Have you ever wondered why DIY is not a good idea when it comes to gas appliances?

The photo shows part of a boiler burner owned by a customer who is particularly fond of DIY. This customer had their boiler serviced, and watched the engineer very closely during his visit. When the boiler was next due for its annual checks and servicing, the customer decided they would try and save some money, and do the service themselves.

They hoovered around the bottom of the old appliance as they had seen the engineer do, but they didn’t notice the discolouration and damage to the pilot assembly. The customer put the boiler back into operation, and some months later, during the winter, began to suffer with severe headaches. The customer had installed a Carbon Monoxide alarm in the lounge, but alas the boiler was a significant distance from the alarm.

This meant that Carbon Monoxide was able to be present in the home, and build up in the customers bloodstream to a potentially lethal amount, without the alarm making a sound. Thankfully the customer knew the symptoms and was able to seek medical advice and help immediately, most would not have been so lucky.

After the diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning, and gas being shut off from outside the property, we were able to attend (following precautions) and investigate. We found that the ventilation supplying the old boiler had been covered by a sheet of newspaper to “stop the draught”, and the damage to the pilot had stopped it operating properly and shutting the appliance off despite the lack of oxygen present for combustion. Annual checks save lives, don’t skimp on your safety!

Get it serviced

This image is an excellent example of how a simple thing, can be the catalyst for a major issue to develop. This appliance missed its annual service during the first covid lockdown, and during this year whilst it continued to quietly work away in the kitchen, unbeknownst to the homeowner the ignition electrode had begun to leak toxic fumes into the boiler case.

Thankfully this was a relatively modern boiler, so it was able to detect the fault before the fumes leaked into the surrounding room, potentially resulting in fatal inhalation. However, the sheer heat from the fumes leaking meant that the boiler required a new casing, combustion fan, burner seals, safety limit thermostat and wiring harness, combining to nearly £500 in repairs cost that could have been avoided for the sake of an annual service!

Trust the experts

Would you trust the delivery man to install a gas appliance? We were called out to a smell of gas coming from a customer’s cooker. The customer was upset particularly when the cooker was only sixmonths old, and had been installed by the supplying online/delivery company as an optional extra when purchasing.

When we attended, we found that the cooker was in perfect order, and instead the original installers had not provided a new flexible connection hose, but to save a few pounds had re-used the old one. This may not have been an issue, but this hose was well beyond its usable lifetime, and the rubber coating was well and truly breaking apart, not to mention the metallic core was severely damaged.

A leak of this nature, so close to an appliance that operates with an exposed flame could have caused a catastrophic fire incident.

A new hose was installed and the cooker commissioned properly. We believe a complaint was raised with the supplier and is ongoing with no response received yet.

Of course we recommend to use a local gas safe registered company.

Call DB Heating Ltd on 01822 611300 or visit www.dbheating.com