Does flue comply with regs ? (I have changed thread title)

[alphaqwert]

Searching for advice - we have a Glow-worm boiler which is 20 years old.

Untitled

• alphaqwert
• 6 Feb 2014
• 1

Untitled

• alphaqwert
• 6 Feb 2014
• 1

On Tuesday night, during very strong winds, the CO alarm adjacent to the boiler went off. Transco came out, and disconnected the supply -
they did not check for carbon monoxide. We believe the strong winds caused a backdraft.

This morning a British Gas engineer came out to check and service the boiler. He said that the boiler is leaking and is unsafe -
there is a small leak coming from the heat exchanger. He also said that the flue was unsafe (he said it is asbestos).

We are aware that the flue doesn't comply with current regs - my understanding is that the regs are not retrospective.
What do you think ? The flue appears to be ceramic - does anyone recognise the insulating material ?

The boiler is still disconnected - a BG salesman has just said that the boiler cannot be repaired and quoting £4,000 for a new combi-boiler.

Thanks.

 

[Tibbot]

Irrespective of anything else, any set up that causes production and spillage of CO, under any circumstances is unacceptable. No inspection can be done by looking at a photo.

 

[dcawkwell]

Ignore the british gas guy. The £4000 quote is silly money.
Get a local gas guy in to look at the flue and boiler.
It may be the flue can be replaced with a standard flue pipe which don't be particularly cheap so it might be more economic to go for a new boiler which will come with a long warranty.

 

[footprints]

It’s a bit surprising that a 20 year old boiler is not balanced flue, though I guess if the old one went west a replacement open flued one might have been fitted, what model of Glow Worm is it?

As a rule flueing regs are not retrospective though some very old asbestos terminals like the wall mounted ones are not acceptable. I suspect he means the asbestos is dangerous to disturb.

I have never seen a ceramic flue it will be either Galvanised steel, enamelled steel (like the old tin mugs and steel baths) or asbestos cement.

Enamelled steel was only used as a rule for the first couple of foot as a decorative feature in a kitchen, then goes to galvanised or asbestos.

Asbestos is very hard and can look slightly shiny it could perhaps be taken for ceramic.

The crunch is, if the flue is not performing it’s no good even if it has been there years and a leaky heat exchanger is lethal, not good news I know but better to find out before something bad happened.

Well done to you for having a CO alarm fitted

 

[alphaqwert]

The boiler is a Glow-worm Hideaway 50CF free standing open flue boiler
fitted by British Gas in 1992.

The title of my thread is badly phrased. At the last service the engineer
said that the flue didn't comply with current regs, but the regs were not restrospective, and the flue is safe.
On Tue the Transco engineer agreed with the above statement, but the BG guy reckons that the flue is unsafe.

My opinion is the the BG misunderstands the regs.

Do gas fitters have any legal training ?

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Tibbot]

You've stated that the flue is spilling CO. There's not much else to add. Of course gas operatives have no legal training. We're engineers not barristers.

 

[footprints]

Gas fitters have regular update training on flueing and ventilation, I used to be a BG fitter and I can vouch for how boring the subject is to listen to or teach, but it is the one thing that is drummed into fitters constantly.

It can sometimes be down to interpretation in some cases and yes the fitter will err on the safe side, the simple thing to do is phone and ask to speak to a supervisor or technician (or whatever they call them these days) and get a second opinion. But remember like a car MOT what counts is the results he got when he tested it, if it failed he must cut it off no matter what the history is.

 

[FiremanT]

You've stated that the flue is spilling CO. There's not much else to add. Of course gas operatives have no legal training. We're engineers not barristers.

With one possible exception

 

[kidgreen61]

Can't for a minute think who you're thinking of FT.......

Go on give us a clue

 

[alphaqwert]

You've stated that the flue is spilling CO. There's not much else to add. Of course gas operatives have no legal training. We're engineers not barristers.

The alarm went off for a short period - we called Transco out as a precaution. We should have called out a gas safe registered engineer, but it was 9pm and Transco seemed the better option.

The Transco engineer stated that the flue didn't comply with 2013 regs, he did not state that the flue was unsafe, hence why I believe that the BG engineer has misinterpreted the regs.

 

[Tibbot]

With CO present in the room, what do you think a gas safe engineer would do differently? It's a new low for this industry when punters choose the imminent risk of death over spending money on new equipment.

 

[Dean744PiN5]

With out seeing the warning advice it sounds like your appliance was not cut of because it doesn't comply but because it was spilling products of combustion back into the property
without carrying out a full inspection of your flue and carrying out the relevant performance tests no one on this site can advise you wether or not your installation is safe. Sorry.
All you can do is get a second opinion from another engineer who has inspected the installation on your property.

 

[Gas2Air]

No RGI would turn that back on after what has been said by OP. It's scrap OP get a decent quote, 4k?

 

[mogget]

With CO present in the room, what do you think a gas safe engineer would do differently? It's a new low for this industry when punters choose the imminent risk of death over spending money on new equipment.

I wouldn't like to risk serious illness or death every time there was a gale blowing, that's for sure.

 

[bazdaman]

Most Transo engineers dont have the ticket to work on boilers either so he probs just had a quick look, i dont like BG but saying the engineer must be wrong because so and so said it was ok before and so did transco is utter rubbish!