Wednesday 27 August 2008

Mid week abstinence

I managed to ignore my open bottle of shiraz - viognier last night but have to admit I haved succumbed to the lure of a nice 10 year old bottle of The Macallan. Well I've not drunk the whole thing, just a glass, but there goes abstinence for the week. Hic hic hoorah!

Didn't manage to train tonight which is a real shame. I was going to go on a nice hilly trail run with my club but upon having my gas meter changed this morning I was informed I had a leak. Not a big one, but a leak nonetheless so my gas supply was cut off. It took until 6:30pm to get an engineer round but he did his job well and isolated the leak - our gas hob is dodgy. I'll have to see if I can get a replacement tomorrow but I think the company has changed its range even though I am within my 5 year warranty. To install the equivalent looking hob might require I get a fitter out to saw the worktop aperture a little larger. Groan ... this could get complicated and with a hungry 9 month old baby, not having a hob could get tricky for cooking food. It'll be out with the Trangia!

5 comments:

Tim said...

Hi Brian,

Sorry to hear about your gas troubles. We cooked for about 4 months on one of these (http://tinyurl.com/6aluay) during our major works on our house.

I must admit, I'd be inclined to get a second opinion on the hob as it seems unlikely that either the hob itself is leaking or broken beyond repair. Likeliest thing is just a poor or loose fitting that just needs fettling.

Not all gas "engineers" are worthy of the title. (Not engineers at all as I'm sure you know, just fitters).

Brian Mc said...

We've had a suspicion about the hob since about 4 weeks after we bought it (4 years ago) - I smelled gas, Transco came out and shut us down.

When he then came out, the hob company engineer claimed there was no way it could be hob on the basis of mechanical simplicity (not a lot could go wrong) and then put us back in action, saying there was no leak based on the pressure drop test. Now Transco used a gas detector as well as a pressure drop test and the gas was definitely emanating from the hob.

Since then we have smelled gas every now and then round the hob, but not enough to be concerned. We have had the meter changed and the engineer then said we had a pressure drop but it was permissible (i.e. not much) so let us run.

Then the meter was changed again yesterday and we were switched off again. The engineer we then called to detect the leak location did a methodical job so I trust what he says when he says it isn't the pipework or boiler, but definitely is the hob.

It could be something as simple as a washer internally, but it is something past the point where the hob affixes to the gas supply i.e. something that will likely require the hob to be taken out and stripped.

To complicate matters the company we bought the hob from has since sold the hob brand and I can't get anyone at the new company to answer the phone. The hob is probably only worth £130 new and we are not covered for labour now under our 5 year guarantee for parts.

I think I'll just buy a new hob at the weekend and get it fitted. With a baby to feed I don't want to be farting around for ages wrangling with a company that didn't even sell me the hob in the first place, assuming I can even contact them. All I'll save is £130 as I'll have to pay labour anyway. Easier and quicker just to buy a new hob.

Yes, this is a bit of a long story! :-)

Tim said...

Every gas leak we've had in our house has been caused by a fitter!

I now have my own leak testing manometer and sort any problems myself. I sleep better that way. ;-)

Brian Mc said...

Do you do gas repair jobs? :-)

Tim said...

Post your hob up and I'll have a look at it. ;-)

Seriously though, I wouldn't touch anyone elses gas appliances or pipework. I'm confident doing what I do but wouldn't like to be responsible for blowing someone else up.

Incidentally, I too fell off the mid-week abstinence wagon. We had a friend round for dinner and it would have been rude not to open some wine. ;-)