UK Landlord Forum / Life

I called some new gas engineers to service my warm air heating and issue a new gas safety certificate. I havent dealt with them before.
One of the engineers put a smoke pellet into the heating system then went into the loft.
He came down saying there was some smoke escaping into the loft from the flue somewhere and that the flue is asbestos and must be removed and replaced in order to issue a certificate.
The engineers said they know a asbestos removal firm who can remove it and that after they would put a new flue running from the warm air heater to the roof.
I am a bit concerned as I thought asbestos should generally not be disturbed. Though they seemed adamant that it should come straight out.
They didn't show me the asbestos flue when they were looking with an inspection mirror so I have to trust them.
If there is indeed smoke coming from somewhere like the joints in the flue wouldn't it be safer to seal the joints with something?
But does anyone have any opinions as to whether this should be removed or not? I want to make sure I'm not being taken for a ride if possible.

Punkadunc

2nd opinion with a new engineer then challenge the first company if it comes back ok?

I agree leave it alone.

Get a price for a new liner being put down the old one.

Hi Duncan,

I'm a new landlord but have been an asbestos consultant for 14 years. If the engineer reckons it's an asb flue he's probably right and he'll have seen hundreds of them and most likely would just like to finish the job. He should by law have asbestos awareness training and he's doing exactly the right thing, particularly in not disturbing it. Cement products aren't particularly dangerous when in relatively good condition but the engineers will have a blanket 'don't disturb if found' policy as they don't want to be paying for clean ups when they smash/drill into things by accident. Flue's by their nature often do come out very quickly and easily. If you're handy take it out yourself. Your Local Authority waste site probably accept asbestos at certain times either free or cheaply. Follow the guidance in this Factsheet: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/a35.pdf   (not to the letter, no real need for vacuums, just make sure your dust mask is FP3
rated not 1 or 2. Otherwise check the webpages of ARCA for local contractors who'll have it out in a jiffy. Oh and if you suspect foul play have a sample taken by an asbestos surveyor or do it yourself and take it to a local lab for analysis which you can find here: www.ukas.org/testing  (asbestos in bulk materials: identification).

Any precautions you take are likely enough and far in excess of what happens to most which normally involves a daftie, a hammer and a skip or farmer's field.

Great post..

I love the idea of having a hammer and a daftie!

Thanks for the replies, I ended up getting a 2nd opinion from a gas engineer who had been practicing far longer than the first who felt that it was a bad idea to replace the flue without getting a specialist to confirm that it is indeed asbestos, He checked the flue and that any joint leaks could be sealed safely as it was structurally sound.
I was a little concerned about the first contractors asbestos removal guys originally as the first engineer said they like to stay anonymous and refuse to deal with the end client (property owners) leading me to suspect that it might end up in a farmers field as Futurecut suggests, if happens regularly around my area, whether this is the case in this instance, I don't know but I decided it best to get it looked at again.