Landlords - are your boiler flues compliant?
A Gas Safe registered engineer working on a boiler is required under The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 to check the flue for correct operation. Some properties, mainly flats and apartments, have been built with boiler flues which cannot be inspected because they are behind walls or ceilings with no access.
The engineer needs to be able to see the flue – which takes fumes away from the boiler – as part of essential safety checks. A flue in poor condition, together with a boiler that is not working properly, could put you or your tenants in danger of death or serious injury from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has taken action to stop further carbon monoxide injuries and fatalities from leaking extended and concealed horizontal flues and has announced that landlords and homeowners must have access panels fitted to allow good visual inspection of concealed flues by 1st January 2013.
If you have a boiler where all or part of the flue cannot be seen, then you as the landlord, will need to arrange for inspection hatches to be fitted. This does not mean that your flue system is suddenly unsafe. As long as the boiler passes a series of safety checks − including having audible carbon monoxide alarms fitted − it can be used normally for the time being.
However, carbon monoxide alarms are not an alternative to being able to see the flue and you will still need to have inspection hatches fitted. You have until 31 December 2012 for this work to be completed although it is recommended that inspection hatches are fitted as soon as possible. From 1 January 2013, any Gas Safe registered engineer will turn the boiler off and formally advise you not to use it until inspection hatches have been fitted where necessary.
If your boiler is situated on an outside wall, or the engineer can see all of the flue, you will not need to take any further action.
Although most of the affected boiler and flue systems are relatively new (installed since 2000), the risk of faults leading to the release of carbon monoxide increases as the system gets older, especially if it is not serviced regularly. It is important that you have your gas appliances serviced annually.
Contact nikki.curry@letmove.com if you require further assistance
Published on Thursday 22nd September 2011
