Serious issue, might have to move out

kraggy

Hi guys,

House I'm living in has had a severe home heating fumes problem for the last week. My clothes stink to the extent that the office window at work had to be open and my housemate had to move his dogs to a friend's house.

The oil tank and boiler are both located outside the house in the back yard. How could the fumes be so bad?

We've had the local fire brigade come with a machine to test the air and though the oxygen levels are fine and there are no signs of any major carbon monoxide or methane problems, our clothes stink, we're getting headaches and we're just sick of it.

There's a builder coming in the morning to look at things. There was repairs done to the boiler by the landlords handyman in the last couple of weeks, but we can't figure out how the oil fumes are coming up through the gaps between the wall and floor, even at the front side of the house.

Any ideas?

kay 9

Where exactly is the boiler situated outside? Is boiler house built into the house?

Find a Oftec registered service engineer or a competent oil service engineer to check/service the boiler with a combustion analyzer, they are the only ones in a position to sign off on the safety of your boiler installation, leave the boiler off until this has been done.

kraggy

The boiler is in a hut/shed that is attached to the outer wall of the kitchen. i.e under the window of the kitchen on the outside.

The oil tank is out further again from the wall, so the boiler is between the kitchen and the tank.

Have had to come up to my girlfriend's tonight. Looks like I'll have to look for somewhere to live over the weekend. Gutted as was settling in nicely and the housemate is livid as he has been in the house 9 years.

Just paid a months rent. Better be getting it back.

But I still want to know what is going on.

Had every window, and door open for 3 hours this evening and while it refreshed the house a bit, it still built up again after that.

How the hell could oil fumes be getting into the house when the boiler is outside? And how could they be coming through the gaps between the radiator pipes and floor boards at the front of the house, i.e. miles away from the boiler?

I don't think it's anything to do with the boiler, but my opinion doesn't matter, your opinion doesn't matter nor the fireman's opinion, it the opinion of a competent service engineer looking over your installation and signing off on the safety of your installation, due to your safety concerns this is the only way to prove you have a safe installation and i wouldn't fire the boiler until it's been checked by the right person, safety, safety, safety.

Pete67

Is it combustion fumes or a smell of diesel/kerosene? If fumes from combustion it should disappear within a short time of shutting down the boiler if you open windows to ventilate the house, and should not reappear while the boiler is off. If this is the case it needs to be fixed urgently and you should not use the boiler until it has been sorted.

If it's a smell of oil itself then you possibly have an oil leak which has allowed oil to seep in under the floor, or a spillage from a previous leak, maintenance work or recent fill, which is less dangerous but not pleasant. Either way it is up to the landlord to sort it out.

ntpm

Pete67 wrote: »

Is it combustion fumes or a smell of diesel/kerosene? If fumes from combustion it should disappear within a short time of shutting down the boiler if you open windows to ventilate the house, and should not reappear while the boiler is off. If this is the case it needs to be fixed urgently and you should not use the boiler until it has been sorted.

If it's a smell of oil itself then you possibly have an oil leak which has allowed oil to seep in under the floor, or a spillage from a previous leak, maintenance work or recent fill, which is less dangerous but not pleasant. Either way it is up to the landlord to sort it out.

+1. OIL LEAK

if the oil tank or fuel line has been leaking the oil may be in the foundations.
The oil line can be pressure tested to check integrity.

FUMES

The boiler fumes may be leaking back into the house vaui the cavity walls or through soffit.

Either way as sugested get an OFTEC Registered technician to carry out an inspection.
HEALTH & SAFETY ISSUE.
Get landlord to follow up.

Buford T Justice

As with previous posters, it sounds like an oil leak that has soaked into the concrete under the floors. That would explain its persistence and consistency. If the house is sloping away from the Oil tank, perhaps check with the neighbours and see if they have the same problem, maybe the leak isn't necessarily from your own oil tank.

leakman

I agree with the previous posts, oil leak, into the foundations.I've seen this before and it always initially seems to be fumes from the flue.

kraggy

Thanks guys,

Yeah the house next door has complained of the smell too. Does that increase the likelihood that the leak is under the concrete?

leakman

I assume you've checked the obvious places, connection into tank, valve, filter and so on. Best thing to do would be to try and get the feed pipe from the tank to the boiler pressure tested, which will tell you definitively if it is leaking or not, it is quite easy to test.

kraggy

Builder's coming next week to dig the place up and investigate.

But the tank has been dipped regularly and it's not losing oil. So, the leak's not from our tank/boiler.

Absolute mystery. And the smell is moving every day/couple of days from between the sitting room and the hall.

Very strange.