This Flue Could Cause Death

29
Aug

Posted by admin

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad – Boiler Installers

While picking up some electrical bits the other day my supplier, who is also a client of ours, asked me about his high energy bills. Specifically his gas bill seemed higher than usual. I suggested a Gas Safety Check also known as a CP12 to determine whether or not there was a leak in some pipe work or perhaps a badly burning boiler, fire or cooker.

[Show as slideshow]

The good news was that there were no leaks or other gas escapes. The bad news was that the high gas bills were due to an old boiler which had been installed without a programmer or room stat of any sort. When I had asked about a room thermostat I was told that the installers had told the home owner that this particular could not have a room thermostat. What a load of rubbish! I showed her the installation booklet and there it was on page 7.

The worse news however was that during the safety check I noticed that the flue had been installed directly underneath two air bricks and at a forty five degree angle to another one beside it. To make matters even worse, the air bricks filtered directly back into the bedroom where the boiler was located. The photo isn’t clear but the dark line just under the shelf is a screened air brick inside the cupboard.

With the flue less than the required 300mm beneath the opening in the fabric of the building flue gas could be sucked back into the building. The situation is more likely than one would think. If a wind were blowing at the front of this house a negative pressure could be generated at the back of the property causing flue gases to be sucked back into the closet and into the bedroom.

At this point in time the fix for this is to seal the air bricks. The situation however should never have happened in the first place. Clearly these installers were cowboys who didn’t care about the homeowners or their safety.

Category : Awards

Have you experienced problems having a kitchen appliance installed?(polls)