Gas Appliance Safety – Dave's Plumbing and Gasfitting

My local girl guides, like many hard working community groups have a constant struggle fund raising for the bare necessities. Which made me think that they probably hadn’t had those old potentially dangerous heaters service in a very long time.

So I decided to donate my time and service both of those heaters for free. Carbon Monoxide is very dangerous! It has no smell, no taste and you cannot see it, your red blood cells absorb it faster than oxygen.

Energy Safe Victoria highly recommend servicing your heater every two years by a qualified gas plumber who is licensed for gas servicing.

Even a new heater in a new home can emit Carbon Monoxide. An exhaust fan without enough room ventilation can draw dangerous flue products back into the room. A bird nesting in your flue can cause fumes not to draw away from the appliance.

No heater new or old should be left untested for more than 2 years. Luckily for these girl guides, these heaters had seen very little use and were in great shape for their age. After a good clean and service they passed the Carbon Monoxide test.

I recently attended a call for a leaking hot water cylinder in Croydon. Its very normal for gas heaters and hotwater units be hidden up the sideway of the home. Out of sight out of mind. Fair enough too! However it is important to keep trees and grass away from them. When Summer time heat dries out the grass and leaves they become a big fire danger, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had too pull burnt grass out of the bottom of an appliance. Another issue is the more plant life there is around a gas apliance, the larger the spider and insect population is. Spiders and small insects love to clime into gas injectors and other import parts wich can causes the apliance to run poorly, and then stop working. So this Spring when your cleaning up your yard, don’t forget to give the area around your ducted heater and gas hotwater service a tidy up.