Top 9 gas safety tips for your home

Before You Switch Your Boiler Back On

The Gas Safe Register have put together nine top tips to make sure your gas appliances stay safe during the colder months. It’s important to take care of your boiler (and other gas appliances) to make sure you stay safe, warm and cosy this winter.

  1. Have all of your gas appliances, including boilers, gas cookers and gas fires, safety checked annually.
  2. Always use a Gas Safe registered engineer to fit, fix and check gas appliances in your home – it’s the law and will help keep you safe.
  3. Always ask to see an engineer’s Gas Safe ID card and check the back of the card to ensure they are qualified to carry out the specific type of gas work you need.
  4. Recognise the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning – headaches, dizziness, nausea, breathlessness, collapse and loss of consciousness.
  5. Check gas appliances for warning signs that they are not working properly e.g. lazy yellow flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks or stains on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room. Remember that an unsafe appliance sometimes has none of these signs at all.
  6. Buy an audible carbon monoxide alarm for your home and make sure it is located near to your gas appliances in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidance. Carbon monoxide can leak from appliances and kill.
  7. Only use gas appliances for their intended purpose e.g. don’t use a gas oven to heat a room or use a gas BBQ inside the house.
  8. Always ensure there is enough ventilation for your gas appliances to allow them to burn correctly and make sure you are not blocking any air vents that provide an air supply to the gas appliance.
  9. Anybody working with gas has to be Gas Safe registered by law. Report someone working without registration or call Gas Safe Register on the free phone number 0800 408 5500.

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