Is it illegal to install a radiator that cannot be turned of?

FixenVixen

Is it illegal to install a radiator that cannot be turned off?

I am not sure what they are called but the Radiator that does not have one of those numbered knobs to control the heat.

If the Landlord had a new Radiator installed but this time it has no way whatsoever to turn it off, shouldn't that be illegal, especially if you have informed him that it is putting off strange odors that are making it difficult for you to breathe?

Both the old Radiator and the new one have both done this same thing, making me think it is the boiler that is the actual problem. I will wake up in the morning at 5:00 and every moring the entire living room will have a fuel-smokey kind of a smell. Or else in the door entrance way and the hallway.

And so they install a new Radiator but tell me this isn't going to change anything, and then I notice that now it cannot even be turned off. And they had told me how to turn it off in the first place, with the old Radiator, if I needed to. Shouldn't this be illegal to basically force someone to have to breathe toxic fumes?

They seem dead-set on claiming that it is impossible for there to be anything wrong with the boiler. This has been an ongoing problem. But to me it looks more and more as if all they really care about is their own libaility. It gets worse and worse with the hallway, living room and sometimes the whole kitchen smelling, and lately it has been making me ill and even vomiting.

The worst time is at night, but they tell me I have to have 'proof' of the smells but then they refuse to even come here at night to verify that what I am sayingi s true. I will wake up around 2:00 in the morning or so to get a glass of cold water from the kitchen and when I walk through the hallway it seems like I am walking through a sort of miasma of fog or something.

The other day when I had them test the fan it made really loud noises and they said that they needed to change the Expansion Vessel. They did that and I had gotten up in the middle of the night to see if the water pressure was still continuing to go down to zero and when I did I realised that when they installed the new Radiators and the Expansion Vessel that they did not set the Eco button back to ON. So I pushed the button and went back to be and as soon as I got to bed I heard a noise in the kitchen. So I went back into the kitchen and to my surprise the entire kitchen smelled like this really strong perfume-like plasticy smell and I walked into the living room and same thing.

I finally went back to bed and woke back up at around 4:00 and everything was back to the normal fuel like smell in the dooway of the living room and in the hallway. Sometimes its the entire living room, but this is an every night occurence, either way and getting continuously worse.

My Landlord told me that if I called Emergency Services at night, he would tell them that they could go ahead and send someone out to my house to verify the smells. But then I tried doing that and they wouldn't send anyone out and acted like the Landlord hadn't even told them anything about this. I called Environmental Health and they said that if my Landlord says he will get them to do that then they have to do it. But all I have gotten is my Landlord sending me an email now telling me that no one wants to come out, and so I could get someone from a Church to stay the night and verify it. But I asked him ... okay then, if someone from a Church comes out to veryfy that it smells at night, what are you going to do? Are you going to still claim that its coming from somewhere else or something else besides the boiler? No answer yet. I had told him that I got in touch with a Church Online and two people came out here and I just asked them if they would help me to move out if it came to that. And I told the Landlord about this.

But I feel that they just need to put in a new boiler. I should not have to be forced to move out and start all over again with a Private Landlord. Right now I am on Benefits for a disability and with a Housing Association. And with a Private Landlord, you are not guaranteed that they will still keep having their house for rent, and with a Housing Association, you are guaranteed.

They also told me not to touch any of the settings on the boiler. They have the Timer set to 'OFF'. I told them that the only thing that makes the smells minimise is to change the settings. I have no idea why this is but I cannot help it. It seems like to force you to leave it how they put it and to make it where you cannot even turn off the radiator in the Living room where the smell is, should be illegal, shouldn't it? It cuts off my breathing and I am feeling worse and worse, and the other night and morning I vomited 3 times.

To me it seems like the 'Team Leader' of the Men who repair the boiler and radiators just simply doesn't want to be liable for anything and that is all that matters to him. He says that the boiler is fine and nothing wrong with it, and they act as if I am some sort of ta criminal for not trusting their judgment. He said that he would be put in jail if he put anyone in danger. Then he turns around and tells me that if he came out at night it would be just one time and that would be the end of it. To me it became obvious that even if he did come out he would either claim he didn't smeel it or else attribute it to something else. They have already kept tryint to make excuses that its coming from something else, but they won't even come out to verify if what I am saying is true or not. I am wondering if having one of these Repair guys would be a bad idea because then tey'd probably lie and claim okay then that's the end of it. Maybe I'd be better off having the Church People come out to sign a statement saying they verythat it smells in the living room. If I do this I am goign to close all the windows too, because this Landliord and Repair men keep trying to claim it must be coming from somewhere else like outside. But it is obvious that it isn't since I have tried closing the windows at night, which only makes it worse because there's no fresh air to allow the fumes to escape.

