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MG MG Y Type - Garage Ventilation

Chaps,

I've just moved house and the new place has an integral garage. The problem is that the whole house now stinks of my smelly old YT.
Can anybody recommend a ventilation solution?
I'm guessing that some sort of extractor fan in the outside wall of the garage would do the trick.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Stinky Saul.
Saul

Dear Saul,

Who's complaining? You or SHMBO?
Everytime somebody walks into my garage they remark on that wonderful old car smell, so I guess you (and your family?) just have to get your priorities right? LOL

Of course good ventilation with an extractor fan will help, but mostly smell is caused/worsened by dampness, so if it is a new house, the garage (concrete?) may still be damp. A dehumidifier is always a good purchase, in your case maybe even more?
Willem van der Veer

It's not that "nice" old car smell to which you refer. Neither is it a musty damp smell (and indeed the garage is as dry as a bone - it's a 1950's house to match the car).

It is an offensive petrol/oil/exhaust smell that I don't want in my daughter's bedroom (who is unfortunate enough to sleep in the room over the garage).

It isn't helped by the fact that I need a new exhaust so I think currently instead of the fumes coming out the back they just soak into the car.

Cheers,
Saul.

Saul

Apparently grass cuttings are an excellent neutralizer of smells - seriously!

But why the strong smell anyway? My car lives in an integral garage under the living room of my house, and doesn't smell... could there be a small fuel leak? Exhaust fumes should clear in a few minutes if you leave the door open.

Tim Griggs

How are the fumes getting out of the garage? I also have a 50's home with attached garage and I don't smell anything inside the house. Is the ceiling properly sealed? I don't know how the building codes work where you are, but where I live, there must be fire walls in place everywhere the house touches the garage. Perhaps you just need to seal things up better?
Steve Simmons

I'm with Willem; buy a dehumidifier.I imagine that some at least will have some sort of filter.

I have a bee in my bonnet about these.All of these "dry as a bone" garages are connected to the outside by a door that is almost impossible to make airtight, so the garage quickly becomes as humid as the outside air, which can be anything up to almost 100% relative humidity.Great for rusting on 50 year old steel. Over about 70% is bad news I am told.

I bought my dehumidifier from John Lewis's for £99.99 as I recall, after I found condensation on the hub-caps. The garage is attached to the house and about 30 years old. I sealed the up and over door as far as practical with a threshold strip and other arcane bodges. The result is humidity 10-20% lower than the outside and seldom above 70%. I also have a thermostatic electric greenhouse heater to keep the temperature above 5 deg. C., below which most dehumidifiers cease to work.

I was concerned about the runnng cost so I monitored overall electric consumption over a whole winter, and it was marginally less than the previous one, so the cost can't be very much.
Michael Nicholson Y7207

Steve is quite correct. There is a serious fire risk if the garage is not completely sealed from the living accommodation. the ceiling etc should be fire proof and any interconnecting door fitted with intumescant strips. there should be no way that any vapour from the garage can get into the house. I agree that a dehumidifier is a good idea but this removing the smell/damp does not sort the problem
dave gibson

Saul

Swap bedrooms with your daughter - she can sleep with Mum, and you can have good petrol head dreams!

Seriously do get a new exhaust pipe - membership of the Octagon Car Club will reduce your costs substantially but do remember the flange is at a different angle on the YT to the YA. I cheated with my YT here as I had an old good YA front pipe - I cut the flange off with a pipe cutter and got a neighbour to weld it back on slightly offset to get the angle right. I did this by bolting the flange onto the exhaust manifold then offered the pipe up to it from underneath and marked the pipe and flange in three places with tipex/white out.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Saul:

I have experienced a similar problem in the past with fumes from my MGA. The most likely culprits are bad seals on your carburetors, resulting in weeping fuel. Replace the rubber seals (which do not hold-up to modern gas for long) on your carbs with teflon seals and the smell should go away. Another possible culprit is a bad gas tank sending unit seal - better to use cork rather than rubber for this seal. My MG had an exhaust pipe that was full of pin holes until recently replaced, but there was never a severe odor problem in my garage or my house after the above-mentioned seals were replaced - so I doubt that your exhaust is the problem source.

Even in a house with a proper vapor-barrier wall between the garage and the living quarters, it's amazing how gasoline fumes can find their way into the home and SPREAD throughout. Until you resolve the problem, put the car outside under a good car cover.

Good luck,

M.D.
'57 MGA Coupe
M. D.

This thread was discussed between 09/06/2006 and 21/06/2006

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