Gas hob safety cut out?

[AnthonyL]

My elderly neighbour was immobile yesterday and rang me for help. I walked into the house and there was a very stong smell of gas. Is hob was on, with no flame, apparently from the night before when he heated some beans in a pan.

Now I'm somewhat confused as to how come it was still on with no flame. If he'd forgotten to turn it off the flame would still be burning. If he'd turned it on but didn't ignite then surely it should have cut out the gas? Our gas hob let gas through without a flame.

Or could he have done it on purpose? Worrying.

It is a Stoves Newhome DF 600 SI Dom - I can't find much about it.

If it's faulty he needs it fixed, if that' how it works he needs a gas alarm.

[Owain Lastname]

Newer hobs (and ovens) have a flame failure device / flame supervision device. Older ones don't.

Since 2011 it's a requirement under IGEM guidance to fit cookers with FFDs in flats.

AO allow you to sort for gas gobs with FFD and safety cut off

Owain

[jon]

It might be best to have the gas cut off and use an electric hob or microwave. Always concerned with gas and disabled people. Electric heaters in winter.

[Andy Burns]

Does it pre-date flame failure devices?

[charles]

I once came across an oven which had been turned on by someone bending down to get something out a low cupboard opposite.

[Robin]

Not a sound policy if they die of hypothermia for fear of the electricity bill. Not everyone can afford to pay whatever it takes to stay warm.

[John J]

If installed in a correctly ventilated room as far as I can recall the old thinking was the rate of gas flow through the burner jet was insufficient to raise the concentration of gas in air to attain explosive levels and the stench would alert person's to the gas escaping. The introduction of flame failure devices was a safety improvement brought in later.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

One does need to be careful though as a single static discharge if the mixture is right could be extremely bad news for you and the house. Brian

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

John J presented the following explanation :

Such ventilation is often deliberately blocked up these days, relying upon flame failure devices for protection and room sealed boilers. No problem at all, if there are no products of combustion or gas escapes.

[charles]

a few years ago, I discoverd that for commercial premises any fans need to be turned on befoe gas is allowed to the appliances. Our theatre had a solenoid valve in the gas supply operated by the fan switch.

[AnthonyL]

It would seem so.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that he had cold beans and never lit the burner in the first place. He has been know to have the odd drink or three.

Worrying also is the house stank when I let myself in and I immediately went into the kitchen and turned it off. Although the house stank he couldn't smell it, presumably because it had slowly built up overnight and he'd got used to it whereas I came in from outside.

[Tim+]

There are some folk who genuinely can?t smell the stenching agent (like the way some folk can?t smell asparagus in their urine).

I think age also comes into it. Older folk generally have a poorer sense of smell.

Tim

[John Rumm]

If it has a glass fold down lid, they often have a facility to cut off the gas when you close the lid. It might be if it does not have an effective FFD, that he closed it when still burning, then later opened it thus restoring the gas flow but without a flame.

[Fredxx]

I believe it does.

There is no mention of any safety features in the manual:

from:

[Steve Walker]

The cooker we recently disposed of had such a feature, but as the lid was lowered, it mechanically drove all the knobs to the closed position, so lifting the lid would not turn the gas back on.

[polygonum_on_google]

Not just older people. One of the hallmark symptoms of Covid-19 is anosmia. And that can last at least months after the acute phase - indeed, I am not sure whether it might be permanent in some.

[Andrew]

My first house was a 1978-build centre-terraced property and the gas meter was under the stairs in a cupboard. The regulator had a plastic component which was known to fail which it did on mine and gas leaked out very slightly. I didn't notice, but the carpet fitter noticed it immediately.

[Mike Clarke]

Take a look under the top cover of the burner. If it has a spark electrode and a little thermocouple sticking up then it should be able to detect flame failure. If there's just a spark electrode then it won't have flame failure detection.