I am just not sure what steps to take now and in what order I ought to do it. The Environmental Health Man told me over the phone that I can give him the go-ahead to conduct an Investigation into this any time that I want to do so. But when my Landlord came here the other day after I wrote two letters of Compaint to the Housing Assocation, he pulled up my letters in his email and started basically ridiculing me as if I were insane or something, because I had also complained about the Bidet Toilet they had left here from the previous Tenant that had some sort of disability and need for that kind of toilet. That toilet was horrible, it would put out very strong perfume like deoderiser smells and sort of alike an anti-bacterial smell. In fact, one of the guys that came to put a bid on it to get grant money to remove it from here told me "Those Clos-O-Mat toilets are a real nightmare!" And so apparently I am not the only one who has ever complained about one of these toilets. And everyone else in the whole complex where I am living has a regular normal toilet anyway. So they are trying to make me appear to be I guess someone with 'mental problems'. This is really ticking me off!

silvercar

I am not sure what they are called but the Radiator that does not have one of those numbered knobs to control the heat.

Even without a 'numbered knob' it will have a valve that you can turn off by turning it all the way until it stops.

The strange odours are a different issue.

comeandgo

My main control radiator cannot be turned off but it only comes on when temp dips below what the household thermostat is set at.

jk0

FixenVixen wrote: »

Is it illegal to install a radiator that cannot be turned off?

I am not sure what they are called but the Radiator that does not have one of those numbered knobs to control the heat.

If the Landlord had a new Radiator installed but this time it has no way whatsoever to turn it off, shouldn't that be illegal, especially if you have informed him that it is putting off strange odors that are making it difficult for your to breathe?

Why is your heating on in July?

Alter_ego

It's almost impossible for a rad to do what you are suggesting.
Have you got the gas safety certificate ??? If yes phone the Gas safe person/company that issued it and tell them about the fumes.

FixenVixen

Yes that was how the old Radiator was, you could turn it off at the end. But this new one has two of the same type of knobs, neither of which can be turned off.

MovingForwards

Three posts about this so far.

How about getting on the phone and calling a few local gas engineers to see how much they would charge to come out, assess the rads, boiler and other related fittings and prepare a report?

bspm1

FixenVixen wrote: »

Yes that was how the old Radiator was, you could turn it off at the end. But this new one has two of the same type of knobs, neither of which can be turned off.

The 'knob' that you do not have on the new radiator is called a TRV, purchase one from a hardware store for approx £8, ALL radiators can be turned off, a TRV allows you to turn a radiator down, that is all.

As for the smell? There should only be water in your radiator how can that cause a smoky smell.

coffeehound

Does the property have a working carbon monoxide (CO) alarm? If not, it would be sensible to get one asap.

maisie_cat

If the heating is turned off the radiator won't be on. I did think all new radiators in rented needed TRVs now but that isn't what turns the rad off, it's the valve at the end. The fumes might also be due to new paint, lot's of new things smell for a while

FixenVixen

MovingForwards wrote: »

Three posts about this so far.

How about getting on the phone and calling a few local gas engineers to see how much they would charge to come out, assess the rads, boiler and other related fittings and prepare a report?

That's a really good idea. I hadn't thought of that! I wonder if they would also make a trip in the middle of the night for a certain fee and see what they think of the smells to while they are at it.

I wonder though if I could get in trouble though if I didn't ask the Landlord first? And they might not want anyone messing with their equipment.

A couple of nights ago tough I was just going to call British Gas to ask them if they'd send someone out in the night around 2:00 or so to verify the smells so that I could give the report about that to th Housin Association so that I woul have a professional saying it.

But even though I told them that it wasn't smeeling yet at the time, it was about 10:00 at night, stil they insisted that I go outside and turn off the gas meter and that they would send someone our NOW. I thought that was kind of silly. But anyway I did it and they put a disc thing not allowing it to be turned back on till the Housing Associations Repair man made sure it was safe since it was giing me medical problems. It took him like all of 2 seconds to do that, since he already has the idea there is nothing wrong with the boiler.

Then later that night it had the most horrible plastic like smell in the hallway by the living room.

I could maybe at least have some independent Boiler repair guys come out at night to verify the smells, maybe. And maybe if I tod them everything they'd be ablt to figure out what's wrong.