Fumes from indoor boiler

Emma2015

Hello,

We moved into a rented house last week which has a Grant indoor kerosine boiler in the utility room. We noticed a smell of fumes (like exhaust fumes not like kerosine) very strong in the utility room and also seeping into the kitchen. The boiler had been serviced just before we moved in but the landlady sent the same guy out last week to look at it again. He cleaned out some part of it and also put some extra sealant on it. But he said he couldn't smell any fumes & acted like it was perfectly normal, which had us doubting ourselves.

Now after the weekend I'm pretty sure there's still fumes there and my throat hurts. My husband has a CO 2 monitor and CO2 levels are above 2000ppm in the utility room when the boiler is on.

Is this something that we need to be worried about or is it normal to have this with an indoor boiler? We have a new baby & toddler so I'm pretty worried about it but not sure if I'm overreacting. Should we be hounding the landlady about this and should we be moving out if it doesn't get sorted?

Thanks for any opinions

agusta

Emma2015 wrote: »

Hello,

We moved into a rented house last week which has a Grant indoor kerosine boiler in the utility room. We noticed a smell of fumes (like exhaust fumes not like kerosine) very strong in the utility room and also seeping into the kitchen. The boiler had been serviced just before we moved in but the landlady sent the same guy out last week to look at it again. He cleaned out some part of it and also put some extra sealant on it. But he said he couldn't smell any fumes & acted like it was perfectly normal, which had us doubting ourselves.

Now after the weekend I'm pretty sure there's still fumes there and my throat hurts. My husband has a CO 2 monitor and CO2 levels are above 2000ppm in the utility room when the boiler is on.

Is this something that we need to be worried about or is it normal to have this with an indoor boiler? We have a new baby & toddler so I'm pretty worried about it but not sure if I'm overreacting. Should we be hounding the landlady about this and should we be moving out if it doesn't get sorted?

Thanks for any opinions

YES!,Stop the boiler IMMEDIATELY.Leave the house IMMEDIATELY
your getting a reading of "CARBON MONOXIDE" not co2.Do not restart boiler.And please leave the house until there is no carbon monoxide reading.You need a professional in to sort this.You and you family are at risk of carbon monoxide poisioning

agusta

I really hope yea are all ok.If you or any member of your family have symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning [headache,dizziness,nausea,fatigue] get medical assistance immediately

Emma2015

Thanks a million Agusta. We also put a carbon monoxide alarm (and a smoke alarm) in the utility room, in the kitchen and in the bedroom above the kitchen cause we were pretty worried about this too. None of them have gone off - though not sure what the sensitivity/threshold on these are or how exactly they work?

jimf

do exactly as agusta said deff do not use this boiler again until its sorted properly

thank god you are all ok these are seriously high readings

scudo2

200ppm can kill.
2000ppm will kill.

Do NOT re start boiler. Get independent service engineer to check out boiler.
Landlord and his friend seem useless and dangerous.

will56

If the boiler was serviced you should have a cert showing the Carbon Monoxide reading from the flue.
Where is the flue situated outside, is it under an open window.

We had similar issues when we moved into our house and it turned out that the boiler hadn't been serviced correctly and there was a build up of carbon.

Do not run the boiler again until a competent RGI engineer has come out and serviced it and can give you a cert showing the readings from the flue gas.

Wearb

There is lots of information about Carbon Monoxide in the sticky at the top of the plumbing and heating homepage here on this forum.

---

Also information here.
http://www.carbonmonoxide.ie/htm/poisoning.htm

Note that the homepage above has a phone niumber that can be called for information. Anyone know if this number is monitored 24/7?

Billy Bunting

Emma2015 wrote: »

He cleaned out some part of it and also put some extra sealant on it. But he said he couldn't smell any fumes & acted like it was perfectly normal, which had us doubting ourselves.

A proper engineer doesn't trust these type of things to their nose we use flue gas analysis equipment, and give print outs of our findings, did you get one ?

Emma2015

Thanks everyone!
Just to clarify it was 2000ppm CO2 carbon dioxide measured using a gadget my hubby has for air quality testing. The CO monoxide alarm that we have in the room hasn't gone off so not sure of the CO level. But you guys would know better how CO2 levels relate to CO levels?

Billy & Will56, he didn't have any kind of gas analysis equipment, I didn't even realise that this is standard practice!

The flue goes straight outside at waist level and stops right there. There's a cat flap at ground level on the door just beside this (we put tape over it in case the fumes were blowing back in).

I'll get on to the landlady again - from your replies I guess I'm not overreacting.

Thanks

Wearb

In all fairness you did originally say CO2. It was taken as being CO. That is what caused all the concern for you and your families safety. Better to be cautious.

Your levels of CO2 are normal for a living area with people pets and perhaps plants. See bottom of this post.

As Bill wrote above, a better job should have been done on your boiler with a printout produced at finish.

CO2
Symptoms caused by carbon dioxide are directly related to the fact that increasing carbon dioxide levels cause decreasing oxygen levels in the body, hampering the flow of oxygen to the brain. If the concentration of the gas is still relatively low, common symptoms include headaches, an increasing pulse rate, uncharacteristically high fatigue, and breathing difficulties. When concentration of the gas reaches a high level above 30,000 ppm (parts per million), symptoms can include heavy nausea, dizziness, or vomiting. At these levels asphyxiation or a loss of consciousness can also occur, but this is hardly likely to occur in a common home, where levels of carbon dioxide usually range from 300 to 2,000 ppm.

Emma2015

Thanks Wearb - I agree it's definitely better to be cautious (and the reason I posted in the first place). There's too many horror stories related to CO poisoning on the news and I definitely don't want us to be the next headline.

And good to know that 2000 ppm CO2 is normal - the utility room is poorly ventilated so that would explain it and levels are much lower in the kitchen. I'll follow up about getting the gas levels checked by the guy that serviced the boiler.

There is still some exhaust fume smell in the utility room when the boiler is on but I'm assuming some smell is ok since nobody is concerned about it?

Thanks a million everyone for being so concerned - I really appreciate it!

Wearb

There should be no extra smell or fumes in the utility. (Unles oil has been spilled there) Is it a balanced flue or conventional? If it draws ventilation and combustion air from the room, there has to be a properly sized vent fitted. Also flue gas testing has to be done with windows and doors closed. Flue has to be properly sealed and termination properly positioned.