29/09/2024
Did a gas fire service today and had to shut it off and issue a safety warning notice & apply a ‘do not use’ label! After undertaking the service I did a smoke pellet / flue flow test - and smoke from the test pellet was seeping back into the room from the top of the gas fire. This means that there is an issue or blockage within the flue/chimney that the fire is attached to, which takes the dangerous combustion products / carbon monoxide safely away! If this customer had not had it serviced by a professional - she likely would have used it over the winter months as it was working (at face value) perfectly fine! Unbeknown to the customer - it would have been leaking the invisible, deadly & odour free bi product ‘carbon monoxide’ into her room / house - and the consequences would have been very concerning / worrying (to say the very least)! The customer is now safe, she is getting the chimney inspected & cleaned - then I have offered to return ‘free of charge’ to re test and re commission the fire so it can be safely used over winter.
How many people just continue to use gas fires & gas appliances, that have not been serviced & inspected for a very long time, without giving any thought to their condition - assuming that because the fire etc operates correctly, it is fine?
The small amount of money to have appliances like this serviced & safety checked every year is money well spent. The consequences could be disasterous and potentially fatal! (Please do not think that scaring / worrying people posting things like this, is a way of getting paid work from people unnecessarily - Google search carbon monoxide poisoning from domestic appliances, and you will learn / see that it is an important issue).
As a ‘Gas Safe’ engineer - my primary concern on every job, is making sure that customers / appliances / myself - are SAFE!
You cannot see or smell Carbon Monoxide and if inhaled it can be fatal or make you seriously ill. Learn the symptoms and what to do if you suspect you are at risk.