02nd July 2022
Having a carbon monoxide alarm is an important part of keeping any home safe and risk free, but what about the actual condition of the gas appliances you use on a daily basis? Properly maintained gas boilers and natural gas appliances are necessary for ensuring your home isn’t being exposed to poisonous carbon monoxide gas. Fortunately, you can easily reduce the risk of faulty gas utilities and carbon monoxide exposure by following a few simple precautions.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas that is produced when carbon-based fuels aren’t burned properly, such as oil, coal and wood. This creates excess CO, which is harmful to humans. Exposure to CO can cause serious damage to the body and nervous system, and in extremely severe cases it can even lead to death.
Carbon monoxide is very hard to detect without a CO alarm installed in your home. It emits no discernible smell, taste or colour, making it a tricky gas to be aware of. Most cases of carbon monoxide poisoning are caused because of poor ventilation, lack of maintenance or a blocked chimney or flue.
You can find more information on the dangers of carbon monoxide here.
An estimated 50 people die each year in the UK from carbon monoxide poisoning – that’s almost one fatality a week! The deadly gas is dangerous because it prevents blood from delivering oxygen to important organs in the body. Serious exposure over an extended period of time can lead to paralysis, brain damage and death.
Installing a carbon monoxide alarm in your home is a necessary safety precaution, although being aware of the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning is also important. Here are some common symptoms to remember:
Poorly maintained gas appliances are often the leading cause of a gas leak within the home. They’re also the result of loose, cracked or poorly fitted pipes. Gas boilers pose a CO risk if a valve breaks or malfunctions, or if the flue becomes blocked or inaccessible, preventing CO from venting properly.
Old and used appliances are particularly susceptible to gas leaks and should be used with caution. If for some reason they can’t be replaced with a new or modern model, make sure you have a Gas Safe registered engineer inspect each appliance to ensure that it’s functioning properly.
Homeowners should install a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector in their home. Detectors with digital readers are convenient and allow you to check if CO is identified in your home instantly. Make sure that your alarm is positioned in an area where it’ll wake you up if you’re asleep. A bedroom is ideal.
Detecting gas leaks without an alarm is possible, but not recommended. Appliances will collect soot or gradually become scorched, the air in your home or living space will become stale and open flames tend to burn bright blue rather than orange. If you do suspect a gas leak, always consultant an expert.
Ensure all gas appliances have proper ventilation. Horizontal vent pipes, like those found on water boilers, should vent air up and outside. This reduces and can even prevent carbon monoxide from leaking out from loose pipes.
Make sure your living space has plenty of fresh air, too. Keep windows open when possible and allow fresh air to blow through your home.
Never leave your car running in a sealed space, such as a garage with the garage door closed. This is a common way that people contract carbon monoxide poisoning.
If you are a renter or tenant of a building, ask your landlord to see a current copy of the building’s gas safety certificate. Landlords are required to show you the certificate, which verifies that they have had an annual gas safety check performed on all of the gas appliances in the building.
Call the gas emergency services line at 0800-111-999 if you suspect your gas appliances are leaking or faulty. This includes:
Then turn off each gas appliance and stop the flow of gas coming into your home. There should be a valve on your home’s gas meter that allows you to shut down the supply of gas. Once that’s taken care of, begin airing your home out by opening the doors and windows. Avoid any action that may produce a spark, such as turning on an electrical switch, plugging a device into an outlet, striking a match or using a lighter. Any open flame or spark will ignite CO that has collected in an enclosed space, so you need to be very careful.
A Gas Safe registered engineer is the only person qualified to conduct work on domestic gas appliances. You can check whether an engineer is certified to work on a specific appliance on Gas Safe’s website. Always follow their advice and recommendations in the event that more work is needed. This will help to ensure the safety of you, your family, and your home.
If you’re experiencing any other issues with your boiler (other than gas leaks), take a look at our “9 Signs It’s Time For A New Boiler” article.
We Beat or Match Any Quote
Call 0330 912 4843 and we’ll beat or match any quote.
Serious About Service
24/7 claims support & rated Excellent on Trustpilot
Cover Match Guarantee
Get a £50 gift card if you find something we don’t cover
All Gas Boilers Covered
All makes and models, regardless of age
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__cfruid | session | Cloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic. |
AWSALBCORS | 7 days | This cookie is managed by Amazon Web Services and is used for load balancing. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_uetsid | 1 day | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
_uetvid | 1 year 24 days | Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website. |
AWSALB | 7 days | AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_X89BZ20HEM | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_UA-77274851-4 | 1 minute | A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. |
_gcl_au | 3 months | Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. |
_hjFirstSeen | 30 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. |
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. |
_hjIncludedInSessionSample | 2 minutes | Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. |
_hjTLDTest | session | To determine the most generic cookie path that has to be used instead of the page hostname, Hotjar sets the _hjTLDTest cookie to store different URL substring alternatives until it fails. |
CONSENT | 2 years | YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. |
MR | 7 days | This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__qca | 1 year 26 days | The __qca cookie is associated with Quantcast. This anonymous data helps us to better understand users' needs and customize the website accordingly. |
_fbp | 3 months | This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
mc | 1 year 1 month | Quantserve sets the mc cookie to anonymously track user behaviour on the website. |
MUID | 1 year 24 days | Bing sets this cookie to recognize unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 5 months 27 days | A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. |
YSC | session | YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages. |
yt-remote-connected-devices | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
yt-remote-device-id | never | YouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_dlt | 1 day | No description |
_hjSession_549866 | 30 minutes | No description |
_hjSessionUser_549866 | 1 year | No description |
hometree_landing | session | No description |
hometree_qs | session | No description |
hometree_referer | session | No description |
outbrain_cid_fetch | 5 minutes | No description available. |
wisepops | 2 years | No description available. |
wisepops_activity_session | session | No description |
wisepops_session | session | No description available. |
wisepops_visits | 2 years | No description available. |