I recently had to condemn a stove in a customer’s property near Arkesden. Put simply this process formally advises the customer not to use an appliance because it is dangerous and indicates that remedial work should be undertaken to correct the issues before it is used again. Clearly, I or anyone else for that matter cannot prevent a customer from using a dangerous appliance if they so wish, however once an appliance has be condemned by a Guild of Master Sweeps Member and the requisite documentation raised, a customer would be foolhardy in the extreme to continue using the appliance. For example, if through such use any person was injured or property damaged, such injury, loss, or damaged would invariably not be covered by the customer’s household insurance policy.

Having said all this, condemning an appliance is not a step lightly taken by any sweep as it deprives the customer of the use of their appliance during the period of time it takes to have the fault rectified. In this instance, the customers had not long moved into the property, they had noticed the problems with the stove and they had the safety of their young children to consider – So the stove being condemned was not an issue for them. In addition, I was also able to pass on the details of Will Parker of Thaxted Stoves to the customer to help in having the necessary repairs effected as soon as possible, as such remedial work is another aspect of the type of work carried out by this company over and above fitting new stoves.

The stove itself a large Olsberg was not the issue in this instance and was actually a very good stove and adequately sized for heating what was a rather large room. The problem was that the register plate which was only made of flame board had failed at the front and was leaking insulation material into the room. Consequently, with such a fault there was a very real danger if the stove were to be used carbon monoxide could leak into the room.

Olsberg are a German stove company who specialized in modern, contemporary stoves, some of which use alternative fuel sources such as pellets.