Keeping your home safe can be challenging at the best of times. But if you are keen to make sure you are doing this right, there are a few things that you will need to keep on top of as an essential.
One of them is the gas in your home. If you have gas in your home for heating or cooking, then you need to make sure that you are keeping gas safe at all times.
In this post, we are going to look at some of the major ways to make sure you are doing this in your own home.
Locate Your Emergency Control Valve
As soon as possible, you should find out where the emergency control valve is located in your home.
This is an essential part of gas safety, because it is how you can turn your gas off whenever you find that there is something wrong with it, such as a leak, or you are just unsure and want to be doubly safe.
So knowing where that is will help you to keep your home a lot safer with gas in general, and you should absolutely make sure to find this out as soon as possible.
Don’t Repair Or Install Yourself
If you need any work done with any gas appliances, including boilers and anything that uses gas, or any of the gas pipework, then you should not do any of it yourself.
Not only is it illegal to do so unless you are fully certified, it is very dangerous. You could cause yourself and those around you a lot of damage because you don’t know what you are doing.
For any work of this kind, it is always best to call in a professional gas plumber to do it for you.
Know The Danger Signs
There are various signs that you should look out for which may indicate a problem with your gas safety, piping or appliances in the home.
For instance, a gas-supplied hob which is throwing out a yellow flame rather than a crisp blue one, or any soot stains around such an appliance.
If you are aware of any of these signs, or you are generally worried about an appliance, then do not use it and make sure that you are getting it fixed before you do. Otherwise you could cause a considerable accident in your home.
Understand About Carbon Monoxide
One of the main threats from gas in the home is carbon monoxide, which can be produced by many gas appliances. Carbon monoxide is odorless, invisible and can cause severe health problems, including death, so you need to avoid it.
The best way is to follow good gas safety in general, install a carbon monoxide alarm and test it weekly, and make sure that you know the signs of poisoning – a headache and confusion are often the early signs that you should look out for.
That way you can hopefully avoid any CO problems in your home.