Rotten Egg smell when fireplace is on!

[brokentelephone]

Dear DIYnot community,

I live in a flat in London, and have had a very strong rotten egg smell in my flat when the gas fireplace is on. The strange part, though, is that the source of the smell doesn't always appear to be right at the fireplace, and can be smelled along the wall and into another room (sometimes much stronger in the room without the fireplace, though usually not).

I'm thinking it could be the gas line? Gas Helpline people came in and checked for leak, but that was when the fireplace was off, and the smell only occurs when the fireplace is on.

I have just had the chimney swept.

Any ideas? Gas line? Air/gas mixture on the fireplace itself? I'm very desperate to fix it because I can't use the fireplace in the meantime, and unfortunately, my underfloor heating decided to die and am waiting to have that fixed as well, and winter is coming!!!

Thanks in advance.

Regards.

 

[Madrab]

Get a GSR engineer in to check your supply, gas pressure, and do a service - let by, soundness/tightness, consumption, spillage tests etc on your gas appliances. That way you will know if there is a leak or not and if your fire is burning correctly.

 

[brokentelephone]

Great. Thanks.

Any good ones in SW7 London you can recommend?

 

[Madrab]

Being all the way up here in Scotland I'm afraid I can't Tho I'm sure there will be a few on here who would be happy to recommend tho

 

[TCCHeating]

Have you checked there is nothing dead and decaying which has fallen down the chimney behind the fire? (squirrel/pigeon etc). I have seen before where this can cause terrible smells when the fires switched on but not so much when the fires off

Edit: just realised youve had chimney swept so prob very unlikely

 

[brokentelephone]

Have you checked there is nothing dead and decaying which has fallen down the chimney behind the fire? (squirrel/pigeon etc). I have seen before where this can cause terrible smells when the fires switched on but not so much when the fires off

Edit: just realised youve had chimney swept so prob very unlikely

Yah, just had it cleaned and it happens immediately before anything would have time to vapourize!

 

[footprints]

Any chance cars are parked outside an air vent to your flat?
Fire on flue pulling in air.
I'm thinking catalytic converter.
Or maybe some sort of garage or factory nearby.

 

[brokentelephone]

So I had the GSR guy come in, and he said the fireplace, pipes etc., aren't leaking so have to come up with a new reason for the smell.

Underneath the sink there is a definite stinky smell -- unsure if the overall egg smell and this are related.

My flat happens to sit on top of the underground parking garage in the building -- could this be related to that? It's quite cold in London at the minute, and that seems to coincide with the rotten egg smell.

Thanks.

 

[TheVictorian]

I would suggest that when the fire is on it will be drawing air in from somewhere else and that is the source of the problem, I suspect a leaky or open drain somewhere.

 

[brokentelephone]

I would suggest that when the fire is on it will be drawing air in from somewhere else and that is the source of the problem, I suspect a leaky or open drain somewhere.

Thanks, that makes sense. I have the plumber coming again on Wednesday, will pass along these suggestions and hope we can find the root of the problem.

Any other ideas?