Landlord Gas Safety Certificates in Barnstaple

The inspection takes in every fixed gas appliance and the gas installation that goes with it.

Boiler: A full operational check — ignition sequence, combustion analysis, heat exchanger condition, flue gas spillage test and the safety devices. I check the flue terminal outside too where I can get to it.

Gas hob or cooker: Every burner tested for safe ignition and operation. The flame failure devices, which are the safety valves that cut the gas if a flame goes out, get tested on each ring individually.

Gas fires and back boilers: Tested for safe operation, adequate ventilation and flue integrity. Gas fires in the older Barnstaple terraces need proper attention, especially where chimneys are shared. A chimney that's been altered or partly blocked is a genuine worry.

Gas pipework and meter: All accessible pipework checked over, and the whole installation tested for gas tightness. If I suspect a leak, it gets dealt with there and then.

Ventilation: Gas appliances need air. I check that ventilation openings haven't been blocked or sealed up, which happens more often than you'd think when a tenant redecorates or fits draught excluders.

Safety devices: Overheat thermostats, flame failure devices and pressure relief valves all get tested.

Each appliance ends up in one of three categories: safe to use, At Risk (AR), which means it needs attention but isn't immediately dangerous, or Immediately Dangerous (ID), which means it has to come out of use until it's put right. I'll explain every finding in plain terms before I go.

Barnstaple's rental stock covers a lot of ground, and the gas installations vary just as much.

Town centre and Victorian terraces: Newport Road, Boutport Street, North Walk and the Rock Park area are mostly late Victorian and Edwardian. Plenty still have their original chimney stacks, adapted for gas fires somewhere along the way. Old back boilers still lurk behind gas fires in some of these, and they want careful inspection given their age and the awkward question of parts if something's wrong.

Pilton and Sticklepath: A real mix of property ages. Older conventional boiler and cylinder systems, put in before condensing boilers became compulsory in 2005, are more common here than on the newer estates.

Roundswell and Whiddon Valley: The big modern estates on the western edge of town are almost all modern combis. Gas safety checks here are usually simple enough: one appliance, one flue check, a tightness test.

HMOs near the town centre: In a house in multiple occupation, every communal gas appliance has to go on the CP12. I know the HMO requirements well, so ask me if you're unsure what needs including.

EX31 covers central Barnstaple, Newport, Pilton and Sticklepath. EX32 takes in Bishops Tawton, Swimbridge and Landkey to the south and east. I cover both.

Carbon monoxide is what you get whenever a gas appliance burns incompletely. It's colourless, it's odourless, it works fast, and without a working alarm nobody in the house will know it's there. It kills and injures people in the UK every year, and rental properties show up in those figures more than they should.

Under the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022, landlords in England have to fit a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a fixed combustion appliance in it — which includes the boiler. It has to be working at the start of every new tenancy.

During the inspection I use a CO analyser to check levels around each appliance. If I pick anything up, you'll hear about it straight away and we'll sort it before I leave. But a reading on one afternoon isn't the same as monitoring all year. A working alarm near the boiler protects your tenants every day, not just the day I'm standing there.

If there's no alarm, or the one that's there has reached the end of its life, I can supply and fit one while I'm in the property.

A CP12 for one appliance is £85 including VAT. Each additional appliance is £30, except gas fires, which are £80 each. Travel within 25 miles of South Molton is included; beyond that radius, a £30 including-VAT travel charge applies and is disclosed before booking.

I can line up several inspections on the same day where it works out. The standard published price applies to each property and its appliances.

You get the certificate the same day, and I can email it to you, your tenant and your managing agent in one go. Just give me the addresses when you book.

You'll get an answer. Ring or message during the working day and you'll hear back the same day; evenings and weekends, it'll be the next working day. And if it isn't a job for me, I'll tell you that and point you at someone who can help, rather than going quiet on you.

When you book, I'll confirm it and give you a two-hour window rather than a whole day sat at home waiting. On the morning you get a text with a tracking link, so you can see where I've got to instead of wondering. Traffic and the job before yours are real, so it's a window rather than a promise to the minute, but if it slips you'll hear it from me first.

Call 01271 444410 or email info@tarkaboilersbarnstaple.co.uk.

I can line up several inspections on the same day where it works out. The standard published price applies to each property and its appliances.