Summer holidays, caravans, motor homes and gas safety

We are all looking forward to our summer holidays but if you are planning on staying in a leisure home or vehicle, it’s vital you stay gas safe.

Not all of us automatically stay in hotels when we go on holiday. Many people prefer to enjoy a week or two in a touring caravan, motor home, park home, river or canal boat. These sort of holidays tend to be all about getting back to nature; enjoying the great outdoors and relaxing in the countryside.

Modern leisure homes and vehicles are built to the very highest standards with all mod-cons you’d expect from your home. Washing machines, dishwashers, domestic gas appliances – you’ll almost certainly find them in your caravan, boat or motor home. And just like your home, these gas appliances must be installed in accordance with the latest gas safety requirements and regularly serviced by a fully qualified Gas Safe engineer to comply with the law and minimise any risk.

So the question must be asked: when did you last organise a gas safety check to be carried out on your leisure home or vehicle?

Does your caravan, boat, lodge or motor home tend to sit dormant during the winter months? Are you 100% confident that all the gas appliances and equipment remains safe to use after all that time?

Don’t take unnecessary risks – it could quite literally cost you your life. Before you go on your family holiday, please make sure that you get your gas appliances thoroughly checked and serviced.

Leisure homes and vehicles that tend to have natural gas or Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) appliances or equipment include:

• Static caravans
• Park homes
• Holiday lodges
• Motor homes
• Narrow boats
• Canal cruisers
  

The harsh truth is that if gas appliances are not properly installed and serviced, you are at risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. However, no matter how diligent you are in getting your gas appliances, flues and equipment checked, the only way to ensure that you and your family remain safe is to invest in a carbon monoxide detector.

Carbon monoxide is called ‘the silent killer’. This is because you can’t see, taste or smell it but once exposed to CO, it can poison or asphyxiate you quickly and without warning. Dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can leak from poorly installed, maintained or ventilated gas appliances and flues, which can lead to paralysis, brain damage and in the most severe cases, death.

A carbon monoxide detector only costs pounds but can quite simply save your life. If you don’t have one, buy one immediately . If you have a CO detector, check the batteries to make sure it’s still working.

If you hire out your leisure home or vehicle, you need to be aware that you are legally required to have an up-to-date gas safety certificate. In order to do this, a Gas Safe registered engineer must carry out checks on all gas appliances and gas pipe work. Once they are satisfied that they are in safe working order, you will be issued with a gas safety certificate that is valid for a full year.

If you are thinking of working with gas within the leisure industry, Gas Training & Assessment can help you reach your goals.

Our CCLPI (RPH, LAV, B) course covers all competencies needed to work safely and legally with LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas). Completing this course will enable you to install and maintain leisure accommodation vehicles (LAV), including residential park homes (RPH), caravans and boats (B).

Gas Training & Assessment’s class sizes are guaranteed to be small and as such, our pass rates are exemplary. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.