New House Purchase - Oil Boiler

shirobusnarf

Hi,

I'm in the process of buying a new home and just had a home buyers report come back with one issue - it's relation to the oil burner:

It's located in the utility room - beside the kitchen, within the bungalow. There is a flue up the wall and through the roofspace (not converted).

J1 Risks to the Building:

The oil fired boiler located in the utility room should be relocated to the external of the property and statutory approvals achieved.

I asked for more information, this is the reply:


The fact that a boiler is located internally now contravenes building control regulations and in due course the boiler should be moved to a boiler house external to the property. This was in respect of Health and Safety issues in the matter of possible fires.


The boiler was installed in 1997, I wasn't planning on getting a new system in just yet - although I know it's due an upgrade / replacement.

If I do get a replacement - I would imagine that I would have to locate it outside... ????

It's just I can't seem to see this requirement anywhere - I've checked a number of places?

Does anyone know about this or have experience or advice on the matter?

I'm also thinking of converting the roof space - based on what I've read the flue might be an issue?

Any help would be great.

I'm located in Northern Ireland.

Thanks,

Paul

malc_b

Are you sure they have their facts right? If you look at makers webs sites there seem to be a lot of internal (often wall) mounted boilers on sale, so if that is no longer allowed who are they selling them too?

Maybe what they should say is the boiler needs a fire valve but I would have thought that a 1997 fit would have one.

I would check with building regs.

shirobusnarf

malc_b wrote: »

Are you sure they have their facts right? If you look at makers webs sites there seem to be a lot of internal (often wall) mounted boilers on sale, so if that is no longer allowed who are they selling them too?

Maybe what they should say is the boiler needs a fire valve but I would have thought that a 1997 fit would have one.

I would check with building regs.

Yes, I'm a little confused..

I've seen these on sale..

Wonder if its a Northern Ireland thing..

Surely it's not an issue if proper precautions are taken..

Fire doors, hmm .. I'm well confused..

There

macman

Where is the oil tank located? A Home Buyers survey is usually the most basic inspection possible and will not cover any more than a roof and 4 walls: i.e. whatever the lender needs to establish that the value of the property will cover the loan. Even an experienced surveyor isn't qualified to comment on the gas/electric or oil installations except to say 'the property has oil central heating'.
Complain to your lender and ask them to resurvey at their expense using someone who has a clue.

Cardew

If the boiler were to catch fire(not heard of it happening) wouldn't the fire stand a better chance of gaining hold when out of sight?

Inside with a smoke alarm the fire would be discovered earlier. My son has just had an oil boiler fitted(in England) and he was given the opportunity of siting it inside or outside.

GlynD

I'm Northern Ireland too and our boiler was in the utility room. My wife made the decision to have a new one installed outside but we could just have easily replaced in situ.

Our oil tank is against the back wall of the house too. We gather it was installed 30 years ago (which just goes to show that plastic is best) but are led to understand that if we ever need a replacement it has to be moved away from the house.

That's the best I can do for you and I agree that it's probably a Norn Irn thing.

You might actually get more and better information if you post directly to the Northern Ireland forum here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=32

shirobusnarf

Thanks for all the replies..

I contacted building control in my local council area..

Turns out the information provided in the report is simply not true.. There is no regulation that relates to mandatory movement of boilers from inside to outside.

Sounds more like general advice, my issue is the report had flagged it as

Defects that are serious and/or need to be repaired, replaced or investigated urgently

Which clearly it is not..

Poor survey...

muckybutt

Cardew wrote: »

If the boiler were to catch fire(not heard of it happening) wouldn't the fire stand a better chance of gaining hold when out of sight?

Inside with a smoke alarm the fire would be discovered earlier. My son has just had an oil boiler fitted(in England) and he was given the opportunity of siting it inside or outside.

Our old oil boiler was outside and had a thermocouple fitted to a shut off valve on the oil supply, so in the event of a fire the supply would automatically be cut off, I believe this is a standard safety device to have fitted.

malc_b

I'm pretty sure that all oil boilers have a fire valve, unless really old and then they should have had one fitted a long time ago. A fire valve of course cuts off the oil supply in the event of fire. Often the valve is outside or away from the boiler and operated by a wire, on old boilers that is. I'm sure new ones are more fancy (mine has the fire valve built into the non-return valve).