I have a old gas boiler under my sink in the kitchen. Next to the boiler is a little patch thing which says if dark colour its bad ie. it detects carbon monoxide. The sticker is a red colour with faint patches of white, I believe white was the original safe colour. I have had an engineer checking it once a year but never seen proof he is corgi registered and not had copies of safety certificate (didnt realise till I read here I should have one). I suspect it may be some guy employed by landlord and he just passes it regardless so want a independent check, if I have this check done and he finds a fault and more serious he finds a safety hazard can I claim the cost of this check back of my landlord? Also what is the best way to go about all this? thanks.

My sister works for a major gas company so I expect I can at least get it checked for a cheap cost luckily.

Sounds dodgy - I believe Corgi registered engineers are supposed to a leave a copy with the householder. Could your landlord of just got in some mate to do the check?

If you are worried go to the housing standards dept at the council - they are usually part of Environmetnal Health

To start with I'd contact the LL (if by phone, with a follow-up letter or email to start generating a paper trail), stating that the monoxide sensor has changed colour and requesting an inspection by a CORGI registered engineer on those grounds (quoting the chapter and verse which says you're entitled to said certificate). If that isn't forthcoming, or if the engineer refuses to hand over a certificate at the end of his visit, then's the time to get the council involved.

My patch was that colour out of the package. It goes black when exposed to CO. If you want to make sure go and look at a new one in your local hardware store.

The rest sounds a bit dodgy though. Its a legal req to have it checked and certfied every year and you should be getting a copy of this.

Be careful about the certificate & CORGI, I've got a dodgy gas safety certificate here which a Corgi registered company issued to the LA managing my property, they sent a copy to me becuase when I moved in there was no cert.

Problem is noone ever came and inspected it, I have CCTV fitted inside my house I rent becuase I dont know who still has keys so I dont want unwanted visitors, and to date no inspection has been carried out yet I have an undated Gas Safety Cert for the property I rent.

I've reported this to Corgi and they replied with a letter which I got today saying they can only investigate work thats been carried out. As the work hasnt been carried out they cant investigate! So any CORGI gas inspector can issue a cert and not face any penalties!

They advised I contact local Trading Standards Office! What a waste of space CORGI is.

If there is any doubt get a proper carbon monoxide alarm! A boiler can still develope a fault even if it is properly maintained and checked.

http://www.carbonmonoxidekills.com/

Cheers,

Tim.

Write to Health and Safety Executive ,who licence Corgi, and ask them for their comments on the above. Website is hse.gov.uk

Those detectors are crap and go funny with age / humidity / temperature anyway. Get a proper detector as above they are cheap enough...

If you suspect a gas leak ring the gas board and they'll come out and do a test. They will disconnect your gas if there is a problem with it though - and the landlord needs to solve the problem.
0800 111 999

If you've got a dodgy boiler you need to get it sorted ASAP. Carbon monoxide - It can kill. It's silent and invisble.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/co.htm

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-4048.cfm
I'm sure shelter can tell you how to get it sorted.