To ensure a long life for your gas boiler and natural gas appliances, it is important to have them serviced regularly. Appliance manufacturers recommend that all appliances should be serviced annually.
An annual boiler safety checks and gas boiler service are carried out by a professional RGI service engineer ensures that your boiler is functioning properly. Regular servicing of your boiler is important as it ensures that the boiler is working to the specifications designed by the boiler manufacturer. This will help prolong the life of the boiler as well as reduce the risk of faults and expensive repairs down the line.
Gas boiler services can only be carried out by an RGI (registered Gas Installer) who represents the RGII (Registered Gas Installers Ireland).
The Service Engineer will complete 19 detailed checks and tests when carrying out a boiler service. All Visual Checks and Tests Applied are in accordance with Irish Standards 813:2002 as laid down by the National Standards Authority of Ireland for Domestic Gas Installations.
Here you will find a complete gas boiler service checklist which outlines everything that you should expect/demand from your gas contractor when they are servicing your gas boiler. Annual Gas Boiler Service Checklist.
Reasons to have your Gas Boiler Serviced Annually
Save money on repairs.
Full-blown boiler problems can often develop from minor faults. An annual service will increase the chance that these are picked up on and fixed before they become a problem, saving you money and future gas boiler repairs.
Reduce your heating costs.
The engineer who undertakes your annual boiler service will make sure that it is running as efficiently as possible. This will go a long way towards making sure that you minimise your heating bills.
Carbon monoxide can kill.
Boilers that aren’t properly installed, maintained or ventilated can produce carbon monoxide. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, drowsiness, nausea, breathlessness and stomach pains. Signs are hard to spot and can be confused with tiredness or a cold. Unfortunately, this silent killer can’t be seen or smelt, so it really is important to make sure your boiler is serviced at least once a year.
If you’re a landlord, it’s the law.
Landlords have a responsibility under Statutory Instrument SI.534 of 2008 Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008 to ensure that the gas installation in the house or apartment shall be maintained in good repair and safe working order. The Technical Guidance Document in relation to this Regulation states that a current Declaration of Conformance certificate for an IS.813 Annex E inspection issued by a Registered Gas Installer for the gas installation in the house or apartment will prove compliance with the regulations.
Home Renovation Incentive Extended to the End of 2016
Home Renovation Incentive
The Home Renovation Incentive scheme, which allows homeowners and landlords a future tax credit for the vat incurred on renovations of their home or rental property at a rate of 13.50% and carried out by tax compliant contractors, has been extended by 1 year to the end of 2016, it has been announced by the department of finance. The qualifying spend must be between €4,405 and €30,000 before Vat and effectively allows the house owner to carry out such repairs net of Vat.
This scheme provides a tax relief by way of an income tax credit on repair, renovation or improvement works on principal private residences or rental property carried out by tax compliant contractors. In addition to providing an income tax relief, the HRI also aims to support tax compliance in the building industry by moving activity out of the shadow economy into the legitimate economy.
What Type of Works Qualify?
Examples of repair, renovation or improvement works that qualify under the Home Renovation Incentive include –
Conversion of a Residential Premises into Multiple Rental Units.
Supply and Fit of Alarm Systems.
Radon Remediation Works.
What Type of Works don’t Qualify?
Carpets, furniture, white goods (such as fridges, dishwashers) and services (such as architect’s fees) with a VAT rate of 23% don’t qualify. Materials a Homeowner or Landlord buys such as paint, tiles and so on, don’t qualify.
What Type of Residential Property Qualifies?
A qualifying residential property is –
A Homeowners main home, which the Homeowner must own and live in.
A second hand home, which the Homeowner has bought and will live in as the Homeowner’s main home after the works have been carried out.
A Landlord’s rental property which must be occupied by a tenant and registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board.
A Landlord’s rental property, which will be occupied by a tenant and registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board within 6 months of the completion of the works.
What Type of Home Doesn’t Qualify?
The following don’t qualify for the HRI –
Holiday homes.
New builds.
A refurbishment or a reconstruction of an uninhabitable house.
Where is the best place to put a carbon monoxide detector?
What is Carbon Monoxide (CO) ?
Carbon Monoxide (also known as CO) is a colourless, odourless poisonous gas and is a common yet preventable cause of death from poisoning worldwide. Approximately half of the deaths from unintentional CO poisoning result from the inhalation of smoke from fires. Other significant causes are vehicle exhausts and deaths in industrial/commercial settings. On average between 1 and 2 people die each year in Ireland from unintentional CO poisoning in the home in incidents related to domestic heating or other fossil fuel installations in the home (i.e. excluding the inhalation of smoke from fires).
The incomplete combustion of organic fossil fuels such as oil, gas or coal is a common environmental source of CO and is responsible for many cases of non-fatal unintentional CO poisoning.
In normal conditions the combustion process (the addition of oxygen) will result in carbon in the fossil fuel, combining with oxygen, in the air, to produce Carbon Dioxide (CO2), the same substance we exhale when we breathe.
