All too often in holiday lets and pubs etc, where there is huge duty of care to the public, we are seeing some terrible, dangerous installations of stoves, un swept chimneys and stoves that look as though they have not been serviced in years. It could be something as simple as the hearth beneath the stove not being big enough a good few inches shy of what building regs asks for which endangers the carpet / oak boards in front (ultimately the property) The most common is flammable objects or surfaces being far too close.
You have to remember you have people using the stove in your property that has no prior knowledge of it. They are generally in holiday mode so a little over eager with it shall we say left to their own devises in your property.
We are also seeing a lot of lets, holiday lets, pubs and hotels with fires and no means of carbon monoxide detection. We hear all the time, ' we have one by the boiler' or 'we've got one at the top of the stairs'
There are many reasons why a fire or stove needs to be checked at least once a year. You should have a dated certificate to validate any work that has been done but it seems the places that really do need to be belt and braces safer are not being looked after. This coupled with the majority of holiday let customers coming out of cities with not a lot of knowledge about fires, in holiday / party mode can be catastrophic.
We can carry out anything from surveying your properties and issuing reports to owners to carrying out full new installations and repairs. One issue we see a lot is bad fuel. Your customer rents a cottage with a wood burner, there’s no logs in the house, they buy a net from a local garage forecourt with no control of the quality. The logs have a high moisture content, A) they won’t burn very well logs are logs to your customer, they will blame the stove and maybe dissatisfied with their stay and B) the moisture content will be messing up the chimney as it condenses, it will gather flammable particulates and one day will be the cause of a chimney fire. Unseasoned wood is the biggest cause of chimney fires, again I refer you to our website for full information.
We advise that a chimney used by many people who are not necessarily responsible for it should be swept more regularly than normal as no one can control what is going up it.
We also offer a service where by we can top up wood piles with guaranteed good dry hardwood logs. Your customers can curl up in front of a roaring safe fire or stove.
We also offer a service where we will put a little pamphlet together to go in your welcome pack on safe usage and any idiosyncrasies related to the stove so as the guest gets the most from it and leaves you a great review.
Agas and boilers also have flues that need to swept and maintained. We can cover this also.
A lot of holiday lets are sold on their fireplaces. People love them. They have to be safe and usable.
Please call us to discuss how we can help you to keep your customers and properties safe…