What Happens During a Gas Infiltration ?

As I write this (Feb.9, 2019, 11:53 a.m.) a gas infiltration has just happened.

I was at the computer, around 11:20 a.m. when a whiff of something hit my nose. I got up and walked around. In the north bedroom the smell of gas was strong by the windows. I opened the blackout blinds, and could see a tanker truck with two hoses engaged.

Something in me always wants to downplay this – like it isn’t THAT bad.

When I smell gas I walk around the house, into all the rooms. When there is a negative incident with refuelling, the smell is always strongest by the windows on the north side. I guess this is because there is a certain amount of play the windows must have to open and close. This is why on stormy days, even with the storm windows in place, I can feel cold air by certain windows. This depends on what direction the wind is coming from.

Environment Canada’s website says as of right now (11:59 a.m.) that is -9C, pressure 104.5kPa, Dew Point -13.4 C, Humidity 69%, Wind WNW 15 km/hr, Windchill – 15.

At 12:02, the west bedroom on the 2nd floor still smells strongly of gas.

On my walk around the house, the living room smelt the least like gas, the back room behind the kitchen smelt the most like gas. The kitchen smelt strongly, the dining room smelt strongly, the two bedrooms upstairs smelt strongly. The door to the powder room is kept closed. That room smelt slightly. The sewing room did not have much of a smell. The bathroom upstairs did not have much of a smell.

Upstairs, the fumes are stronger when I am seated, than when I stand up.

As I go down the stairs there is point near the landing where I don’t smell gas, then a few steps down from that I really smell gas.

I take a couple of photos as the truck is refuelling, to document that there are two hoses in use.

At 12:11 – approximately 40 minutes after a fuelling, the gas smell is still strong.

I call the Ministry of the Enviroment to make another report. I write down the ID number of my report, and read it back to the representative. This representative asks me how bad this incident is on a scale of 1 -10. That is hard to quantify. I tell her that if a 10 is a refuelling with no vapour control, in the summer, with all the windows open, that this is a 6/10. And that all my doors and windows are closed.

As of 12: 19 p.m. I can still smell gas in the west bedroom. I check the rest of the rooms. One of the cats is laying on a piece of cloth on my worktable, and he looks odd – laying in a funny position with his eyes open. I touch him and he responds and he is fine. The rest of the cats are normal.

Today I go in the basement. It has a window on the north and south sides. I don’t smell gas.

I had a terrible headache/migraine yesterday, which lasted all night. It was with me when I woke up. I took OTC pain medication, which sometimes can help to dull the pain a little. As of now, the pain has intensified.

Is this unrelated, psychosomatic or a result of breathing gasoline vapours that I cannot escape from ?

There is nothing I can do to clear the house of these fumes, except wait.