Am I Still Insured

lm3151

Hi All,

We recently had a smart Meter installed by an OVO engineer. He had to visit the kitchen and condemned the gas hob due to "the latest regs".
He stated that due to the fact that there was no external ventilation, the unflued gas appliance was unsafe.

Basically we have a window in the kitchen, but a conservatory built out to the back, so any ventilation would only be into another room not direct to the outside.

I have looked at the regs and it does indeed cover this scenario, but my question is, are we still insured if we use the hob?

Thanks.
Luke.

FutureGirl

If the hob has been condemned, and you use it, and it causes a fire (for example), then no you wouldn't be covered for that under your home insurance policy.

You'll find your home insurance policy has terms and conditions relating to keeping the property in good repair, and there will be exclusions for things that are faulty etc.

Keep_pedalling

The guy is correct, you do need at least one door or window that opens directly to the outside. Personally I would go one further and have an external venting cooker hood as closed doors and windows find vent anything.

It will not invalidate your home insurance, which would not pay out in the event of killing yourselves with CO poisoning, but it could complicate a house sale, and would prevent you from renting out your house if you ever wished to do so.

I would get an externally vented cooker hood installed, and if that is not possible replace the gas hob with a ceramic or induction hob.

Keep_pedalling

When you say condemned, do you mean he just informed you it should not be used, or did he actually cut it off? I would think the former, as I doubt he was a registered gas safe engineer.

System

You could just take special care when using the hob and make sure you don't have a fire. Then it wouldn't matter.