A gas engineer received help from the most unlikely of sources in discovering a leak which could have "blown the house down" had it not been discovered. Sean Evans, a plumber gas engineer, received a call-out in the Morriston area of Swansea, and said that when he walked through the door, he could smell instantly that it was a significant issue.
But when he started to investigate, it was the family cat which helped him track down the source of the issue. Mr Evans decided to focus his investigation on an area of carpet where the owner's pet had been digging, and when it was lifted, he found the gas leak directly underneath.
The tradesman described the action he took next, and spoke of how he had never experienced something like this call-out in 20 years of being self-employed. Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
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Mr Evans, 53, from Penlan, who is company director of Beautiful Heating, said: "A lady was panicking. She phoned the gas board because she could hear noises under the floor, and the gas board told hear to call a plumber, so I went out the morning after. As soon as I got through the door I could smell gas. I did the usual tests in the house and there was a massive gas drop. I said to her, 'Let's trust the animals, where has the cat been digging?', trusting the animal's instinct. I couldn't hear anything, but pulled the carpet back and I could hear the gas leak directly underneath where the cat was digging under the carpet.
"I lifted the floorboards, and there was a hole in the pipe directly underneath where the cat was digging. Whether it heard the hissing noise or what, I don't know. I think I need to employ it! The gas leak was so big, if she switched the light on, it could have blown the house down. She thought she could smell something, but as I walked through the front door I could smell the gas leaking. What happens normally, when you test the gas meter, the drop can be very slow, but I took it up to 21 and it was dropping straight to zero, so I knew this was a big leak.
"I turned the gas off, cut a section of the pipe away and renewed the section of the pipework. I've been self-employed for 20 years and I haven't been helped by a cat before! They normally try and avoid us at all costs! I've never seen a cat dig at a gas leak. It was totally unusual for me."
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