Security experts have warned that the risk of catastrophic gas explosions increases because homeowners with cash difficulties skip checks for life-threatening errors.
Uncontrolled kitchens, fires and boilers can cause leaks, which “cause fires and explosions that cost lives and destroy neighborhoods,” said Bob Kerr, director of gas services at Gas Safe Register.
The agency, which operates under an agreement with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), found that nearly one in three homeowners will skip the reservation of an annual gas safety check this year, due to the cost of living crisis. A boiler service costs about £ 80 while a gas safety check for three appliances costs about £ 60.
The warning comes when investigators concluded that a gas leak from the inner pipe was responsible for the huge explosion last Sunday at a Kingstanding home in Birmingham, which killed 79-year-old Doreen Rees-Bibb, and seriously injure a man.
The incident is the latest in a series of rare but devastating explosions over the past two years caused by faulty appliances or gas network breaks from Portsmouth to Yorkshire.
Four gas explosions that destroyed homes examined by the Guardian have been caused by faulty appliances or container supplies in homes. Three more were caused by leaking gas to properties from cracked or corroded network supply pipes, a problem that is being addressed through a national gas network replacement program, which is 10 years old.
The Birmingham blast adds to 12 deaths and 179 injuries caused by gas explosions and wildfires in Britain in the past five years, according to HSE figures. On average, there have been 31 explosions a year, often leaving communities and homeowners traumatized.
“There should be help for those who struggle [to afford gas checks]this is something so important that needs to be done, ”said Darren Cornish, who was at his parents’ home in Bude, Cornwall, when a gas explosion devastated the property in January 2021.
“People have less money now to spend on maintaining such important appliances, so leaks are becoming a bigger problem.”
A pipe entering the house from two gas bottles had broken and leaked into the wall cavity.
“I checked the gas plate. Unfortunately, the mother was not thinking and lit a flame to check that the oven was not leaking and lit the gas around us that went to the walls to find oxygen outside, for so much so that the walls exploded and three tons of roof rested on an interior wall, “he said. “We were very lucky to be alive.”
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One of the problems has been the corroded or cracked mains pipes that make gas leaks to the floor, which is introduced under the houses and into the cavities of the walls. Since 2002, gas network companies, including Cadent and Southern Gas Network, have replaced 300,000 km of decades-old cast iron pipes with narrower plastic pipes and steel pipes, which supply gas to the individual houses. Cadent said it is 75% of the length of his program.
Michael McCormick survived a major explosion last year at his Portsmouth home caused by a pipe leak, which was so corroded that it split in two. The gas flooded the cavity under the ground floor and was lit with a candle.
“I felt the blast wave passing me flying,” he said. “It was like two hands [pushing] in the middle of my back. My wife [who was upstairs] I felt the ground rise and fall again. “
Records show the gas network had been replaced by plastic in the 1980s, before SGN took over the network, but the service pipeline had been abandoned, he said. SGN said an HSE investigation found that “SGN had no case to respond to.”
“I’m very concerned that there are other houses out there,” McCormick said. “We were very lucky. They definitely have to speed up [the mains replacement programme]. They have to do something to prevent people from being hurt and killed. “
Hazel Wilcock, 61, died in an explosion that tore down her townhouse near Bury in February 2021 while making a video call with her partner.
Forensic scientist Joanne Kearsley concluded: “According to the balance of probabilities, the explosion occurred due to an accumulation of natural gas in the basement of the property, which had accumulated due to a fracture in a gas pipe about 35 meters away … It is likely that the gas traveled from the site of the fractured pipe through a ravine of water … It reached a level at number five, which was explosive, and is likely to have been ignited due to electrical appliances, which were present in the basement. “
An HSE spokesman said: “We take gas safety very seriously. There are more than 22 million homes on the gas network so these incidents are uncommon, although they can be very serious. Gas networks have a responsibility to maintain the pipelines while HSE monitors compliance and investigates incidents under certain circumstances. “
The Energy Networks Association said: “Our members have already replaced more than two-thirds of their main gas networks 30 meters from any building. Steel and metal networks and pipes are now being replaced by polyethylene. , the safest and most durable modern plastic replacement material “.