Is this a boiler problem?

[billyname]

In November, roughly when the heating can back on, i suddenly got a slight damp smell in an upstairs bedroom (the room where the boiler is located).....and then it turned into a strange chemical type smell, which i have had ever since.
I have had to move out of the room because whatever this chemical smell/taste is is making me ill.
I have tried to locate where this smell is coming from....i removed the carpet; some floorboards; checked the loft and i am still none the wiser.
I have had various people in to look at it i.e. Damp specialist; Air quality inspector; Local environment officer; British gas engineer......and no one can find where it is coming from.

The smell in that room is constant but the symptoms i get seem to get worse when the heating is on.
Being as the only thing in that room which is different to the other rooms is the boiler, is it possible that the boiler is causing this problem?
The boiler is a Vokera Linea 24.
I did wonder if the system had been flushed with some product (fernox etc) and maybe there was a leak on it that would cause this problem, but i have checked the pipework in this room and there doesn't seem to be a leak.

Does anyone have any ideas?
Is it wise to get the boiler checked by someone else, or am i barking up the wrong tree?

 

[Elkato531]

Yes get the boiler checked asap. I would advise you turn the heating off until its checked, certainly don't let anyone sleep in there.

You have not mentioned having to re-pressurise the boiler. This rules out a significant water leak so there may be a problem with the flue allowing products of combustion into the room. This is a potentially lethal situation and needs immediate attention.

 

[Agile]

Did the BG engineer, in view of the complaint, use an instrument to measure CO² levels around the boiler?

Tony

 

[rojaca]

As Tony's suggestion. I would have thought the engineer should have performed a Room CO test to identify any raised levels of CO/products of combustion when the boiler was in operation.

 

[Agile]

With a carefully set up boiler its possible to have a very small amount of CO in the flue gases.

If there is only a very small leak of POC into the room then a more sensitive test of leakage is often for raised levels of CO².

Tony

 

[Gasman28]

You stated that you only noticed the 'chemical type smell' in November once you turned the heating on - did you smell anything prior to this when only the hot water was on?
As you may be aware, Carbon Monoxide has no smell etc and therefore, without a CO detector present, cannot be ruled out.
First suggestion, install a CO detector.
Second, call a RGI to test the boiler / room CO levels
As previously stated, leave the system off until inspected.