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Gas

Gas safety

RHP has a legal obligation to provide an annual gas safety check on your boiler. We want to arrange to do this at a time that suits you but please be as flexible as possible. We need to ensure your boiler is safe to use and you are not put at risk from carbon monoxide poisoning. You should have a copy of your Gas Safety Certificate. If this is more than a year old, or you are unsure about the last date of inspection, you should contact the Gas Team immediately on: Freephone 0800 0322 433.

05/01/2011

What happens during your annual gas service and test?

Our engineer will service and maintain all gas appliances installed by RHP and will check the gas pipe work to make sure there are no leaks. Where a gas appliance is suspected as being unsafe or inadequately ventilated, it will be turned off by our engineers for your own safety. A warning notice will be attached to the appliance and the engineer will explain whether RHP or you need to renew it.

The gas engineer records the inspection or what work has been carried out and leaves a copy of this report for you to keep. The engineer will check:

  • The flame
  • Gas tightness procedure
  • The room ventilation
  • The location of the flue
  • A visual check for stains, soot or discolouring of the gas, which indicates it is a faulty appliance
  • The electrical installation

Servicing and repairing your own appliances

Your own appliances such as gas cookers or fires fall outside of this arrangement and the responsibility for the servicing is with you. We recommend you service them annually to make sure they are safe to use and improve their efficiency and performance. Between services you should also look out for warning signs that show your gas appliances need to be serviced, such as:

  • Your gas appliance not working properly
  • Your appliance burning with a lazy yellow or orange flame
  • Visible soot or yellow/brown staining around or on gas appliances
  • The pilot light going out repeatedly
  • Increased condensation inside windows

Gas safe logoIn addition to looking after your appliances you should never block flues, chimneys and air vents as they allow gas to escape from your home.

If you notice any of these signs or anything else that is unusual, get a Gas Safe registered engineer to check your appliances as soon as possible. www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

Since April 2009 the CORGI gas registration scheme is no longer being registered by law and has been replaced by the Gas Safe Register. The orange CORGI logo is no longer an indication that an engineer is certified to work on gas installations and appliances in Corgi logoyour home. The new yellow triangular Gas Safe Register logo is shown on the ID cards carried by every engineer, which also contains their own unique licence number and hologram.

Gas appliances - Get them checked, Keep them safe

The problem:

Every year about 14 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues which have not been properly installed or maintained.

Many others also suffer ill health. When gas does not burn properly, as with other fuels such as coal, wood or oil, excess carbon monoxide is produced, which is poisonous.

You can’t see it. You can’t taste it. You can’t even smell it. But carbon monoxide can kill without warning in just a matter of hours.

You are particularly at risk when you are asleep because you cannot recognise the early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. These include tiredness, drowsiness, headache, nausea, pains in the chest and stomach pains. These symptoms can mimic many common ailments and may easily be confused with flu or simple tiredness.

If you or your family experience the above symptoms, and you believe carbon monoxide may be involved, you must seek urgent medical advice. Your doctor will need to test a blood or breath sample. Carbon monoxide quickly leaves the blood and tests may be inaccurate if taken more than four hours after exposure has ended.

You are at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if:

  • Your appliance was poorly installed
  • Your appliance is not working properly
  • Your appliance has not been checked for safety or maintained regularly
  • There is not enough fresh air in the room
  • Your chimney or flue gets blocked up
  • You allow an engineer who is not on the Gas Safe Register to install or maintain your appliance(s)

There is a particular risk if you sleep in a room where an appliance that is not of the room-sealed type (eg a conventional gas fire) is left burning at night. (Flue outlets for room-sealed appliances are commonly located on an external wall at a low level protected by a cage rather than at or above roof level.

The answers:

NEVER use a gas appliance if you think it is not working properly. Signs to look out for include yellow or orange flames (except for fuel-effect fires which display this colour flame), soot or stains around the appliance and pilot lights which frequently blow out.

NEVER cover an appliance or block the convection air vents

NEVER block or obstruct any fixed ventilation grills or air bricks

NEVER block or cover outside flues

CAUTION Whenever draught exclusion, ceiling or extraction fans, double glazing or conservatory extensions are fitted to a room containing a gas appliance, the appliance should subsequently be checked for safety

ALL gas consumers are advised to have appliances checked for safety at least every 12 months by a Gas Safe registered engineer

You could be entitled to a free safety check. If you are over 60, chronically sick, disabled, deaf or hearing-impaired, blind or visually impaired, you are entitled to join your supplier’s Priority Service Register. It is free to join and once you join you are entitled, among other things, to a free annual gas safety check (unless you live in rented accommodation where it is your landlord’s duty to ensure the check is done). For more information look at the back of your gas bill.

CARBON MONOXIDE ALARMS are a useful back-up precaution but must NOT be regarded as a substitute for proper installation and maintenance of gas equipment by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If you decide to buy a carbon monoxide alarm, ensure it meets current safety standards (BS EN 50291) and carries the Kitemark. If in doubt ask a member of staff for advice. Always follow the manufacturer’s sitting instructions.

If you smell gas, or suspect there is a gas escape or a carbon monoxide leak, you should immediately do the following:

  • Open all doors and windows.
  • Shut off the gas supply at the meter control valve (if you know where it is). If gas continues to escape call National Grid on the Gas Emergency Freephone Number: 0800 111 999.
  • Make sure that any investigations or repairs are carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
  • For further information on Gas safety, download our useful booklet by clicking on the link on the right-hand side of this page.