Hob on, cooker on, fire on, candles on lights on, portable heaters on. I’ve been there. Trying to warm up the house by turning everything on. Knowing what I know now I’d be more cautious and not just because of the high price of gas.
A very small build up of carbon monoxide gas (CO) can make you ill and be a killer. You can’t smell, you won’t know it’s there. So here are the dangers:
- Kitchens: it is known a build-up of CO around cookers is normal.
- Bedrooms: MANY types of gas fire are not allowed in bedrooms by law.
So think twice before sleeping in front of your gas fire or using the oven to heat the kitchen – if you want to wake up.
Ok this may seem over the top. So here are the things you should know to make the best decisions about safety in your very cold home.
There are two really good things to do to ensure you are safe from CO poisoning and best to do both:
- Have a gas safety check and all your appliances serviced by a Gas Safe Engineer. Ok you could be looking at well over £100 for this and you can’t get an appointment for 2 weeks and it is cold now.
- Get a CO alarm in every room that ha a gas appliance. So one in each room with a gas fire or portable calor gas heater and one in the kitchen. You can buy a pack of 2 from Argos for just over £20. Make sure it is an ALARM, not jut something that changes colour. There is more on CO alarms here.
- Also make sure there is ventilation. Air bricks, window open a little, doors open throughout the house. OK that is 3 points.
You may be thinking surely this blog can’t be correct, surely there isn’t CO building up in the kitchen. There are so many factors, I really can’t be sure about your kitchen! But I do know:
- cooking appliances are not supposed to be used to heat the home, so it is thought they will be turned on for short periods of time.
- kitchens are supposed to be ventilated – by law.
- studies have measured the CO build up in kitchens – so I have evidence on which to base my concerns.
Surely a new gas fire can’t be dangerous and I have had it checked out within the last 12 months. Again I am telling you that many gas fires are not permitted for bedrooms. So your gas fire might be fine for a living room BUT NOT where people sleep.
Also, many gas fires are supposed to have a certain amount of ventilation but lots of people cover up that ventilation. The ventilation is there to make sure there is eough oxygen in the room so that the gas can burn correctly. CO can be produced if you
- Cover up the ventilation
- shut the doors
- and use the fire for some time
When is it OK to have a fire in the sleeping room? OK technical details…Only if it is a correctly installed and maintained room sealed appliance (this will have a fan assisted flue). Most definitely not a fire with an open flue or a flueless fire… unlesss – see below this image….
Free Gas Safety in the Home eBook
(And finally, just in case a pedantic expert in gas regulations is reading this, there is permission for very low output open flued fires so long as they have an atmospheric-sensing device.) Never sleep in a room with a FLUE less fire or other flueless gas appliance (such as your oven).
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