Inspection panel for flue

harryandedwardsmum

We've just had British Gas out for our annual boiler service. The boiler was fine as expected, as it has been working abolsutely fine but we have their homecare agreement and so do the service once a year.

However, they have advised that our existing inspection panel is too small and an additional inspection panel is needed, so the flue can be seen throughout its full length. He said it was a new regulation. That's all fine (although carries a cost) but he also said that if there was a gas issue we are not covered on our house insurance until we have actioned this.

I mean, really?! How on earth is the standard householder supposed to know about changing gas safety regulations for flue inspection panels? It wasn't an issue when they did the service last year, and yet they tell us this today and we are instantly not covered on insurance for gas problems? No time to get it sorted, no advice on where to get mind reading skills so we know about all new regulations? Did everyone else in the country get an email and not us??? This seems completely bonkers!! Obviously we will try to get someone out to do it but we will likely be waiting weeks to get in with someone decent.

Editing to add: the boiler was installed, and the flue / inspection panel, when we had work done on our home which involved installing a new boiler and in a new location. This was in 2018 and by a qualified plumber. The boiler has been serviced every year since then too, usually by British Gas, without any comment, so this must be additional / new regulations or surely someone would have mentioned it before now.

Swipe

Get someone else to service it next time and see if it gets flagged. I can't see it being an insurance issue unless it was a new flue installation or the small inspection hatch was a direct contributing factor in an insurance claim. However, if they've made a note of it on your safety certificate it might become an issue for your insurance.

Dogbyte009

Regulations for inspection hatches don't seem to have changed since 2013 - https://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/fluesinvoids.htm

doodling

Hi,

I'm surprised that your gas fitter knows more about your insurance policy than you do - maybe he doesn't actually know what your policy says and is making stuff up?

There is no requirement to bring installations installed to previous standards up to current standards unless they are being modified or are dangerous. Did the fitter state that it was dangerous (he should have isolated the appliance if it was)?

It may be that the lack of access means that the fitter cannot fully check the flue for safety. Note that that (a) that doesn't mean it is dangerous and (b) it would be highly unusual for an insurance policy to require such a check (or any check at all of gas appliances!) to remain valid.

harryandedwardsmum

Thank you for the replies.

We contacted a plumber we know who said that regulations have changed in the last year. I just cannot believe that there is no notice period to comply, that sounds absurd so must surely be wrong. How would the average home owner even know?

He was pretty arrogant to be honest from the moment he arrived, and didn't seem to know that Hive doesn't start instantly either (much pacing about over that one).

No he didn't say it was dangerous, he said he couldn't check it to know either way and so ticked 'No' (he didn't check the flue) and 'Advice given' on his form, then wrote a comment about how we needed to make the existing access bigger and add another one.

doodling

Hi,

As there is no requirement for you to comply, why would there need to be a notice period?

If you were renting the place out then there might be different requirements but as an owner occupier you are under no obligation to do anything at all.

Ectophile

What's new is that plumbers are being told that a gas boiler safety test should now include visually checking the entire length of a gas flue.

Gas flues are assembled out of sections of pipe. Sometimes these can be disturbed, and the pipe sections come apart. This could mean carbon monoxide leaking into the fabric of the building. If the flue is boxed in, then nobody can inspect it to check that all is well.

So if the plumber can't see the flue, they will refuse to sign off the service as complete. Because they don't know it's safe.

harryandedwardsmum

Thanks for the replies. I don't have any issue with an 'incomplete' service. But what has happened is I have the paperwork that says that until I can get a bigger inspection panel and an additional one and then presumably pay to get the flue checked, then I have a choice between hot water and invalid home insurance with immediate effect. How can that possibly the right?!

Also, I don't as a habit look inside the cupboard where the boiler is. However when I did, luckily, on Sunday I discovered he's attached a 'Danger do not use' label to the boiler. Which he didn't mention.

This seems ridiculously over the top. No fault was detected, only that the regulations on the inspection panel have changed and therefore this year he couldn't tick that box?

We are now waiting for guidance and quotes on what needs installing. And if we turn the hot water on during what could be weeks waiting to get it done, we are invalidating our home insurance.

Swipe

I'd just get someone else to see if they can fit a bigger hatch, do an inspection and sign it off and never use that gas engneer ever again. When was the last time you used your hot water and needed to put a claim in on your insurance as a result? And why can't they use a camera or mirror to inspect it like the regular chimney sweep does?

harryandedwardsmum

Yes contract with British Gas is up in August and I will not be renewing it!!

If the flue leaks CO2 because we turned the hot water on maybe? He wasn't exactly helpful so I'm not really clear. We do have a CO2 detector about 2 metres away from it.

Scot_39

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82027683#Comment_82027683

Shouldn't he have isolated the boiler - rather than putting a danger label on it.

Even if you hadnt used HW taps etc - your boiler may have a pre-heat function.

Unlike electrics where it's less common for regs to do retrospective updates - unless you modify the wiring in a way that relies on more modern protection etc - quite often gas regulations do.

We had it on an external flue at parents - for us a simple 6"-1 foot extension to clear a down pipe. On a BG install nearly 10 years old.

But a colleague had a worse case change - his flue was on wall in a shared narrow walkway at ground floor level - with his own and a neighbours side window nearby - he had to have about 4-5m iirc of additional flue added - to clear the passageway / windows - just within his boiler specs.