Not allowed gas fire in bedroom?

Zend

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me. My mother is an invalid and has to sleep downstairs and has done so for the past 9 months. A radiator was leaking and the man from the British Gas who came to mend it has now told my father that he cannot have the bed downstairs because there is a gas fire in the room and the boiler is in the adjacent garage. The repair man then slapped a do not use sticker on the fire. At the moment my mother is in a care home but will be returning to her own home in a weeks time. My father is panicing about my mother coming home if he cannot use the fire as it heats all their water. He is 79 and is not in the best of health, there is no way that he can get my mother upstairs. Sorry this is so long but I could really do with some advice. Thanks

Mojisola

There must something wrong with the fire if he has put a notice on it.

Do your parents have a carbon monoxide alarm in the room?

Ask Social Services to do an assessment before your mother comes home.

Terrylw1

Did he not explain it to your father? If not, that's very poor and being elderly it makes it worse. Worthy of a complaint.

Richie-from-the-Boro

- if the dwelling is rented the responsibility is on LA or HA / Social Housing] the landlord
- if the property is owned by your AP's the responsibility is of course theirs
- get in touch with your local authority [Mojisola] to see if any financial / charitable help is available
- you lever in this is the 'hygiene' one of a dwelling with no hot water and the fact that 80 year old will be tempted to carry pans of scalding water

Looking through the other end of the telescope, you at least know you have a problem and have the luxury of three months to fix it before winter sets in.

Your starting point is to get a couple of quotes for the repair / replacement and making good of the fire & back boiler ASP - that way you and the family will at least have an objective idea of what's required.

ollski

It's 'at risk' to have a back boiler unit in a sleeping room in a customers own property. At risk means the unit should be turned off at a user control so that if the customer decides to use it knowing the potential risks they are still able to. Rented properties are treated differently.

Mojisola

But the mother isn't at the home at the moment but the elderly man has been left without hot water! Very poor customer service.

spiro

Mojisola wrote: »

But the mother isn't at the home at the moment but the elderly man has been left without hot water! Very poor customer service.

But there is a bed in the room, the engineer doesn't know the father will not use it. Any fire in a room will eat the oxygen so there would need to be a open window or good ventalation 24/7.
Is there not another downstairs room (without fire) that your mother can sleep in?

jalexa

Zend wrote: »

the man from the British Gas who came to mend it has now told my father that he cannot have the bed downstairs because there is a gas fire in the room and the boiler is in the adjacent garage.

I don't understand your post(s). Does the living room fire or the boiler in the adjacent garage heat the radiators/water?

Mojisola

spiro wrote: »

But there is a bed in the room, the engineer doesn't know the father will not use it. Any fire in a room will eat the oxygen so there would need to be a open window or good ventalation 24/7.

But that applies whether you're lying down in bed or sitting on a sofa for hours on end (as many elderly people do) especially as the fire is more likely to be on during the day than at night.

If the ventilation is inadequate, it's inadequate for any time of day, regardless of the furniture!

ollski

Mojisola wrote: »

But that applies whether you're lying down in bed or sitting on a sofa for hours on end (as many elderly people do) especially as the fire is more likely to be on during the day than at night.

If the ventilation is inadequate, it's inadequate for any time of day, regardless of the furniture!

The ventilation is probably adequate but the installation is no longer in a situation it was designed for. The chances are a room which has turned into a sleeping room like this will have changed from a few hours occupancy a day to more like 20!, also if you are sleeping in it and there is a carbon monoxide leak you sleep right though the warning signs. I had a school friend who slept at his grandmothers house in the living room, she left the fire on low to keep the chill off, he died.

ankspon

My MIL slept in the room with a gas fire for 6 months when she was terminally ill,god bless her x