Many people think gas fire servicing is a waste of time and money. “You can see the fire is burning alright. If there was a problem I’d call an engineer.”
We were called out because this particular families fire smelled a bit.
Well, that was the attitude of the Carlisle family we visited recently. As you can see from the image the fireplace opening was completely filled with soot and debris.
With old chimneys, normally built before the 1960s, the flues were built square. Chimney sweeps brushes are round. This leaves lots of room for soot to accumulate in the corners of the chimney. This soot will eventually fall as it did in this chimney filling the space behind the gas fire right up to the gas fire flue.
Add to this the fact that the gas fire was an old one without a modern oxygen depletion sensor, and you can see that this is the exact scenario you need to make carbon monoxide.
These householders had a lucky escape. Had the opening behind the Fire been smaller or if they had delayed a little longer in getting a new fire, someone, if not all in that house could have died.
For goodness sake get your fires serviced. You only need to do it once a year and we’ll even give it a good clean and make it look as good as new for you. Sounds a bit better than this story doesn’t it!