New regulation re. Gas Safe checks on boiler flues

katejo

I have heard about this new regulation and know that Gas Safe inspections will not allow flues where the engineer can't check the flue thoroughly. My house is an old terrace and the current boiler has been there for about 8 years. I have had regular annual checks on it. The boiler is in a cupboard at the top of the stairs. This cupboard has 2 sets of doors (top and bottom) and there is a hatch into the loft which is part open.
I think that this means that it would pass the test. Am i right? I am about to get my annual inspection done but would prefer to know in advance if there is likely to be a problem.

Ectophile

Can the engineer see the full length of the pipe run? In my experience, they don't closely examine every bit of the pipe; they are just looking to check that it's intact, and not fallen apart.

If the pipe run is boxed in, then there's no way to tell if a joint has come adrift, leaking gases into the house.

katejo

Ectophile wrote: »

Can the engineer see the full length of the pipe run? In my experience, they don't closely examine every bit of the pipe; they are just looking to check that it's intact, and not fallen apart.

If the pipe run is boxed in, then there's no way to tell if a joint has come adrift, leaking gases into the house.

They can see the pipes between the bottom of the main boiler unit until they reach the floor level. the pipes then go through the floor and you can see the join with the gas supply in a separate cupboard on the ground floor immediately underneath.

Ectophile

It's only the flue pipe that needs to be checked. That's the fat pipe that normally comes out of the top (or sometimes the back) of the boiler, and takes the waste gases outside.