Gas Safety for Landlords & Homeowners
Every year hundreds of families experience gas leaks from boilers and other gas appliances.
The truth is that any gas appliance is a potential danger if you do not have it checked regularly for faults and dysfunctions, this is a big part of gas safety and is a legal requirement if you are a landlord.
What Are the Dangers?
It is imperative that homeowners take care of gas fittings and appliances in the right way as you need to be aware of any changes. For instance, a boiler not heating can be caused by many different things but, although not usually an immediate danger, there is no way to be sure until you have it checked out by a Gas Safe qualified engineer.
Untreated gas leaks can be disastrous as not only do you have a risk of fire there is also the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning, which can kill. In the UK, an average of forty people die every year from CO leaks but fortunately all it takes is a little bit of care to eliminate this danger.
What Are the Best Solutions?
As mentioned, if you are a landlord you are legally required to obtain a gas safety certificate for all appliances. You can get this by having them inspected by a Gas Safe qualified engineer and these certificates need to be updated every 12 months. If you own your home, there is no legal obligation but you are still expected to have appliances checked regularly.
Gas safety inspections are very affordable and could genuinely save your life as an annual inspection will spot signs of trouble early and help heating systems to run more efficiently by removing dirt and grime build-ups.
Do not forget to install a carbon monoxide detector as these little devices work in a similar way to smoke alarms. They sound a warning when dangerous levels of CO have been detected in the air which, if this happens, you may have a leak and need to leave the property immediately until declared it safe again by a Gas Safe qualified engineer.
Saving You Money & Time
It is not just about staying safe either as keeping up with routine maintenance and having gas appliances checked for faults is a great way to save money in the long-term. For example your boiler naturally picks up dirt and debris from the feed water which, given enough time, accumulates and contributes to things like scale and internal blockages.
Water treatments and draining the tank to get rid of scale and obstructions will ensure that your boiler works as efficiently as possible without any cold pockets or other inconsistencies, the result is a faster, stronger, heating system which runs more productively and costs you less to operate.
