Annual gas safety check - failure

emmastevens

Hello, I need some concrete advice by Tuesday. Sorry if it's a long post. Will help explaning things. I am a long standing council tenant with children. Every year I comply with the yearly gas safety checks. So this morning, the engineer comes, checks things, then calls me over and says that in according to him, he can't complete the safety check, that he will have to switch of my gas because the flue pipe is wrapped around with duct tape. So I said, "well that's been like that since November 2012, when they repaired the flue. How come the other annual gas safety engineers didn't have problems with it, or tell me that's it's dangerous. He goes, he can't answer for them. So I
Will have to wait till Tuesday before I can takes things further. I wanted to know if flue wrapped around by duct tape is serious, because I don't want the council turning around and saying it's ok and not dangerous. Please I would appreciate all help. Thanks in advance.

AFF8879

To be honest I think only a qualified engineer could answer your question, but why would you even want to take the risk of a potentially catastrophic gas leak, especially with children in the house?

I would guess that the chances of a leak must be quite small if other engineers brushed it off, but I personally would not feel safe knowing my gas boiler was secured by duct tape...

Miss_Samantha

Why would there be a risk a gas leak with tape around a flue?
From what we've been told, the gas boiler is not secured by duct tape either.

I feel a storm in a cup of tea is brewing.

unforeseen

The problem that the engineer has is that the repair is covered by duct tape that he is probably not allowed to remove under the remit of a gas safety check.

He is therefore not in a position to decide whether the repair that it is covering meets the safety criteria hence giving a fail

booksurr

no test undertaken by anyone irrespective of their qualifications will always produce identical results

the tester this year has spotted the tape and decided it is "unsafe"

the tester last year missed it or has a different way of reading the rules

you cannot possibly get an answer from anyone on the internet unless they too are a qualified tester and can point you at a precise interpretation of the test rules relating to tape wrapped around a flue.

what is your problem anyway? Has the tester told you not to use the boiler ? The solution to the problem is a matter for your landlord (the council?) who will either remove the tape because it is not needed or will do whatever is required by the rules to make the flue "safe"

SevenOfNine

If the council tell you it isn't dangerous make them put in writing that "the flue has been examined by a GasSafe registered engineer who confirms it is not dangerous".

Make sure THAT is who they send to examine it, not some plonker employee or housing person with no qualifications in the gas field whatsoever. If necessary involve the councillor for your area, you must ensure you & your children are safe.

emmastevens

Thank you everyone for your quick replies.
I know perfectly well that the Internet isn't always the right place to go to. I thought forums where for helping each other.

AAF8879, Your right I don't want to risk our lives, Especially my children. My concern is that if it is a major concern, I've been living with it since November 2012.

Booksur, my problem is, "were ourselves at risk all this time?, I'm not bothered by the fact that the engineer switched off my gas meter, or that until further notice we do not have gas to cook or hot water.
My landlord, the council will have to "make safe this".
According to the 1998 gas safety regulations, it is an offence, so someone will have to be accountable for this. I don't want them to brush this under the carpet.

SevenofNine, that's exactly what I will do, so before I go barking up the wrong tree, I just wanted some advice, was hoping someone might have come across this kind of problem before.

bris

As an engineer I can tell you it's immediately dangerous and must be disconnected. It should also be RIDDOR reported and who ever did this will be in serious trouble with the HSE.


I will if the forum team ask me provide my credentials to them.

emmastevens

I've already sent a query to the HSE, waiting for their reply, and the Gas safety advice line is closed until Monday.

Smodlet

emmastevens, if I understand your post correctly, the engineer thought it dangerous enough to cut off your gas supply. This should, I would have thought, mean you and your children are no longer in danger as there is no gas to leak or explode. Bris, do you agree? You say you have no gas to cook or heat water, which would support this supposition.

Surely your council's housing dept. must have an emergency number for situations such as this? If your children are very small or anyone in the household has a medical condition which requires heating or hot water to be in constant supply, I would have thought this might constitute an emergency. I know it is July, what we in this country laughingly call "summer" but having no hot water and a tiny baby can be no fun at all.

Do you have an immersion heater you can use for hot water?

If you are still concerned for your safety, you can call National Grid on 0800 111 999 - From their website, "When you dial 0800 111 999 your call will be routed to the call centre. It doesn't matter what time of day or night you ring - we have trained operators working round-the-clock waiting to take your call."

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Safety/Gas-emergency/

If they tell you you are in no danger as the gas is turned off, at least you will know for sure.

HTH and please advise how you get on.

Miss_Samantha

I think we ought to relativise the 'danger' here. We know very little apart from the fact that it's been like that for at least 4 years.
I'm not saying that there isn't anything wrong. But there is equally likely no need to panic.