This article was written by Sanni, our Gas Compliance Officer. He has been with CCHA since August 2021, and has over ten years of experience concerning gas safety.
How can I make my house gas safe?
As your landlord, we have a duty to make sure we do a gas safety check on the appliances we have installed in your home every year. We use competent, gas safety registered engineers. We’ll notify you when these inspections are due in advance, and we ask that you are available to let us into your home do these checks. If you’re not available to make the date we have arranged, please let us know as soon as possible so we can negotiate a time that suits you. If you’ve installed any gas appliances in your home, as part of home improvements, you need to take responsibility for these. Make sure you use a competent gas safe registered engineer to carry out the installation, and annual maintenance, of your gas appliances. If you’re not sure if someone is gas registered, you can check here
If we’ve installed gas appliances in your home, we also install CO alarms in the event that there is any CO gas in the atmosphere. Make sure the ventilation provided for the purpose of an appliance, such as fires, are not blocked up or restricted.
What is Carbon Monoxide, and what are the signs of poisoning?
Carbon Monoxide is produced by a fuel burning appliance. Typical appliances inside homes prone to production of this gas include boilers, fires, cookers, water heaters, etc. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is unlike natural gas, and doesn’t have any fumes, colour, or odour. As a result, it’s difficult to detect. This is why it’s important to install CO alarms as they identify when there’s an issue that requires urgent attention. It also acts as a warning to turn off gas appliances.
My top tips are:
- Never use a cooking device (ovens, grills, or camping stoves) to heat your home
- Make sure all heating appliances are installed and maintained by a competent gas safe registered engineer
- Install CO alarms where there is a gas appliance in the home
Some signs of CO poisoning include headache, dizziness, upset stomach and/or vomiting, chest pains, and confusion. You can read more about CO poisoning here.
How are you combating harmful gas emissions at CCHA?
We’re are tackling carbon emissions in a variety of ways. Firstly, we’re committed to improving our properties through the retrofit programme, where older homes are upgraded to accommodate environmentally friendly methods of heating, hot water, etc. As part of this, we’re also carrying out decarbonisation surveys to improve thermal efficient of homes. Secondly, we’re building all new homes without gas, installing solar panels, etc. You can find out more here.
When, and what, gas safety checks are completed by CCHA?
What can I expect when they are completed?
We are obligated by law to carry out gas safety checks every year in your home.
We will arrange an appointment through our approved contractor (Westward ) to carry out a gas safety checks. As aforementioned, we need access from you to your property to carry these vital checks so please make sure you’re around when we call by.
Inspections will be carried out on your gas meter, boilers, fireplaces, cookers, fire alarms, etc. If any defects are identified, advice will be given to you about what to do next, and then we will keep you informed of the repairs plan.
If you’ve got any questions or queries about gas safety in your home, please get in touch