All,
The gas leak last night, Feb. 21, 2022, was located in the small furnace located in the break room. The gas valve is not closing completely which causes a small amount of gas to leak out from the burner jets.
Closing the valve leading to the heater was enough to stop the leak.
The gas company shut down all of the heaters and pressurized the line. The Gas Tech was impressed at how well the system held pressure. Since no other issues were found we switched everything back on except the heater in the break room.
Our best option is to call a Heating and Air Company and see about having the gas valve.
River City Mechanical did the rest of our system so maybe start with them.
Gas Valves can be expensive, like approaching the cost of a new furnace expensive.
Thoughts?
I have contacted River City Mechanical (installed our West wing heaters)
They will try to dispatch a Tech today to assess and recommend.
I don’t know anyone personally. Let’s see what they say and go from there.
Thanks Jai, really appreciate all your efforts. So sorry you were stuck there all night.
Thanks for the clear and zippy communication and work on this. It’s appreciated.
River City Mech. sent out a Tech.
Gas valve requires replacement, they cannot be refurbished or repaired.
They’re pricing it and will return an estimate for replacement. The rest of the furnace unit is solid and does not require replacement. The filter was embarrassingly filthy. I will bring a replacement back this evening.
I thought we had some replacements in the garage at one time. @Marti was asking about the filter last night. I thought it was just brown instead of white.
River City Mechanical has located a replacement.
Cost is $250. Between the visit yesterday and install were looking at an additional $160-$200. Total should be sub $500. The Valve is a special order so probably won’t come before Thursday. I went ahead and approved the valve replacement.
Nice work! Are there filters in each area that need to be monitored?
(I remember that being a real oopsie at the last space when our AC kept malfunctioning in the woodshop, only to discover the filter had just never been replaced. Yikes.)
I believe the only filters are in the South wing. The garage heaters in WoodShop and Metalshop should get blown out at the end of heating season.
I’ve put some lick’n’stick dry erase boards on equipment as I replace blades and consumables.
Should I grab some more of those itty bitty boards for other equipment that should be serviced on a routine basis?
Sounds like a simple solution. The simple ones tend to work.
River City Mechanical got the new gas valve in over the weekend and came out to the building on March 7th and replaced it. The heater is now up and running and safe again.
Problem Resolved.
I’m just gonna add one more time,
In the event that you smell natural gas in the building the best and only option is to immediately call Kansas Gas Service: 1-800-794-4780 and report it.
They will dispatch a technician to the building to find the leak and stop the flow.
Do not turn any machinery on or off and please stick around to let them in.
And don’t run tesla coils in and around gas leaks.
Thanks for taking care of us Jai!