Each winter in the UK between ten and fifteen people lose their lives by inhaling carbon monoxide fumes. These highly poisonous fumes leak into their homes through gas appliances and flues, and without exception, particularly those which have not been properly installed. The number of people, usually the elderly and infirm who become ill due to breathing these fumes, cannot be measured, but are estimated to run into the thousands. The symptoms of the poisoning are hard to trace and can often be confused with a dose of the flu or a virus that can occur in the winter months. Although it is difficult to believe, these people are actually lucky because they are more than likely being exposed to very low quantities of the gas. However someone who is exposed to the gas in its undiluted form can succumb to it within just a few hours. Sadly, most people who pass away from carbon monoxide poisoning do so in their sleep, and have no idea that they are at risk.

Everyone who has even one gas appliance in the home should take great care to protect themselves and their family from the risks that exposure to the gas can bring. It is not a difficult task to carry out and basically involves the following simple checks:

• Your gas appliance was poorly installed and not by a British Gas (Corgi) registered installer;
• Any gas appliances in your home which are not functioning properly and the matter haven’t been taken care of.
• Any gas appliances in your home have not been checked to meet recognized safety standards and are being used on a regular basis.
• Fresh air is not being allowed to circulate, even at the most minimum of levels, in a room of the house;
• If a chimney or flue in the house has been allowed to become blocked up, and is not cleared.
• Even if your gas appliance has been installed by a British Gas (Corgi) registered installer, if you later allow an engineer who is not on the Gas Safe Register to tamper with your appliance, they may cause damage that will allow the lethal gas to leak into your home.
• You continue to use a gas appliance, even if you fear that it is not functioning properly. A sure sign that the appliance may be faulty is that if the flame becomes orange or yellow. Another sign of a faulty appliance is soot beginning to appear around the appliance which shows that the outlet may be beginning to block.

In addition to these measures, it can be a worthwhile investment to fit a carbon monoxide alarm. The alarm, which must meet current safety standards (BS EN 50291) and carry a BSI Kitemark, will sound an alert if carbon monoxide levels

Tags: Boiler, Boiler Replacement, British Gas, BS EN 50291, BSI Kitemark, carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide alarm, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, combi boiler, Combination Boiler, Condensing Boiler, condensing combi boiler, Corgi, Corgi registered, flue, Gas, Gas Boiler, Gas Safe Register, Home Electricals and Computers