Colin Leake Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I know that the smell in calor gas is one that is put there deliberately so that one can smell it in the even of a leak before the Big Bang. Does anyone know if Autogas has a similar smell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 All the Autogas we have used so far both from the UK and from abroad does smell very similar to Calor but whether you smell it before the bang I don't know? I imagine it depends on the location, duration and volume of a leak allied to the presence or otherwise of a source of ignition? I can say that in the few occasions we have had a gas leak over the years we have always smelt it before the big bang and lived to put it right so I guess it all depends on how good your noses are! Sometimes a hob gas ring blows out or is not fully turned off and we have always noticed that too - so far - as the smell does seem dis-prortionately powerful to the volume of gas present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 We were on a site in France a couple of years ago when we could smell, very strongly, gas. I went outside to check and it was not us but followed my nose to an old British caravan and car combination that had pitched two away from us. The smell was really powerful so I knocked on their door to tell them that I thought they had a problem. The guy came out but he was oblivious to the problem and totally impractical so I told him to open the bottle locker to check there - he did this and I found that he had a rubber tube going from an old regulator on his gas cylinder and that rubber tube was totally perished and you could both hear and smell the gas coming out. I carried out a repair on the rubber tube by cutting back and pushing it back on to the regulator nipple and putting a jubilee clip on it. told him that it was only a temporary repair and that he should get it fixed ASAP. Whether he did or not I don't know as he was gone the next morning. Thankfully the smell was strong enough for us to have concern, otherwise he and some others on the site could have been exposed to a very large bang ! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Thanks Alan for the memory jogger as that reminds me of when we were in Morocco a few years back and I smelt gas. Having spent about an hour checking all the taps, joints, bottles, regulator, fridge, cooker, heating I suddenly realised the smell was not us but from the UK van next door - some 12 feet away - and that following investigation it had exactly the same problem that you identified which we cured the same way that you did! So yes, the pong does travel and spread out well and we are probably at greater risk from other users that we are from ourselves! Anyone still for a tightly packed Aire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Autogas IS Calor Gas .... just in bulk, not bottles. The name 'Autogas' is the registered name of a Joint Venture between Shell and Calor to provide LPG on Garage forecourts. Strictly speaking, any other similar product sold by competitors cannot be described as Autogas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 747 - 2015-02-04 8:55 PM Autogas IS Calor Gas .... just in bulk, not bottles. The name 'Autogas' is the registered name of a Joint Venture between Shell and Calor to provide LPG on Garage forecourts. Strictly speaking, any other similar product sold by competitors cannot be described as Autogas. Interesting point - I didn't know that! I know that UK Flogas smells the same as Calor so does the gas from all UK and/or EU sourced gas bottles smell more or less the same as Calor does anyone know? Is there an EU standard for all lpg as Calor are UK only how does this apply abroad as it all seems to smell the same to me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanS Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Tracker - 2015-02-04 9:01 PM 747 - 2015-02-04 8:55 PM Autogas IS Calor Gas .... just in bulk, not bottles. The name 'Autogas' is the registered name of a Joint Venture between Shell and Calor to provide LPG on Garage forecourts. Strictly speaking, any other similar product sold by competitors cannot be described as Autogas. Interesting point - I didn't know that! I know that UK Flogas smells the same as Calor so does the gas from all UK and/or EU sourced gas bottles smell more or less the same as Calor does anyone know? Is there an EU standard for all lpg as Calor are UK only how does this apply abroad as it all seems to smell the same to me? The additive to give it a 'smell' is Ethyl Mercaptam and is used internationally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Many years ago I served my apprenticeship at a high pressure gasification plant that at that time produced 20% of Scotland's gas. The gas we produced was odourless and for safety a foul smelling concentrated liquid was injected by a small pump. If ever you had to work on that pump it was a complete change of clothing and a long shower. Anyway one worthy was having trouble with dog poo in his garden and smuggled some neat odour to try and deter them. Not sure if it had any effect on the dogs but the gas board were out digging up the street looking for gas leak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 The "stench agent" in LPG's is Ethyl Mercaptan & is injected at manufacturing source i.e. an Oil Refinery, so irrespective of marketing brand for the Liquid Petroleum Gas, it all contains the same stench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxer1 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 The smell you are getting could be coming from your leisure battery. The smell is similar to lpg etc. Is your battery charging and holding the charge. Boxer1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Possibly, and I see where you are coming from with that, but the sulphurous odour from a battery is, to me at least, quite different to the acrid smell of gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 flicka - 2015-02-04 9:48 PM The "stench agent" in LPG's is Ethyl Mercaptan & is injected at manufacturing source i.e. an Oil Refinery, so irrespective of marketing brand for the Liquid Petroleum Gas, it all contains the same stench.[/quote The replies to this thread are quite interesting. Wikipedia-History of Manufactured Gas is an interesting read. Mercaptans (thiols) are a group of organic compounds resembling alcohols but having the oxygen of the hydroxyl group replaced by sulphur as , ethyl mercaptan. They have a particularly strong skunk-like odor. It's flammable (aliphatic). Highly toxic by inhalation and a strong irritant. All according to the Van Nostrand Reinhold condensed chemical dictionary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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