WARNING!! Having an extractor fan fitted?

tcannabellarose

I just wanted to let people know of a VERY scary situation after having my new kitchen fitted.
I had a new extractor fan fitted along with my new kitchen in Feb. Today, I had my fire serviced in the back room and the gas safe engineer held a smoke bomb near the flue to check for ventilation. He mentioned that I should put the extractor on full while he held the smoke bomb near the chimney. As soon as the fan was on, it pulled all the smoke in to the living room and into the kitchen. This happened in a matter of 5 seconds of putting the fan on. As soon as he fan was turned off, the smoke went back up the chimney.
The gas safe engineer said that the extractor fan was very powerful and he saw this kind of thing all of the time. He said, in his opinion, when having a new kitchen fitted, the fitters should make the homeowner aware of this possible fatal scenario.
I guess I wanted to make people aware that having your fire serviced every year to make sure they have adaquate ventilation is so important, and to make sure if you have an extractor fan fitted, make sure that it does not pull the carbon monoxide fumes back in to the room you are sitting in when the fire and extractor fan are on at the same time.

System

tcannabellarose wrote: »

fatal death situation

Is there any other type of fatal or death situation?

I'm not even sure it is a possibly fatal situation. The extractor fan is sucking all the air out through it. Instead of going up the chimney it is being sucked out of the house via a different route. May have to travel through your kitchen first but it is still vented to the outside, not ideal but not the end of the world

tcannabellarose

Guess the situation has never happened to you or someone your care about as you come across very flippant in your response, glad you are not a gas safe engineer then...

jb66

A man choked while drinking a glass of water, I just wanted to let people know of a VERY scary possible fatal situation.

System

tcannabellarose wrote: »

Guess the situation has never happened to you or someone your care about as you come across very flippant in your response, glad you are not a gas safe engineer then...

It has actually. I couldn't understand why my portable gas fire went out after sealing all the windows and doors in a very draughty house to try to get it warm.

However I just don't think that every situation where there is an element of danger needs to be treated as an 'End of the World as we know it' scenario. You have found a problem with your extractor and now you can deal with. Either manage the risk or move to a padded cell.

shaun_from_Africa

The gas safe engineer said that the extractor fan was very powerful and he saw this kind of thing all of the time.

Not making light of it, but surely if the engineer sees this occurance on a regular basis it's probably not too much to worry about.

If a registered gas-safe engineer finds a problem with an installation which they think is dangerous, he (or she) has a set procedure to follow depending on the severity of the problem and the danger posed.

There are 2 levels of danger for items such as this, "At Risk" and "Immediately dangerous". For something that they consider "AR", they must issue a notice, affix a label to the appliance, and turn it off (although there is nothing to stop the hoseholder turning it on again).
For an "ID" appliance, they are legally obliged to issue a notice and disconnect the appliance..

If you think the engineer is trustworthy and they didn't do either of the 2 things mentioned above, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Tigsteroonie

At least your gas safe engineer carried out the required flue test before advising you of the problem.

The last gas safe engineer that serviced our gas fire, insisted on disconnecting our ceiling fan as (he said) the two are not permitted in the same room. I subsequently got clarification from Gas Safe that this is not the case, and that the engineer should have carried out flue tests to determine the danger level before taking any action. Needless to say, we won't be using that firm again.

sassy_one

I almost got run over last week by a bus, please remember this, it's a possible fatal situation!

shaun_from_Africa

I almost got run over last week by a bus, please remember this, it's a possible fatal situation!

You lucky lucky bas****.
I used to dream of seeing a bus going past my house.

If_it_can_go_wrong

!!!!!! wrote: »

It has actually. I couldn't understand why my portable gas fire went out after sealing all the windows and doors in a very draughty house to try to get it warm.

However I just don't think that every situation where there is an element of danger needs to be treated as an 'End of the World as we know it' scenario. You have found a problem with your extractor and now you can deal with. Either manage the risk or move to a padded cell.

Calm down !!!!!! and don't be so dramatic. The OP has been made aware of a danger and they have posted it on here for anyone else who may not be aware of it. That's all.

I don't think mentioning it on a forum about "warnings" really counts as treating it as the end of the world.

cybergibbons

tcannabellarose wrote: »

I guess I wanted to make people aware that having your fire serviced every year to make sure they have adaquate ventilation is so important, and to make sure if you have an extractor fan fitted, make sure that it does not pull the carbon monoxide fumes back in to the room you are sitting in when the fire and extractor fan are on at the same time.

I just have to correct you with this - if there is adequate ventilation, then the extractor will be pulling carbon dioxide back into the room, not carbon monoxide.

You need a lot more carbon dioxide for it to be dangerous.

It's of a larger concern with real fires than gas fires really.