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Why is there a strange smell around my new smart meters?

  • 15 March 2020
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Hi, 

Our Smart Meters are in a cupboard in the porch.

We had the smart meters installed on Tuesday just gone and ever since then we have a very overpowering smell from the cupboard. 

It doesn't smell like gas or electrics. We had UK power out and check the installation and all good.

The only thing that's changed is the new meters and they had to cut a hole out of the cupboard floor to drop the meter into. This area is to ground under boarding so I got self expanding foam and I've filled the gap around the meter so no air gaps. 

But still got a very horrible smell. Any ideas?

 

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Best answer by Transparent 17 March 2020, 13:35

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Updated on 21/07/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

Strange smells following a smart meter installation are unlikely to be coming from the meters themselves but may be caused by disturbances in the meter cupboard as described by our resident house-builder below:
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Over the years I’ve experienced quite a number of odd smells emanating from such spaces. Those I’d be suspecting are:

  • dead vermin
  • fungi (unlikely to be dry rot as this has almost no odour)
  • slow weep from a sewage pipe below floor level

You really need to “borrow” the nose of someone who’s been doing renovating in the building trade for several decades and can help narrow this down.

If you don’t know of such a person, pop in to your nearest builders’ merchants (Travis Perkins, Jewsons etc) and ask if they can identify a likely contender from their known customers.

Almost certainly they’ll want to cut through some more of the cupboard base to check moisture level on the floor beneath.

Lots of tradesmen now use snake-cameras to inspect voids through small holes.

 

 

If you’re concerned about the actions of an engineer during a smart meter exchange, we’d recommend contacting our Support Team to report this. They’ll be able to investigate your complaint with full access to the engineer’s job report and discuss possible solutions - see our full complaints procedure here.

 

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