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Gas leak detection and repair across Bristol by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Leaks traced on appliances and pipework, then put right properly.
Almost all of Julian's work comes from repeat customers and recommendations. Over forty years, that is the only measure that means anything.
Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. It is free and answered 24 hours a day. Turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely, open doors and windows, do not use light switches, electrical appliances or naked flames, and get everyone outside. Julian does not offer emergency or out-of-hours callouts, so the emergency line is the right first call.
The emergency service will make a property safe and, if necessary, cap off the supply. What they do not do is repair your pipework or appliance. That is where a Gas Safe registered engineer comes in, and it is the work Julian carries out.
He is Gas Safe registered, reg. 198984, with over forty years working on gas in Bristol homes. Leak detection covers appliances, the pipework running through the property, joints, fittings and connections.
A tightness test on the whole installation is the starting point. That shows whether the system is holding pressure, and if it is not, the leak is then traced back section by section using leak detection fluid and a gas analyser until the source is found.
Please note that Julian carries out gas leak detection only. He does not take on general plumbing, water leaks or bathroom work.
The whole installation pressure tested at the meter to confirm it holds.
Appliances isolated one at a time until the escape is pinned down.
Fresh test on the whole installation after repair, with a written record.
Part of gas engineer services in Bristol.
The obvious one is the smell. Natural gas has no smell of its own, so a distinctive odour is added to it deliberately, often described as rotten eggs. If you can smell it, treat it as real and act on it.
A hissing or whistling noise near a pipe, meter or appliance points to gas escaping under pressure. So does a gas bill that has climbed with no change in how you use the heating.
Yellow or orange flames on a hob or boiler instead of crisp blue ones suggest incomplete combustion, as does sooty staining around an appliance, or condensation building up on windows in a room with a gas appliance running.
Carbon monoxide is the danger that carries no smell at all. Headaches, dizziness, nausea or tiredness that improve when you leave the house and return when you come back are the classic warning signs, and they should never be brushed off. A working carbon monoxide alarm is worth having in any home with a gas appliance.
Dead patches of grass or plants near an underground supply pipe outside can indicate a leak in the buried section, which is a matter for your gas supplier rather than an internal repair.
Most gas leaks in homes come from joints and connections that have loosened over the years, from corroded pipework, or from appliances that have been moved, disturbed or badly fitted by someone unqualified.
An annual gas safety inspection catches most of it before it becomes a problem. The inspection includes a tightness test on the installation, a check of every appliance and its flue, and a combustion analysis to confirm the appliance is burning cleanly.
Annual boiler servicing covers the same ground on the boiler specifically, and is required to keep most manufacturer warranties valid.
Older properties around Staple Hill, Fishponds and Kingswood often still have some original steel gas pipework. It does not automatically need replacing, but it does deserve a proper look, particularly where it runs under floors or through damp areas.
If you have work done by anyone else on gas, ask to see their Gas Safe card and check the registration number. A great many of the dangerous installations that get found were fitted by someone who was not registered at all.
A tightness test at the meter comes first: the supply isolated, the installation pressurised and pressure watched. The system is then divided, appliances isolated one at a time, until the fault is narrowed to a specific appliance or section of pipework.
Compression joints loosened by years of thermal movement are the most common. Then threaded joints where the compound has hardened, corrosion on older steel pipe, and appliance connections disturbed when a cooker was moved.
A fresh tightness test on the whole installation, not just the section worked on. Appliances relit, pressures checked, combustion analysed, and a written record issued. That record is what allows a capped supply to be restored.
An audible alarm to the current British Standard is the only reliable warning. Fit one in any room with a gas appliance and in sleeping rooms, test monthly, and replace the unit every seven to ten years as the sensor expires.
A gas leak announces itself. Carbon monoxide does not. It is produced when a gas appliance burns incompletely, and it has no smell, no colour and no taste. It is a different problem from a gas escape, and it needs a different response.
A blocked or damaged flue, a cracked heat exchanger, insufficient ventilation, or an appliance that has never been serviced. Anything that stops an appliance getting the air it needs, or stops the products of combustion leaving the building.
A yellow or orange flame rather than a crisp blue one. Sooting or black marks around a boiler or fire. Excessive condensation in the room. Pilot lights that keep going out. None of these are cosmetic.
Headaches, dizziness, nausea and tiredness that improve when you leave the house and return when you come back. Symptoms affecting several people in the household at once, or pets as well, are a particular warning.
An audible carbon monoxide alarm to the current British Standard, sited according to its instructions, costs very little and is the only reliable way to detect a gas you cannot sense. Test it as you would a smoke alarm.
Annual gas safety inspections and boiler servicing exist principally to catch the conditions that produce carbon monoxide before they become dangerous. If you suspect it, open the windows, turn the appliance off, leave the property and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
The National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, free and answered around the clock. They make the property safe. Repairs come afterwards.
No. Julian works normal hours and does not offer out-of-hours or emergency callouts. For an emergency, call 0800 111 999.
They make it safe but do not carry out repairs. A Gas Safe registered engineer then finds the fault, repairs it and re-tests so the supply can be restored.
No. Julian covers gas leak detection only, alongside heating and boiler work. General plumbing and bathrooms are not services he offers.
Yes. Any home with a gas appliance should have one, sited according to the manufacturer instructions and tested regularly.
A final point on smell. Gas has odourant added deliberately so that escapes can be detected, but the sense of smell fatigues quickly on continuous exposure. If you noticed it earlier and no longer can, that is not evidence the leak has stopped. Treat the original observation as real and act on it.
See also gas safety inspections, gas engineer, boiler servicing and landlord gas safety certificates. See the areas we cover.
Leak detection and repair covers Bristol and roughly ten miles around Staple Hill. If the emergency service has already attended and capped your supply, mention that when you call so Julian knows what he is picking up.
For anything else gas related, gas engineer services covers the general call-out.
To be clear about the order of things in an emergency. If you can smell gas now, the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 comes first, not Julian. They are free, answered around the clock, and they will attend and make the supply safe. What they will not do is repair your pipework or appliance, because that is not their job. Once the supply is safe, that is when a registered engineer traces the leak and fixes it. Ringing an engineer first simply delays the part that keeps you safe.
For an emergency call 0800 111 999. For a tightness test or repair, call Julian.