ADEY Professional Heating Solutions has pledged its support for this year's Gas Safety Week, which takes place on 14 to 20 September, by urging installers to follow best practice to keep their customers' heating systems running safely and efficiently.

Gas Safe Register, the official industry list of registered gas engineers, introduced the awareness week to encourage consumers to get their gas appliances, including the household boiler, checked and serviced every year by a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer.

"It's shocking that more than 250,000 illegal gas jobs are done every year by cowboys. Data gathered by Gas Safe Register also estimates that five times as many people would hire a gas engineer simply on trust rather than checking they're safe, legal and Gas Safe registered," said ADEY's marketing director, Haimish Mead.

"The industry has a responsibility to support and raise awareness of gas safety and ADEY is pledging its support for this year's Gas Safety Week, to help make it the biggest and best yet. It won’t be long before every home in the UK switches the heating back on, so we're encouraging installers to talk to their customers and make sure they’re confident that their gas boiler has been checked by a Gas Safe registered professional, so it's ready to perform safely and efficiently for the winter season.

"ADEY takes a holistic best practice view of heating system maintenance, starting with an annual boiler service and combining the use of chemical water treatment and magnetic filtration to keep the system running clean and free from damaging sludge and debris. This approach ensures ongoing protection against system breakdown and prolongs the life of the boiler beyond the industry standard of 12 to 15 years. However, there is no substitute for having an annual boiler service to ensure the system is entirely gas safe."

Gas Safe Register's checklist for installers working on gas appliances is:

  • You must be Gas Safe registered to fit, fix and service gas appliances
  • Ensure customers have an annual boiler service
  • Look for warning signs; Lazy yellow/orange flames instead of blue, black marks on or around the boiler, excessive condensation
  • Encourage customers to fit a carbon monoxide alarm in their home
  • Advise customers to have all gas appliances safety checked every year
  • If a problem arises, follow the Gas Safe Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure