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Ed Sirett
 
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On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 02:00:50 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Ziggy wrote:
An elderly person I know has recently had a stroke and will shortly
return home. Mentioned as a good idea was a method to isolate the
gas cooker if she is left alone for a while - reason being in case she
forgets to turn it off - and to get in touch with a Corgi registered
plumber to do the job. Anyone any idea of such a device and just what
it does? Never heard of the like myself, so wondering as to what it
is and the likely cost.


Are you worried about gas being turned on but not lit? Thought most modern
types won't allow this?


Thats true for ovens and more recently grills. You have to have an ancient
appliance before there is no flame failure device on the oven.

The latest up-market hobs also have some sort of flame sensing.

Otherwise there is nothing that can be done to protect someone from
turning on a ring and not lighting it. However the rate of gas and the
likely air changes in the room (which has a minimum size if a cooker is
fitted) _should_ mean that such a situation won't build to a dangerous
concentration of gas, not a good idea to try it out evenso.

The only reasons I can think of to add a convenient cut off for a cooker
would be :
a) To allow the gas to be cut when there is a minor fire/boiling over etc.
where the normal control knob would be hazardous to use. This would
exceed the requirements for complying with gas regs although it is
conceivably a good thing by analogy with the electric regs.

b) To ensure the gas was cut off as opposed to turning off all the knobs.
I'm not up on what's needed for older people, the Alms houses I look after
all have electric cookers (by choice of the residents). However I think if
the user is at this level perhaps they ought not to be (gas) cooking?

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
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