Do I Need Annual Gas Boiler Servicing
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- Posted date:
- 10-08-2021
Does a gas boiler need servicing every year?
Landlords that let and rent out their establishments and household properties are legally required to get all flues and gas appliances serviced regularly or at least annually by certified Gas Safe heating engineers to ensure all is in working condition.
Gas appliances like gas fires, gas stoves and boilers are all provided for tenants by the landlords. Appliances require prescribed tests every once in a while and a visual inspection from professionals for health and safety purposes and compliance with regulations.
An annual boiler service is not entirely a legal requirement for any property or homeowners who do not rent their property. However, they are responsible and have a duty of care to ensure all their gas appliances are in good condition and safe for use.
Getting your appliances checked ensures they are not liable to cause you, your household or guests any harm. When you get your boiler serviced annually from a local plumbing and heating company, it also keeps the boiler's insurance warranty valid over time, giving you peace of mind that you may save on costs in the future.
Boiler safety issues
Gas boilers have safety risks, which is why they require frequent servicing and lots of care.
One of a faulty boiler's most significant safety risks is carbon monoxide emission, leading to poisoning.
UK stats show that between the years 1995 to 2019, over 26% of deaths resulted from carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty central heating boiler systems.
Even though this is a relatively significant number of deaths, the Landlord and householders UK's Gas Safety record has experienced a fall in multiple carbon monoxide-related deaths and incidents.
It can be challenging to tell if your boiler has begun leaking or emitting carbon monoxide gases. When receiving an installation, your installer needs to install a carbon monoxide alarm to identify and alert you of any gas leaks, should you experience any.
Regular boiler services with certified professionals ensure they carry out thorough checks on your boiler and any other gas appliances for all tenants and residents safety.
Why should you have an annual boiler service?
Many new home or property owners often ponder how often your new boiler should receive servicing from professional technicians. It is essential to be aware that even though homeowners do not have specific legal requirements the way landlords do, your boiler must be serviced every year. Here are some of the critical reasons to consider:
Safety
The most significant reason for checking and servicing your boiler routinely or at least every year is to ensure complete safety for the occupants of your household.
OFTEC Registered Gas Safe engineers can carry out these checks to confirm your appliance is running efficiently and running safely.
They ensure it isn't struggling with gas or hot water pressure and that you aren't at risk of any harmful gas leaks that could damage the health of family and friends in the house or property.
Identification of potential faults
Annual boiler service allows you to identify any areas of your heating system that may require repairs.
It's most definitely worth it to book your first or next boiler service appointment in summer or at least in much warmer seasons.
Such allows any necessary faults to be repaired before the wintertime or colder months when you are more likely to use it, and this way, there will be much less money to pay and disruption to your property or household.
Efficiency
The boiler service you contact for an appointment will check during inspections that your boiler works efficiently and assess it against the manufacturer's standards.
Your local qualified engineer may write up a report and make all the necessary updates they have checked, ensuring your new boiler runs in a more energy-efficient way before leaving your property.
Doing so also extends your boiler's lifespan, ensuring you experience fewer breaks.
Lower fuel bills
Running an energy-efficient boiler system allows you to use fuel more efficiently and economically.
Annual boiler service and new energy-efficient installations from certified professional installers can result in frequently lower fuel bills.
Manufacturer warranty
The majority of boiler manufacturers need boiler system servicing that help validate the warranty of your boiler.
Your engineer may require access to your boiler's operating manual during their service so that they can perform all necessary tasks down to the exact detail.
You can find these manuals online if you haven't kept your original hard copy.
Landlord responsibilities for gas safety
The Gas Safety Regulations 1998 for the use and installation of boiler systems outline all the Landlord's duties regarding all the gas appliances, flues, chimneys and fittings, like boiler casing, on their property.
If you are a landlord letting or renting out a property with numerous gas appliances, you must be aware of these legal responsibilities:
Gas safety checks:
To ensure that all your tenants are safe in the property they are renting, all flues and gas appliances must undergo annual safety checks by Gas Safe registered engineers.
Once your engineer has safely completed all gas safety checks, you will receive a Gas Safety Certificate (CP12 certificate) or Landlord Gas Safety Record, which entails all the reviews carried out and any necessary details.
You can arrange for these checks to be carried out by engineers at any time after the last inspection, at least 10-12 months.
After your checkup, you'll receive a new deadline date every 12 months afterwards.
Appliances that your tenants purchase on their own are no longer your responsibility.
However, it's still entirely up to you to ensure that any connecting flues are all safe for use unless these flues are connected to your tenants new gas appliances.
Gas Safety Record:
It is essential that, as the Landlord, you must be prepared to provide all your new tenants with the Gas Safety Records and certificates that you will receive after the most recent annual gas safety checks.
By law, with 28 days of the most recent gas safety check, your current tenants require a copy of these records and certificates at the start of their tenancy. If not presented to them in person, you should visibly display the document within the property during rental periods.
You'll need to ensure you keep all copies of the recent gas safety checks until the subsequent two checks have been carried out. Your tenants must be made aware of any faults that need to be fixed or worries made by your engineer, especially any repairs they can expect that you or they will pay for.
Maintenance:
As the Landlord, you must ensure you keep all appliances, chimneys, gas pipework and connected flues in working and safe condition.
By doing so, you can check it against your manufacturer's recommendations and guidelines for all their gas appliances.
Suppose you cannot access any of these maintenance manuals.
In that case, we recommend annual services, or you may want to reach out and contact a Gas Safe registered professional team to get their opinion on how often engineers should service your boiler or gas appliances.
They may also offer a free quote to book an appointment or an emergency visit.
Installation pipework is often an aspect of annual gas safety checks that do not get covered. However, the HSE recommends that you request your Gas Safe registered engineer to include the following in their inspection visit:
A tightness test on your entire gas heating system, especially for installation pipework. You should request a visual examination of your pipework.
There are no exact formal requirements to keep to when it comes to your properties maintenance records. However, your tenants and future property renters should be able to see that you have maintained your pipework, flues and gas appliances.
They must be made aware of any recent repairs or any required repairs.
For central heating services in East London contact our Gas Safe engineers today.