Category: Advice

Below you will find some simple steps for staying safe in your home. Celteco are always available to offer professional advice and to recommend solutions to help you stay safe. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Carbon Monoxide Alarm

Fitting a carbon monoxide alarm in your home can be a very cheap way of putting your mind at rest. For yours and your family’s safety, it is advisable to fit a carbon monoxide alarm in your home if there are any gas appliances. Just like a smoke alarm which alerts you to the presence of smoke, a carbon monoxide detector will alert you to the presence of carbon monoxide.

The danger with carbon monoxide is that it is invisible and has no smell or taste, so you might not realise it is present. Smoke alarms do not ordinarily detect carbon monoxide. We can supply and fit carbon monoxide alarms as complementary when doing a service for a small additional charge. Please ask one of our friendly engineers and they’d be pleased to help.

Safety Checks

Though not a legal requirement, an annual gas safety check is highly recommended to ensure your gas appliances are burning safely and efficiently. You may need to have a gas safety certificate for your property if you are selling your home.

It is a legal requirement for landlords to have gas safety checks carried out in their properties where there are gas appliances. More information on this can be found in our services.

Unvented cylinder (Pressurised Cylinder)

In simple terms, this is a system of pipe work and components operating above atmospheric pressure, normally fed from the mains and sealed to the atmosphere. As with Gas Safe® for gas, a G3 certification is required to work on these systems.

If installed incorrectly or neglected these systems can be very dangerous. It is recommended that an unvented system is serviced every year along with the boiler. Celteco engineers are fully qualified and trained to work on unvented systems.

Please contact us if you’d like more information.

Search Your Area

According to the Gas Safe® website, one in five homes in Wales have unsafe gas appliances. You can search your post code on the Gas Safe® website.

Having an energy efficient boiler and insulating your pipes can help reduce the cost of your heating bills.

Energy Efficient Boiler

According to the Energy Saving Trust, boilers account for around 55% of what an average household spends in a year on energy bills, so having an efficient boiler can have a big difference on the amount you spend. Having an A-rated high-efficiency condensing boiler could save you as much as £310 a year.

Condensing boilers are more efficient than old boilers because they burn their fuel very efficiently when they are looked after. They have a bigger heat exchanger, which allows them to retain more heat. A condensing boiler will still lose some heat in the gases that are released through the flue and sometimes the flue gases get so cool that the water vapour in the gas condenses out, which is where condensing boilers get their name from. When this happens, even more energy is recovered from the condensing vapour, which means even better efficiency.

More information about the benefits of an energy efficient boiler can be found on the Energy Saving Trust website.

Pipe Insulation

Pipe insulation is a vital product that helps prevent frozen and burst pipes on the outside of the home or unheated spaces such as an attic. It also helps prevent heat loss into attic and wall cavity spaces where heat is not required.

Servicing your gas appliances annually will ensure they are working as efficiently as possible, and most importantly, that they are safe. Remember, most manufacturer warranties require the appliance to be serviced in order for the warranty to be valid so be sure to keep on top of your services. Regular check-ups also prevent easily fixable problems turning into costly repairs.

Central Heating Filter

Many central heating systems suffer from black iron oxide contamination, which creates thick sludge deposits that are the result of corrosion taking place within radiators. The oxide particles can range from very large to sub-micron, with the latter leaching into the system water continuously during use.

These particles bond to all components, often causing failure of parts such as the heat exchanger and can drastically reduce efficiency.

Inhibitor

An inhibitor is a liquid added to the central heating system to prevent corrosion and rust from building up in radiators, pipe work, and the heat exchanger in the boiler. This is often a requirement of a manufacturer’s guarantee on a new boiler.

The use of a central heating inhibitor is a cheap way to add years onto the life of your system and reduce the risk of costly repairs.

Automatic Bypass Valves

Automatic bypass valves allow central heating water to pass through when all TRVs are closed.

These valves open a shortcut to stop the pump forcing the water through a pipe where there is nowhere for the water to go due to a valve closing. This can result in a shorter life for your central heating pump. Many new combination boilers have these integral to the boiler.

Contact us today if you’d like further advice on adding any of these to your system.