Gas fire

I don't like those flueless fires, maybe its just me but flueless don't seem right, I've never fitted one because i read of a plumber who fitted one went to jail because it killed a child and her dog, he was a proper trained plumber and has to live with that all his life, So I don't touch them, smiley-sad056 nay

Oookkkkk

I'm a bit more clued up now.

Just watched some vids & read a bit

A flue flow test is needed to make sure there is a pull up the chimney & that there is no leakage around fireplace, brickwork, first floor, loft & make sure smoke goes out the top.

Never knew that but I do now. Looks pretty simple & it's probably something I'll be learning on my course come September.

Going to read a bit more

It's quite interesting

Spillage tests, gas rates

Quite good

The fire is sealed with fire resistant tape, that's something I never knew, I though they screwed in!

Looking forward to this course

It's another one of those 'is that really it' moments for me

It's not rocket science.

Cheers Tom

There was a flueless fire at the centre where I did my gas training. The tutors tried their best to make it fail emissions tests by punching holes in the catalytic converter at the top but couldn't do it - the CO was still all converted to safe gasses.

Only ever fitted one and the main issue was to make sure there was enough ventilation into the room.  I think they're safe enough but I'd def want to do an annual FGA test.

With the arrival of double glazing, plastic doors, windows, tight rubber insulation seals  around everything I suppose there is much more attention needed to ventilation than in our day tom.
A smoke match would normally be our only test back then, along with common sense (flue analysers didn't exist in the 60s/70s/80s/90s even). 

I can remember fitting a flue-less wall hung gas heater back in the 70s which I was nervous about. The gas board didn't fit or sell them, but we did in our shop.
As a young 20 year old I mentioned it to the gaffer who said that they were safe and that they had sold/fitted 1,000s.
It was fitted on a wall hung next to the front door and heated the landing area slowly because the main flame was no more than a strong pilot light. I'm pretty it was made by Robinson Willey.


 

A scare TV program about CO2 (back in the 90s?) poisoning seemed to kill the (what back then was a very popular) gas fire almost overnight in British Homes. 


Tappy,


Have I ever told you the story about the works van that poisoned me with CO2 gas? 

It was whilst I was working for a councils DLO.
We acquired an old Bedford van that came from another department (me and this other plumber).

After a week driving round in it I started to feel very rough, headaches, feeling lethargic, dizzy, heavy pressure above both eyes and I noticed that the other guy didn't want to do any work either so I asked him if he felt unwell and he said that he did with the same symptoms as myself.

A little bit of thought and we connected our van to CO2 poisoning.

We took it down to the garage who first welded an on extra bit of exhaust pipe to it and we got the gas-van back!

We battled on a few more days and after carrying a bath upstairs I noticed that the whole bathroom was spinning.

Next day we told the gaffer that we weren't driving it anymore and refused to even drive it down to the garage.

A day later we got the gas-van back once more saying it had been thoroughly tested and that it was fine.

No it wasn't.

I mentioned it to the union guy who said that we needed to prove it was CO2 by having a blood test.

The other guy left and I then got a new partner to work with whom I immediately told about the van poisoning me.

He took it all as a joke laughing and saying "Fumes Fumes"!

So we continued breathing in the CO2 fumes and the new guy said that he felt fine.

By chance I met this other guys wife and I happened to mention about the gas-van and straight away she said "I bet that's why you haven't been feeling well Chris".

The new guy just didn't want to rock the boat I guess.

So next day I'm back at the transport managers office and after a brief argument with him he had another look at the gas-van and said then there's a brand new van coming in the morning and it's yours.

I was so relieved that my daily gassing that I had endured for almost two months had finally come to an end.

We got the new van and all the monoxide symptoms disappeared after a couple of days.

So whilst it's called the silent killer there are plenty of overriding symptoms that tell you that you are being gassed, as long as you know what the symptoms are.


 

I remember my grandmother getting a new gas fire put in by the council (about thirty years ago) to replace the old coal fire and back  boiler she had. The council chaps also put a new flue liner in the chimney. Apparently checked it and left. Next day one of her neighbours called round and had been knocking on the door for a few minutes. Looked through the window and saw my gran collapsed on the floor. Called the police and they broke in and called the ambulance service.

Turns out the flue had pushed a brick out of the chimney on it's way down and this had flattened the liner. Gran was suffering from CO2 poisoning. After a week in the hospital she was released home. Council had put another flue liner in and thoroughly checked the installation before allowing her back. They reckon if the neighbour had called round a few hours later my gran would have been a gonner.