closed to try and alleviate the ofours

 

[C Thompson]

Okay well if I am not going to be believed then no point in me even being here then. I jave enough problems with that already with the people that I have been dealing with. Good-bye.

 

[C Thompson]

It does beg the question what have you done to the boiler??? Not in an accusing way but what have you touched/turned/disconnected/opened/closed to try and alleviate the ofours

 

[C Thompson]

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.

 

[C Thompson]

But anyway, good-bye ...sigh

 

[Riley]

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

 

[Riley]

Very hard to print ou the ratio readings for the boiler when you’re no longer on site

 

[C Thompson]

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.

 

[C Thompson]

Very hard to print ou the ratio readings for the boiler when you’re no longer on site

I would of thought that he'd of already had the copy of it, and they didn't even bother to reply to me about it.

 

[Riley]

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

 

[Riley]

They don’t need a print necessarily. Depends on company policy. When was your gas safety inspection carried out

 

[Riley]

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

 

[snowhead]

To the O.P,
Buy a Carbon Monoxide detector and put it in the Kitchen where the boiler is.
If it alarms, switch the boiler off.

 

[Chuck]

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.

 

[king of pipes]

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

 

[Scott_D]

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

 

[Rob Foster]

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