Carbon Monoxide alarm went off - help please

shaneym

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone could give me any advise please. I have 2 gas appliances in my home, a cooker and a gas wall heater in the living room. Last night, soon after turning the heater off, my carbon monoxide alarm went off. I called British Gas and they came out very quickly and turned off my gas supply and checked all the external pipes etc and found that there was no fault there, so it must be one of my appliances, either the cooker or the heater. He said it could be something as simple as a loose connection on one of them. As its a domestic appliance, that was as much as they could do, so they have told me to contact a gassafe engineer to come out.

I have gone on their website and there are a few very close, but before I contact them I was just wondering if anyone knew what sort of price I could expect to be charged. (Obviously I realise its hard to say before knowing the exact problem). Its just that this is completely new ground to me and I dont want to be ripped off, as Im not sure if im going to be paying £100 or £500.

Thanks for any advice.

Cardew

If you can wait until tomorrow it will be cheaper than a Sunday callout- your gas is turned off so it is safe.

Probably about £50 for the call out and say 30 mins time. Plus any extra time spent finding and fixing fault; it doesn't sound too expensive. Will not British gas take on the task?

lemontart

shaneym wrote: »

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone could give me any advise please. I have 2 gas appliances in my home, a cooker and a gas wall heater in the living room. Last night, soon after turning the heater off, my carbon monoxide alarm went off. I called British Gas and they came out very quickly and turned off my gas supply and checked all the external pipes etc and found that there was no fault there, so it must be one of my appliances, either the cooker or the heater. He said it could be something as simple as a loose connection on one of them. As its a domestic appliance, that was as much as they could do, so they have told me to contact a gassafe engineer to come out.

I have gone on their website and there are a few very close, but before I contact them I was just wondering if anyone knew what sort of price I could expect to be charged. (Obviously I realise its hard to say before knowing the exact problem). Its just that this is completely new ground to me and I dont want to be ripped off, as Im not sure if im going to be paying £100 or £500.

Thanks for any advice.

Firstly it definately would not have been British Gas that came they would have called the gas emergency service who would have attended in no more than 2 hours after the call to make you safe. What you need now is a real british gas engineer if you have a maintenance contract or a gas safe installer that is qualified in testing appliances for carbon monoxide once they have done that you will know if the appliance can be repaired or if it has to be replaced, You would have been left paper work by the emergency engineer saying what you need to do

Canucklehead

Hi,

Does your alarm say 'carbon monoxide' on it , Or something else?



GSR.

shaneym

Thanks for your replies. Yes my alarm does say carbon monoxide on it.

Yes it was the emergency gas service who came out, National Grid, and the paperwork says "possible CO from either wall heater or cooker, gas disconnected at meter".

I will wait until tomorrow and contact some of the gassafe enginners on their website. British Gas wanted to charge £160 to service the 2 appliances, but couldnt come until 10th Nov so I need my gas on sooner then that.

Cheers

Farway

OP says gas wall heater, does this vent through wall to outside, or up a flue to roof outlet?

My thinking is, if latter, could be something blocking flue, like bird or leaves?

Just a thought

C_Mababejive

Unfortunately there is a tendency for these devices to false trigger and both Nat Grid Engineers and GSR Engineers are not required to carry atmospheric monitoring equipment and so the judgement as to whether an appliance is defective or not is left to experience,knowledge and engineering judgement. Engineers do not typically carry atmospheric measuring equipment and so it is impossible to state categorically that no CO is being emitted.

There is a new British Standard test and assessment for atmospheric testing and monitoring which relates to CO in domestic premises but its title/number escapes me save for to say that to carry out such a test,the engineer needs to have passed a specific training/assessment package and have purchased some expensive kit. To carry out such a test in the home could prove expensive.

I wonder what make/model alarm you have,have you been suffering any ill effects and do you have the instructions for the alarm to confirm that it was in fact a full alarm condition? Is the alarm fitted as per instructions and some people fit them in the wrong position/too close to appliances.

Incidentally,domestic CO alarms activate on cumulative CO detection i.e it isnt just an on off function. The device checks the atmosphere and triggers on a build up of CO rather than a sudden blip. They can be rendered ineffective by exposure to certain other agents.

This user guide for a commonly seen CO alarm gives useful guidance which may equally apply to other types.
http://www.kidde.com/utcfs/ws-384/Assets/KN-COB-B(9CO5)en.pdf


Edit -just found the relevant BS7967

Read further here
http://www.jacktroop.co.uk/corgistuff/corgi%20tech%20bulletin/TB%20170%20British%20Standard%20_BS_%207967.pdf

Canucklehead

shaneym wrote: »

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone could give me any advise please. I have 2 gas appliances in my home, a cooker and a gas wall heater in the living room. Last night, soon after turning the heater off, my carbon monoxide alarm went off. I called British Gas and they came out very quickly and turned off my gas supply and checked all the external pipes etc and found that there was no fault there, so it must be one of my appliances, either the cooker or the heater. He said it could be something as simple as a loose connection on one of them. As its a domestic appliance, that was as much as they could do, so they have told me to contact a gassafe engineer to come out.

I have gone on their website and there are a few very close, but before I contact them I was just wondering if anyone knew what sort of price I could expect to be charged. (Obviously I realise its hard to say before knowing the exact problem). Its just that this is completely new ground to me and I dont want to be ripped off, as Im not sure if im going to be paying £100 or £500.

Thanks for any advice.

This makes no sense.

Alarm triggers AFTER the appliance is turned off.CO is the result of incomplete combustion .
Nat Grid go outside and check all the pipes.Why? Do you mean the flue?
'Could be something as simple as a loose connection'

It all suggests a gas leak not a CO problem.


Let us know what the problem is/was after it's sorted.

GSR.

anatak

It may just be a low battery as when voltage gets too low it triggers the alarm as mine went off in the early hours a couple of months ago when no gas appliances had been on for hours, changed the battery and tested it all fine:)

spiro

You dont mention when the applicances were last checked. If they have not been checked for some time it is probably a good idea to get someone to check them out.