Regular gas boiler servicing, gas safety inspections or landlord gas safety inspections are essential in providing safety for both the installation and operation of your appliances. This will ensure that things like your boiler, gas fire and gas cooker installations have been completed to the manufacturers’ requirements. They must also meet current building and gas regulations. Home owners or landlords may even have these checks done as a precautionary measure when buying a property.
In most cases, when a gas inspection or service is carried out there will be more than one gas appliance, for example a boiler and a gas cooker installation and sometimes gas fires or hot water heaters.
All these appliances and pipe work will have to undergo a thorough inspection by a Gas Safe registered engineer to ensure safety and efficiency. Verification of any gas engineer can be under taken by visiting the Gas Safe Register website; we would always recommend this course of action.
The process of conducting inspection procedures should be a combination of visual checks and test on the installation and appliances. This should include correct and suitable sighting of the appliance and materials used and that the ventilation and flue system meet manufactures’ requirements. The gas supply within the property should be checked for correct pipe sizing (working pressure) and leaks (tightness test). The appliances have to meet the correct gas pressures including using the correct amount of gas (Gas rate).
Tests should be carried out to check that the flue systems are operating safely and efficiently (flue analysis) and not posing any threat to property or life, i.e. carbon monoxide poisoning (spillage of products of combustion).
All test procedures should be recorded on to a test sheet known as a Landlord Gas Safety Certificate (CP12) or Gas Safety Record. If any appliance within the property does not meet the manufacturers’ requirements, building or gas regulations, it may be necessary to cap off the appliance from the gas.
This highlights the importance of thorough gas safety inspections. As a landlord, the lack of a certificate could be paralysing for your tenants and your business.
All appliances that are now fitted should have all these tests carried out on initial installation, with the appropriate certificates provided. It is considered unacceptable for an appliance to be left running for any length of time without a commissioning certificate as this proves the appliance has been checked and left running safely.
Advanced Heating and Plumbing Ltd have a long history of advising and performing in matters of landlord gas safety. Feel free to contact us at any time to discuss your gas requirements. Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers and their tenants.