138 CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GASWORKS. 



it happens that the gas fitter is sent for, and he finds one 

 leak, which he repairs, and goes away. The objectionable 

 smell still continues, and the process is repeated. No 

 wonder if the consumer, after the second visit, gives up the 

 matter in despair, under the impression that nothing further 

 can be done. Probably the real reason is that the fittings 

 want a general overhaul, especially as regards the taps, 

 hinges and movable parts, which have not been examined 

 perhaps for twenty or thirty years. Any lubricant applied 

 to the moving parts has long since disappeared, leather 

 washers have shrivelled and hardened, and the pipes have 

 been disturbed by exposure to variations of temperature, to 

 shock of vibration, or to strain. The old-fashioned water- 

 slide is not yet extinct, and is a source of continual trouble, 

 not to say risk. Amongst the causes of leakage may be 

 instanced the gnawing of pipes by rats, the action of light- 

 ning, and injuries unwittingly caused by carpenters, house 

 decorators, etc., in the course of carrying out additions or 

 renovations. Iron pipes may be corroded by the action of 

 salt and other chemicals, by sewer gases, or by condensa- 

 tion of moisture. Complaint of leakage at certain times, 

 when the wind is in one particular direction, should never 

 be allowed to drop till the cause is found. In these days 

 of the general use of the steam road roller, and of tarring 

 the surface, escaping gas may travel a long distance, through 

 loose or made-up subsoil, before it finds an outlet. Con- 

 siderable difficulty and expense may arise if this outlet 

 happens to be a public sewer. 



The most common difficulty is the complaint of insuffi- 

 cient supply, perhaps only at one particular time of the day, 

 week or year ; and it is not infrequently aggravated by the 

 fact that the consumer refuses to recognize that the fault, 

 under these circumstances, may be in his fittings. He 





