Hello! I would appreciate any help anyone can provide. Last summer we had a CO and gas leak detected by the gas company after I smelled a smell. It took us 2 months to find it for various reasons. One, it smelled like mold to me - not gas. No one else could smell it. I had so many people come over to try to see if they could smell what I could smell. I have also found 2 other gas leaks in past locations (my studio and parents' house) so for some reason, this one I did not pick up on it being gas as it smelled different enough - it smelled more rotten and less like sulfur like the 2 others I picked up. Also, we did check right near the water heater in the basement and it did not smell at all down there so it just never crossed our minds. It made me very ill and I had to move in with my mom for awhile so she could help me. I kept going back to my house to try it and I could smell something very faintly but not like I smelled it last summer. I thought we would just need to get the carpets cleaned. We did that and then it warmed up and the smell is back. It's awful. More people can smell it now. It made us think we still had another leak. I've called the gas company multiple times, the fire department, and HVAC professional. Finally, we called a Master Plumber and he put an air test at 13 lbs of pressure on it last night around 4:30 p.m. at around 61 degrees. We had a big temp drop to 41 last night. It was 11.5 this morning. The temp went up to 68 degrees today and it went back up to 12.5 today. It was back to 12 by evening almost as the sun had gone down.

My question is are those fluctuations acceptable or should we assume we have a leak? Our plumber doesn't seem to think it's a leak. We are leaving it on longer. I've read online that there should be no reduction in pressure but there could be an increase.

Thanks for any advice. I cannot even be in my home for 5 minutes now. My skin burns all over and I have so many other symptoms also. I am concerned that we have methyl mercaptan all over inside like the Porter Ranch residents did and I may lose everything in my house and have to have it gutted.

I don't think there's a gas leak. Has a mold test been done? Any local industrial hygienists in your area? Air sampling and analysis should be performed.

after compensating for temperature you DID lose 0.5+ psi over 24 hours

? sufficient leak to make you ill ? ! ask your gas supplier if this test result is acceptable !

? may ALSO have a mold issue ?

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Thank you for responding. It's not mold. That was thought (I was 100% convinced) and that's what we looked for for a very long time and we had a building biologist out. He walked in and knew the smell. The symptoms match up exactly with mercaptan poisoning down to every last symptom. It's creepy. There was almost zero mold in our air samples.

Thank you for responding. Our reading this morning is at 11 PSI but the temperature went down lower than it did the night before. It got down to 36 last night and was 41 the night before. Is any leak acceptable? I don't know enough about air pressure expansion/contraction to know. I guess I will ask him to keep it on longer as it's not very clear yet.



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Leave the gas off to the house and see if the smell goes away and the irritation.

Maybe you have done this and I missed it in your post.

If it does go away start testing the gas line(s) in sections to find leak ?

Good Luck.

The gas has been off since Friday and off a lot before that for "testing" from professionals as well. The smell is still there. We have aired out the house also. Then, as soon as we close it back up again, the smell gets much worse again. That's what is making me think it's the gas that is embedded in all of our carpets and walls. I've researched getting mercaptan out of things and it is looking like it might be an impossibility. I called an odorant company who uses it and the gentleman I talked to said that if he gets mercaptan in any of his clothing, it's in it for the life of the garment. It took us a good while to find the leak last summer. It pumped gas into our house for 2 months.

I bought a PCO air filtration system and I wonder if that's what's pulling it up and out of things because it's everywhere now not just embedded and more in the background. More people can smell it now too instead of just me.

The change in temp on May 31 was 41% difference from high to low. The change in air pressure was 12%.

The change in temp on June 1 was 37% from high to low. The change in air pressure was 12%.

you put x psi in the piping @ y temperature


the temperature fluctuated DOWN and so did the pressure

when the temperature came back up the pressure should have ALSO - if not = leak




as far as mercaptan (the 'scent' added to colorless odorless natural gas for leak detection purposes) 'odor' ?????????????????????????/

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

The temp went up and the PSI went up also. It did not go back to where it was when initially put in. It was short by .5 psi at the height of yesterday's temps. Does that .5 PSI difference come from the fact that there will be a slight change from the temp of compressing the gas? I read that there can be a slight difference just from letting the air cool after compressing it in?

We are going to let it go another day. We should have our answer by tomorrow. I'm just impatient and looking for others' experiences.

the pressure 'should' have returned in FULL with the same temperature

there is NO 'memory of compression'


eg. 10 psi @ 60 degrees - 8 psi @ 30 degrees - back to 10 @ 60 degrees = no leak


10 psi @ 60 - 8 psi @ 30 degrees - 'back up' to 9.2 psi @ 60 degrees = small leak



(the numbers are random for illustrative purposes only)

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



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OP,

f/y/i:

What is mercaptan used for?

Methyl mercaptan is a flammable colorless gas with unpleasant odor described as rotten cabbage. It is used as a gas odorant; an intermediate in the production of pesticides, jet fuels, and plastics; and in the synthesis of the amino acid methionine.

Hereof, how do you get rid of propane smell?

You might try bleach. We used to use bleach solution in a spray bottle to clean down mercaptan contaminated tanks and hoses. The chlorine in the bleach will react with the mercaptan and get rid of the smell but if you just have a bunch of contaminated furniture/carpeting not 100% sure it will work for you.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Thank you. That is what I needed to know is that it should have held pressure. I guess we most likely still have a leak.

Yeah, the mercaptan smell has infiltrated items that cannot be cleaned with bleach. I purchased a Photocatalytic oxidation cleaner to help and it definitely seems to be picking it, up but there's so much of it now it's also moving it around too. Insurance comes tomorrow to help us decipher our next steps.

Overall, the temperature over the past three days has had an overall rise. It is not back up to where it was at its first setting of 13. I just went over there and it's at 11.6. Thanks for all of your help. I am curious to hear my plumber's take on it tomorrow also.

Is it possible the loss of psi is due to the cooling and heating of the air inside the piping resulting in water droplet condensation

IE: some of the O2 is now h2o and therefore reading a lower psi

A gas Test (at least 3 psi) for 15 minutes will show the very smallest leak. This is gross to say but a dead mouse or rat smells just like Natural gas (mercaptan). Mercaptan is harmless. There is no reason to test a line overnight.



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A "perfect" test would be 100 psi of dry nitrogen for 4 hours using a mirrored calibration gage and, of course, a thermometer and a temperature compensation table.

The reason for the 'table' is the expansion and contraction of the piping itself which actually affects the volume.


The kind of testing DuPont once used at their chemical plants.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



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if there is any CSST in the gas piping, it is not advisable to put 100 PSI of anything into the system.
[resource.bakerdist.com]

CORRECT

that is MY precise point re: best, or good, practice versus minimum code compliance


'approved' piping for explosive gas is NOT required to be capable of holding 100 psi for test purposes by code


good practice is obvious

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Well, pressure dropped another .6 PSI this morning from last night's reading. The temps have been rising for the past three days. I'm going to go with the fact that we possibly have a teeny tiny leak. I am probably sensitized after being poisoned by it in my home last year in the acute episode with the water heater. Thanks for everyone's help.



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children's bubble solution and a soft camel hair brush (like the ones used for make-up) will be your best friends

AND

a good inspection mirror to see 'around' the joint tested

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



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My Favorite home brew is Palmolive dish detergent...small bucket of warm water and a rag, wet down all the joints and you'll find any leak fast and no dish pan hands Madge.