Gas Safety Week ran from 14 to 20 September this year, coordinated by Gas Safe Register under the banner 'Take No Chances'. Its central message matters well beyond the campaign week itself: every boiler installation should have carbon monoxide detection, because carbon monoxide has no smell, no taste and no colour — the alarm is often the only warning you get. The timing matters more than the campaign week suggests. Most Derby homes are about to fire their boiler up properly for the first time since spring, and that first proper burn of the season is exactly when a poorly maintained appliance is most likely to show a problem.
Why 'it worked fine last winter' isn't good enough
A boiler and flue that sat largely idle through a warm summer can develop faults that don't show up until they're under real load again — a bird's nest or debris partially blocking a flue outlet, a seal that's dried out, a pilot assembly that's collected dust. None of these announce themselves. They just quietly reduce how safely the appliance burns gas, and carbon monoxide is the product of gas that isn't burning cleanly. The alarm is not a nice-to-have alongside a working boiler. It's the only thing standing between a developing fault and a genuine emergency.
The ten-minute check every Derby home should do now
Gas Safe Register's own guidance boils down to a handful of checks anyone can do without tools:
- Press the test button on every CO alarm in the property — not just the one nearest the boiler
- Check the manufacture date on the back of the alarm; most have a 5–10 year working life and need replacing, not just a battery change, once expired
- Look at the boiler flame through the viewing window if it has one — it should burn blue, not yellow or orange
- Check the flue terminal outside isn't blocked by leaves, debris or a bird's nest, common after a summer of little use
- Confirm your boiler has had an annual Gas Safe service within the last 12 months — if not, book one before you rely on it daily
The symptoms that mean stop, don't troubleshoot
Soot or staining around the boiler casing, a lazy yellow flame instead of a crisp blue one, condensation appearing suddenly on windows near the appliance, or anyone in the household getting headaches, nausea or drowsiness that ease when they leave the house — these are not DIY troubleshooting situations. If your CO alarm sounds, leave the property immediately, get everyone into fresh air, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Only go back in once they've confirmed it's safe.
"Gas Safety Week is one week a year. Carbon monoxide risk isn't seasonal to a campaign — it's highest exactly now, as boilers that have sat idle all summer start working hard again for the first time."
When it's a Cor call
If your annual service is overdue, if you've spotted any of the warning signs above, or if you simply don't know when your CO alarms were last replaced, that's a straightforward booking, not an emergency — call us and we'll get a Gas Safe engineer out at a time that suits you. If the alarm is actively sounding, that's a leave-the-property-and-call-999-if-needed situation first, and a call to us once you're safely outside and the gas emergency service has made the property safe.
Book your Gas Safe service before the winter rush
Cor's Gas Safe engineers cover Derby and Derbyshire, with annual services and CO alarm checks available now, ahead of the coldest months.
Published by Kirk Group Editorial
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