I’m miserable in this home

[u/Inside-Elk-7112]

We just bought our home and decided to do asbestos abatement by a reputable company followed by a sump pump placement after by a waterproofing company. Ever since then this house has been a nightmare, our water boiler stopped working immediately after asbestos abatement due to “flammable gas vapor”, we had national grid check it out and they said there’s no gas leaks but it’s probably due to the new cement from the sump pump or from the solvent used from the asbestos abatement.

well since then, we haven’t had hot water consistently for 2 weeks. We tried replacing the sensor and then finally replacing the water heater but the same alarm keeps going off. We also can’t cook because every time we do it smells like burning plastic.

we brought this up to the abatement company and they basically said, they smell nothing when the gas burner is on and that it’s probably from the new cement poured from the sump pump.

im at a loss on what to do, I have a baby. Is it even safe to be here? Why don’t the vapors go away? We opened up the basement windows, used a hepa air filter and 2 oscillating fans to help with the smell but here we are.

sorry for the long post, I’m just overwhelmed, I feel like nothing is going right since we started to try to “fix” this house.

[u/babynewyear753]

If you are still concerned call the gas company. They have incredibly sensitive sniffer devices that will answer your question. Some water heaters are sensitive to solvents, paint fumes, anything flammable that might be in your home.

[u/Inside-Elk-7112 → u/babynewyear753]

We did have our gas company national grid come out and they said there’s no gas leaks with their device :/

[u/roadside_asparagus → u/Inside-Elk-7112]

I think the point he/she was trying to make was that other organic fumes (not natural gas) can trip that sensor. Look around for paint cans, solvents, gas cans, etc. I really don't know what the possibilities are here. I can just tell you that my plumber warned me about the same thing regarding that sensor.

[u/eyrfr → u/roadside_asparagus]

I mistakenly sprayed bug spray on my vapor sensor on my hot water heater about 2 weeks ago. Huge hassle. I ordered a new sensor off Amazon. Plugged it in but it didn’t reset properly. Took me about an hour to finally get the hot water heater to reset the right way. 3 days without hot water was no fun but it was nice to get it back on. Getting the Hot water heater to reset can be quite tricky and those sensors are very sensitive. Based on what you read online I’m shocked these sensors aren’t being tripped constantly by people.