Gordon The Gasman's Services

Landlord Safety Checks/Records

As a Landlord letting residential property, you have a legal duty to ensure it’s safe for your tenants. This means you are required by law to get a Gas Safe registered engineer, as I am, to do an annual gas safety check on all gas appliances – and it’s the results of these checks that are recorded in your Landlord Gas Safety Record, (LSR).

You’ll receive a copy, and you’ll need to provide a record of this check to your tenants, (I will normally do this on your behalf). In addition to this, if the tenants’ leave the property, the Landlord must ensure the property’s gas appliance and fittings are safe before re-letting. This is important, as tenants may have damaged or removed gas appliance’s, and left un-capped, open-ended gas pipes. I have actually witnessed this myself. Before the property is re-let, the Landlord must provide new tenants with a current gas safety record.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding LSR’s, please contact me for free advice.

UPDATE:- AS OF 1st OCTOBER 2022, Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarms are mandatory in rooms with any fixed-combustion appliance’s, (excluding gas cookers); in privately rented homes and Social Housing. CO alarms are also mandatory when any fixed combustion appliance is installed or replaced, excluding gas cookers, in ALL homes. CO alarms should comply with BS EN 50291. There are other requirement’s which I can advise, on request.

Gas Combi Repairs and Service

From the earlier Worcester Heatslave’s and Vaillant Sine 18 models of combination boilers, of the late 1970s, the idea of one gas appliance delivering constant hot water, together with the ability to provide heating for radiators, has come a long way.

Combination boilers or Combi’s as they are commonly known, are now commonplace in domestic property’s. They provide a neat and compact solution to new build and existing property requirements alike. Modern design, high efficiency condensing boilers are sedbuk A-rated, achieving this partly by extracting the latent heat from the burnt gas’s products of combustion, with a high-efficiency heat exchanger and modulating air/gas ratio combustion process. This results in the water vapour in the products of combustion reaching “dew point”, forming condensate, which is safely drained away; hence the term condensing boiler. Checking the CO/CO2 ratio and the individual CO and CO2 content of the appliance’s flue products, together with the gas rate, is necessary. The competent use of a flue gas analyser is vital.

I attend Manufacturer’s training courses on servicing and repair of condensing combi, system and heating boilers, and so can provide a reliable servicing and repair service for you.

Heating controls repair and installation

Heating controls are necessary for controlling heating room temperature over certain times, in your property, and sometimes larger areas of your property separately, known as heating “zones”.

From the earlier basic heating time switch and single room thermostat, through the introduction of thermostatic radiator valves (allowing the temperature of individual rooms or areas of the property to be separately controlled), modern systems utilize wireless time/temperature controls within the property.

Underfloor heating is becoming more common, replacing radiators with underfloor plastic pipes, being fed from a central manifold, using individual control/balancing valves within itself. Each valve is electrically operated and controlled by each zone time/temperature control separately.

I am familiar with all of the above, and I am qualified to work on all the electrical equipment within the heating system.

Boiler Repairs and Service

There are still many older, reliable and safely operating heating boilers throughout the community, which must be regularly serviced, maintained, and repaired to keep them working safely. Particularly open flued boilers, for example, the Ideal Mexico CF80, or Baxi Bermuda 401 back boiler unit/Fire. This is because, apart from lint building upon their air filters, the flue can become blocked, resulting in products of combustion (fumes) entering the room.

Routine servicing would include cleaning the appliance in general, particularly the lint arrestors, heat exchanger, burners, and injectors. Checking the gas rate, operation of the flue, and ventilation provision is vital. The ventilation requirement for open flued appliance’s rated over 7kW net input is maximum net-input in kW -7 x5 = cms.squared of free area ventilation direct to the outside air.

Checking the operation of the Flame Failure Device (FFD), thermostat(s), ignition components, etc. helps to ensure the appliance is properly maintained. Installing Carbon Monoxide alarms is recommended by Gas Safe register for all gas appliances; and in my opinion, particularly important where open flued models are installed.

Gas appliance Repairs and Service

Gas fire’s (of which there are many types), fridge’s, water heaters (single and multi-point), warm air heaters (ducted and otherwise), are only some of the gas appliance’s in daily use.

They continue to provide a solution to our domestic requirements for heating, refrigeration, and hot water. These appliances also needs to be regularly serviced and maintained, in order to continue to operate safely.

Please call me regarding these appliance’s also, I have extensive experience in their servicing and repair.

Gas hob and cooker installation

The controllability of heat from the hotplate burners on a gas cooker or hob is virtually instant and precise. Being much cheaper to purchase than most electrical induction cooking hob’s, the gas alternative’s are very affordable and function well.

It is worthwhile investing in a more expensive gas cooker, as they can still last for 10 years or more, compared to cheaper models. Forward planning is vital when refurbishing kitchen’s in respect of the installation of gas cooking appliances. I can offer free advice on this if required.