Between Gas Safety Week landing this month and forecasters already talking about a stormier, wetter autumn on the back of a strong El Nino, it’s a decent time to get ahead of the jobs that always come in as an emergency once the weather turns. We had a call out to Hoo last October where a blocked gulley outside the back door backed up during a downpour and put an inch of water through the utility room, the kind of job that’s a ten-minute fix in September and a flood in November.
Gas Safety Week runs from the 14th to the 20th this year, and the message from HHIC is straightforward: don’t ignore the warning signs. That means checking your boiler’s had its annual service, that the flue terminal isn’t blocked or damaged, and that you’ve actually got a working carbon monoxide alarm rather than one with a flat battery from two winters ago. On a balanced flue combi, five minutes checking the terminal outside is worth more than most people think.
On the wet weather side, forecasters are expecting a much wetter run from October onwards after quite a dry summer, and dry ground doesn’t absorb heavy rain anywhere near as well as you’d think, that’s when gulleys, rodding eyes and external drainage runs get overwhelmed fastest. Around Rainham and Gillingham we see a lot of it on older properties where the original clay drainage has never been surveyed, let alone rodded through.
Worth doing before the weather properly turns: get your outside gulleys cleared, check your stopcock actually turns, a surprising number don’t, and if you’ve had any slow-draining basins or a bit of gurgling from the waste pipe, get it looked at now rather than waiting for a blockage at eleven o’clock on a Sunday night.
If you’re anywhere around Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham or the wider Medway area and want your drainage or gas appliances checked before autumn sets in properly, Smithsons Plumbing & Heating can fit you in.
