Gas Boiler Safety

[WeejiST]

We are in the process of buying a new home, but the cuurent owners have had a new gas central heating condenser boiler fitted within the last year in the second largest bedroom, We have a 3month old son who shall be 6months when we move in. Is it safe for a young child to sleep in the room or should a carbon monoxide sensor be fitted. Or would it be better to move the bolier into the loft out of harms way? (If the switches can be kept out of the loft)

[New Forester]

Most domestic boilers either vent their fumes up a flue (usually inside a chimney), or they have a "balanced flue" which goes out horizontally through a wall (having a metal terminal immediately outside).

 

A balanced flue jets out the fumes from one opening (usually from the centre of the terminal) while sucking fresh air in (usually around the outside) -- this means the combustion is completely separated from the air in the room.  There is a blower fan to power the gas flow.

 

A boiler with an ordinary flue takes the inlet air from the room and passes the fumes into the flue by convection -- so it relies on good ventilation, both of fresh air into the room and of fumes out of the top of the flue (so beware birds' nests etc).

 

I think condenser boilers are usually balanced-flue.  It's worth servicing the boiler annually anyway, but if it's out of reach and the ventillation is clear the room should be safe on that account for a young child.  If it's a small room it may get very hot though -- especially in summer when the boiler's still running the hot water.  Make sure any radiator in that room is on a thermostat so it doesn't contribute even more heat.  Putting the boiler in the loft (even if feasible) would waste enormous amounts of heat -- the boiler is like an always-on radiator contributing to the central heating.

cont...

[New Forester]

...cont
From the point of view of CO the appliances to watch out for particularly are those with no flue at all, such as geyser-type water heaters, stand-alone bottled-gas fires, gas cookers (both hobs and ovens), or fire-place-mounted fires or boilers where the flue has become blocked.  Rooms with unflued or non-balanced-flue appliances must have permanent (unclosable) fresh-air ventilation.

Any gas appliance which is burning with a yellow flame could be producing CO, and this is of course why it is very important to service all of them regularly.

[banana]

Just from a purely aesthetic point of view i would put the boiler somewhere else other than in a bedroom. If its possible to put it in the loft them that seems the best option - but if not -couldnt it go into a airing cabinet or similar. If neither of these is possible then I would fit a sensor just be on the safe side.

[BillyBB]

Gas condensing boilers actually have a fan assisted flue so you should be perfectly safe. Just get it serviced once every year.

[Peter Pedant]

The gas firms do a three star heating policy which involves testing for CO.

Get one of those.

I wouldnt bother having it moved. There used to be a vogue of having the boiler in the garage and then they made it against the law.m I would just make sure it is serviced.

 

 

[tracymort]

our airing cupboard is in our sons' room which i don't like but nothing we can do about it!  we have every monoxide alarm going though.  what i will say though that it's not advisable to have babies in their own rooms anyway, especially 6 months and under as being alone in a room asleep is one of the biggest (along with smoking family) risks for cot death.  babies need to be near other people when they are asleep.

[ianess]

A balanced or `room-sealed` radiator, even in a bedroom, should be perfectly safe so long as it`s serviced regularly.

The only real drawback could be the `whoosh` as it fires up and the running noise of the fan.  Don`t waste money re-siting it unless you really have to, and consider the extra length of pipework which will only cool down water that you`ve paid good money to heat up.

It almost goes without saying that a CO detector should also be fitted.