Some people do not realise that a safety test on a gas appliance is important and it is a big deal – they should be regularly serviced and maintained. To underline the importance – every month people are dying in this country, preventable deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas appliance, e.g. a gas boiler.
The story in the newspapers recently of the death of a little girl, Elisabeth Giauque, shows it could happen to anyone. Her parents were multimillionaires, living in the sort of house that multimillionaires live in. They were in a very nice rented house but how many home owners get their gas boilers regularly checked?
You are probably aware that landlord are required to pay for annual safety inspections. Mr T.P. has told me that this is a visual inspection, a boiler service at the same time would be a good idea, but it is not compulsory – I never knew that.
Even as a visual inspection it should be thorough. We have been amazed to here of people quoting figures as low as £30-£40 for a boiler service and/or gas safety certificate. Customers are happy to pay this and expect that the corgi registered engineer only has to pop in for a few minutes to look at the property. Not true. Depending on the property and boiler, time required will vary but you can expect the engineer to be in the property for an hour or longer.
How much should you expect to pay? Here in the far flung depths of Kent it would be reasonable to pay between £65-£100 for a boiler service and/or Landlord Gas safety certificate. (Naturally, some companies will do special offers for regular customers, but I couldn’t imagine how anyone could justify a price much under £50).
This blog is not to drum up business for Mr T.P. to inspect the boilers of Thanet, by the way. Actually, Tara Plumbing do not service boilers or issue Landlord Gas Safety Certificates unless T.P. fitted the boiler (usually). We also do not, generally, attend to repair faulty boilers – we recommend you telephone the boiler manufacturer. There are a few exceptions (for our regular customers, of course). I have not even mentioned the many faulty gas fire stories I hear but Tara Plumbing do not have anything to do with gas fires.
More about the Elisabeth Giauque story – just search her name or read here:
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