However, if there is a lack of air for the combustion process or the heating appliance is faulty, Carbon Monoxide can be produced.
When CO is inhaled into the body it combines with the blood, preventing it from absorbing oxygen. If a person is exposed to CO over a period, it can cause illness and even death.
Where should I place carbon monoxide detectors in my home ?
Since we are most vulnerable to the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning while we sleep, it is important to place alarms near your family’s bedrooms. If you only have one CO alarm, place it as close to everyone’s sleeping area as possible.
Ideally, you should have carbon monoxide detectors placed throughout your home, as you do smoke alarms. You should place a CO detector in each major area of your home: in the kitchen, in your living/dining room, in your bedrooms, and the office. If you have children or elderly family members living with you, provide extra protection near their rooms. If you live in a multi-story home, be sure to place at least one carbon monoxide detector on each level.
If you have a gas clothes dryer, put an alarm in the laundry room. Place one in the garage, if you park your cars there. Wherever you have a solid fuel-fired appliance – anything that could produce carbon monoxide – you should also have a CO alarm.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Causes of CO Poisoning
You can be in danger of Carbon Monoxide poisoning at home if dangerous amounts of Carbon Monoxide accumulate in the home. This can happen as a result of any or a combination of the following:
Faulty or damaged heating appliances.
Heating appliance not maintained or serviced.
Rooms not properly ventilated.
Blocked chimneys or flues.
Indoor use of a barbecue grill or outdoor heater.
Poor installation of heating appliances.
Improper operation of heating appliances.
Property alterations or home improvements, which reduce ventilation.
Running engines such as vehicles or lawnmowers in garages.
Using cooking appliances for heating purposes.
Symptoms of CO Poisoning
Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning can be similar to those caused by other illnesses such as a cold or flu. They include
Unexplained headaches, chest pains or muscular weakness.
Sickness, diarrhoea or stomach pains.
Sudden dizziness when standing up.
General lethargy.
What to Do?
If anyone in your house has any of the symptoms outlined above, they should get fresh air immediately, then go to your doctor and ask him/her to check for Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
Stop using the appliance immediately and do not use it again until it has been checked by a registered gas installer.
The amount of CO which the blood absorbs depends chiefly on two things: how much CO is in the air and the time of the exposure. Adverse effects of CO on humans are reduced by periods of breathing fresh air. The degree of recovery depends on the number and length of those periods. The general state of health and degree of physical activity of a person exposed to CO are other factors involved in the effects of Carbon Monoxide on the body.
Prevention is always better than cure: by having your gas boiler and gas appliances correctly installed in good ventilated areas, properly repaired and getting a gas boiler service annually by Registered Gas Installers (RGI) the risks of being exposed to CO poisoning are reduced.
How Does a Combi Boiler Work?
Combi Boiler / Combination Boiler
A combi boiler or ( combination boiler ) is an ingenious space-saving idea and an increasingly popular choice in homes. Combi boilers now account for well over half of all the new domestic boilers installed every year.
A combi boiler is both a high-efficiency water heater and a central heating boiler, combined within one compact unit. Therefore, no separate hot water cylinder is required, offering space saving within the property.
Combination boilers are capable of providing instant hot water and heating while saving space within a home.
The conventional arrangement in Ireland is to have a normal boiler which heats the radiators via a sealed water circuit. By “sealed” it is meant that the water is contained within the system, going around in a loop between the radiators and the boiler.
To heat the “domestic hot water” (i.e. the water that comes out of the hot taps) the storage cylinder in the hot press has a coil in it through which the “radiator water” flows.
The disadvantage of this arrangement is that if the cylinder does not have hot water in it you have to wait some time for the coil to heat it up.
A ‘combi’ boiler is a boiler which combines both a conventional boiler for radiators and an independent water heater, together in the one unit. This dispenses with the hot water cylinder in the hot press. But better still, it means that hot water is always available instantly and for as long as you need it.
Control valves inside combi boilers operate in different directions, either letting the water flow through the central heating system or diverting it to a hot water tap, as required, but never both at the same time.
Important Factors Affecting Operation of a Combi Boiler
Combi boilers require sufficient mains water pressure in order to deliver a good water flow rate; low mains water pressure means hot water will merely trickle. If your mains water pressure is low or you have more than one bathroom, a conventional system boiler might be a better option for you.
It is also important to ensure that the heat output of the boiler is correct for your needs. Combi boilers have two heat outputs: one for Domestic Hot Water and the other for Central Heating. More effort and hence more heat is required to produce hot water than to heat a home through the radiators, so it is usually the hot water output that determines your choice of combi boiler.
Benefits
Provides limitless hot water on demand.
Can be an economical option, as combi boilers only heat the water you use.
A great space-saving solution with no need for a separate cold water tank or hot water cylinder.
Installation may be quicker as there are fewer parts in a combi central heating system.
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