Information

A cautionary tale about gas appliances, carbon monoxide, and draughts...

PLEASE READ!!!

Recently, when a routine house inspection by the real estate agent was scheduled, I decided that the gas appliances in the house I've been renting for 12 years should be checked for safety. There's a gas space heater in the lounge, and an instantaneous gas hot water service in the kitchen. (I'd only had one previous check and that was just for the gas heater some years ago. I'd initiated and paid for that check, and I don't think there was any proper test done for carbon monoxide.)

No action from the agent for a month or so, and because of pressing family matters, I didn't pursue it immediately. I decided to get onto it a few weeks ago, because I'd been feeling particularly tired and getting headaches. So after some persistence on my part, the real estate agent arranged a plumber to come around. What surprised and shocked me was the fact that there were high levels of carbon monoxide throughout the house. The source was eventually traced to the gas hot water service (not the space heater as I might have thought). It seemed that the hot water service was faulty, and producing alarmingly high levels of CO in its immediate vicinity.

Another factor that made matters worse: When the plumber returned to remove the old HWS and replace it with a new one, he found that the flue was effectively blocked by at least 7 bird nests that had either been built in the flue or had fallen down from the top. And this despite the top of the flue having wire netting covering the outlets at the top (obviously the holes in the netting weren't small enough to prevent small birds getting through, or more disturbing, that the bird nests had been there for many years and prior to the netting being placed over the outlets...)

Furthermore, some years ago, in attempting to improve the energy efficiency of the house, I'd closed up many of the high wall vents. In this, I was following advice from Council and other agencies which recommended sealing up vents, so long as there were no un-flued gas appliances. Both the gas space heater and the hot water service were flued, so I assumed (naively) that it would be safe to do so, and help in conserving energy.

The moral to this tale is:

• get your gas appliances checked regularly (Energy Safe Victoria recommends every 2 years at least)  http://www.esv.vic.gov.au/About-ESV/Campaigns/Beware-carbon-monoxide  http://www.healthtranslations.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Gas_heating_health_and_safety_issues. And make sure that the plumber/gas fitter who comes has a carbon monoxide detector.
• get your flues/chimneys checked to ensure that there are no unwelcome bird nests etc inside, and ensure that the outlets at the top are adequately covered with mesh to prevent birds and other critters from entering
• beware of sealing up all the vents if you have internal gas appliances (even if they are flued) lest you unwittingly turn your house into a gas chamber.