New gas meter help

kinkyjinks

Hi, I don't know if this is the correct forum for this query but here goes. My mother in law has had a letter from British Gas telling her that they want to come and fit a new gas meter in her property. At the moment the meter is in her garage. They have told her that to fit the new meter they will have to come into her house to check her boiler.

That's where the problems begin. She doesn't let anyone go into her house as she is, I guess, a compulsive hoarder. She won't even let me in to try to help address the huge untidyness problem never mind a complete stranger.

I've told her all about the hazards of not having her appliances tested but she just won't listen or maybe doesn't want to. She's been this way for at least 10 years so I hate to think when she last had any of her appliances checked.

She wants to know where she stands legally. Does she have to let them change her meter? If she doesn't are they likely to cut off her gas supply? She has also said that they can't check her boiler because it's a back boiler and they would have to take her fire out to look at it

Alan_Vickers

When a gas meter is changed the gas supply inside the house has to be turned off and the pilot light on the boiler will go out. We had a meter change, arranged by British Gas, about ten months ago and the gas fitter who did the work told us about this before he started his work.

He worked very quickly and efficiently and at the end he carried out a 'manometer test' to check the internal pipework for leaks and then relit the piot light on the boiler, in our case also a back boiler.

If your mother agrees to the meter change being carried out then you should perhaps impress on her that she needs to take the final meter reading on the old meter and the start reading on the new meter and then in the future see that she is being billed correctly as the new meter will be a metric meter whereas the old meter may well be an imperial meter.

These readings should be taked by the gas fitter and then passed on to the supply company but it is worth while doing it in case things go wrong.

Alan Vickers.

lemontart

as the above poster states the engineer will need access to the property to purge and relight the gas supply and appliances to ensure that the gas is getting through safely and that the new meter is working correctly and safely - if they cannot do this when they change the meter they may well feel that they have to leave the supply capped until they can either gain access or a gas safe registered engineer working on her behave tests internals are ok - basically only way it can be done.

spiro

Legally they can apply for a warrant in order to change the meter. As others have said the engineer needs to purge the system (get any air out) and relit the appliances. He will not service any appliance but if he thinks any appliance is not safe he will disable it and put a label on it saying it should not be used. The only parts of the house he needs access to is the location of the meter and any room that has a gas appliance in it (fire, boiler etc).

kinkyjinks

spiro wrote: »

Legally they can apply for a warrant in order to change the meter. As others have said the engineer needs to purge the system (get any air out) and relit the appliances. He will not service any appliance but if he thinks any appliance is not safe he will disable it and put a label on it saying it should not be used. The only parts of the house he needs access to is the location of the meter and any room that has a gas appliance in it (fire, boiler etc).

I thought they might be able to do something like that. There's no way she will let anyone in her house but if I tell her the legalities of it, it might just be enough to give her the kick start she needs. Although I very much doubt it.

Thanks for all the help everyone.