FAMILY ALMOST KILLED BY THEIR DEFECTIVE BOILER URGE OTHER HOMEOWNERS TO GET THEIR BOILER CHECKED
A Sevenoaks family almost killed by carbon monoxide poisoning is urging all homeowners to get their boilers checked for defects.
18 March 2014 – A Sevenoaks woman almost killed by carbon monoxide poisoning is urging all homeowners to get their boilers checked for defects. Polly Furse, 47, was at home with her newborn daughter Lucy when they were poisoned by the gas over a two week period.
Mrs Furse said, “I was feeling very tired, but I put it down to having just had a baby. It was over the second week of feeling funny that I started saying to my husband that I didn’t feel at all well and that every time I went to sleep I felt like I might never wake up again.
“I started opening the window because I was waking up in the night and gasping for air.
“It was then that we started to put the puzzle together and my husband looked at the boiler and said there were flames coming out.”
But it was only when a heating engineer arrived to assess the situation that the family realised just how serious the problem was; shocked by the condition of the boiler Mrs Furse said that the engineer couldn’t believe that the boiler hadn’t blown up already and that he was surprised they hadn’t been killed by carbon monoxide poisoning with the level that was being emitted.
Mrs Furse added: “We just didn’t think that the check was something that was urgent, it seemed a bit of an unnecessary cost and there are always more pressing things to spend money on. We always thought, “we’ll do it next year”. I think the only saving grace was that I started opening the window or I really don’t think I would be here today. Needless to say we intend to get our boiler checked regularly now.”
Commenting on this near tragedy, Roderick Pettigrew, Chief Executive of B&ES (the Building & Engineering Services Association) who operates the free Carbon Monoxide Helpline, said, “The Furse family have clearly had a very lucky escape and as Mrs Furse remarked it is easy to keep putting off getting the boiler checked. Many homeowners go years without getting it serviced and safety checked and thousands of old boilers have never had a service since they were first installed. The risk is simply too great: around 40 people in the UK still needlessly die every year from preventable carbon monoxide poisoning caused by defective domestic gas appliances and poorly ventilated systems. And an estimated 4000 people are admitted to NHS A&E every year suffering from the effects of CO poisoning.
“Those at particular risk are:
- Babies and young children
- Pregnant women
- People with heart or breathing problems
“It’s not just lives at stake; it’s worth bearing in mind that a regularly serviced boiler is not only far less prone to breakdown but it will also be much more efficient and with no sign that our record high energy prices will come down in the short term it means a well maintained boiler can deliver important energy savings.”
For more advice call the Carbon Monoxide Helpline on 0800 810 8464 or visit their website at: http://www.cohelpline.org. The website includes an easy to use search facility to find reputable, registered heating engineers in your area.
Ends
Issued on behalf of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) by Next Step Marketing Ltd
Media enquiries to: Heather Lambert. Tel: 44(0)1256 472020;
Fax: 44(0)1256 471010; E-mail: heather@nextstepmarketing.co.uk
Notes to editors
Since its formation in 1904, B&ES, the Building & Engineering Services Association (formerly the HVCA) has represented the interests of companies engaged in a wide range of building and engineering services including domestic heating and renewable technologies.
B&ES members are subject to regular, third-party inspection and assessment of their technical competence and commercial capability, carried out by an independent certification body at least every three years.
B&ES members who undertake gas installations are registered with Gas Safe – the gas safety watchdog body – and are also members of TrustMark, the Government-endorsed scheme designed to direct customers towards reliable tradespeople.
B&ES operates the Carbon Monoxide Helpline (http://www.cohelpline.org) to provide consumers with advice about the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and how to keep out of harm’s way from this “silent killer”.
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