Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Boiler safety

Carbon Monoxide poisoning is a subject that people know very little about. Not only can it kill you, it can cause permanent Neurological Damage in the longer term. In the short term, it can make you feel ill and inhibit you life potential.

Here's what to do to protect yourself. Please read all of the steps to the end, it may be that the following five minutes could save your life, or the life of someone else.

1. Check the flame colour of your appliances, if it's Orange you do have a problem. However, Blue does not necessarily mean it's safe. Get your appliances checked annually and get a CO Detector if unsure. You would not drive your car without an MOT. Doing the same for you home is common sense as you spend most of your time there.

2. Check the flue, is it blocked? Do you have creeping plants growing up your walls? Do you have birds nesting in your flue? Completely remove these obstructions from the flue area and fit a guard to stop any birds nesting. Get your flue checked! Is it drawing properly? Was it fitted correctly in the first place?

3. Do you have a horizontal gas grill? They can be particularly hazardous. Is yours working correctly? Older appliances can be problematic, use the electric toaster instead. Get your cooker checked.

4. Is there adequate ventilation? Check your air bricks or trickle vents. Have you had double glazing fitted? If the appliances in your home do not have enough air they will produce Carbon Monoxide

5. When were your appliances last checked? Do it every year, don't leave it to chance. Remember, the engineer can only check the conditions on the day that he attends, get protection year round, fit a CO Detector with a low level alarm.

6. Do you suffer from unexplained illnesses, Fatigue, Muscle pains, Upset stomach, Lethargy, Dizziness, Headaches?

Go to your doctor and get a CohB test, go directly from your house, don't go elsewhere as the CO in your blood will deplete and may not be picked up.


7. Are you a Tenant? Do you have a Safety Certificate? Does your landlord annually check the appliances in your accommodation? (He must do this by Law). Has the engineer done a thorough check? How long was he in the house for? Has your landlord fitted a CO Detector?

8. Are you a Landlord? Have you been carrying out statutory checks? Even if you have, you may be liable if one of your tenants becomes ill or worse, dies. Fit a Detector for your own and your tenants' piece of mind. As a Landlord, you have to show Due Diligence. If you are found guilty of neglect you may be fined or even sent to prison. Could you live with the consequences for the rest of your life?

blogarama.com

Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Website

It's been a while since our last blog and we have done a quite a bit!

We have now reinvented our website at www.rapidfix.com with a interactive quote form on every page. Check out our plumbers page and let me know what you guys think?

Obviously we have attempted to make our forms visitor friendly by allowing customers to get a non obligated qoutation at a fixed rate!!!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Warm front

There was something interesting I read in the news yesterday about the Warm front Scheme, which is a grant available for households to install Central heating etc.

We have done work with this scheme because the customer has requested us personally, and didn't find any real vetting involved? Plus we had to pay a £50 fee to do the work. Which really defeats the object of being in business, but the customer preferred our tradesmen above all else and seemed to settle it for us.

Read the article below

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/investigates/2008/03/13/warm-front-s-heating-scheme-leaves-the-elderly-cold-89520-20349737/

Monday, February 25, 2008

Landlord Energy Performance certificates

It’s important that landlords are aware of this development as all residential and commercial
buildings are affected from 1st of October at the latest, with some commercial buildings being affected earlier.

Remember, heavy fines are on the cards for non-compliance. Energy Performance Assessors are likely to be in demand so prudent landlords may consider getting their properties up to standard and assessed early, especially if re-letting is likely.

The Landlord’s Energy Savings Allowance scheme (LESA) allows landlords to claim the cost of buying and installing energy saving measures against their tax bill. Take a look http://www.rapidfix.co.uk/EPCS.aspx

Monday, February 18, 2008

Carbon Monoxide Report

I was interested to see that Corgi has released a report pin pointing the most vulnerable areas and people who are exposed to Carbon Monoxide. Not only because of the business Rapidfix is in, but because I have also had a friend who was a victim to intoxication.

The report shows that between January 2006 and April 2007, there were 102 carbon monoxide incidents claiming 50 lives and causing 218, often long-term, injuries. Lack of centralised reporting plus undiagnosed cases passing through the healthcare system means the overall figures will be much higher.

My first thought was what can Rapidfix do to tackle this issue? Maybe we could supply our customers with Free Carbon monoxide testers?

http://www.trustcorgi.com/consumer/Documents/J3129%20Corgi%20Brochure_final.pdf

Russ

Friday, February 15, 2008

Pictures as Promised




The first look at our control centre, just waiting for the new furniture!

New Office Phase - 1

Finally, our job control centre has moved into their new offices. In ways, it reminds me of the Starship Enterprise! Altough there is still a lot of work to do, its looks like we're making progress! I will post some pictures shortly.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Busy New Year

So far, the new year has been really busy in all trades of our work! Putting private customers aside, we also take a lot of work from Homeserve which is a conduit for all the major household insurance companies. And a lot of work has been completed on this side of the business.

We have also received our customer satifaction scores on both plumbing and drainage for the last two months, which Homeserve have concluded is over 95%.

More on this tommorow as I need to answer the phone (Very Busy!) :)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Rapid First Blog

This first post is really a test to see if my blog application worked! And also to see what it looks like.

Hopefully over the next few weeks I can get somebody from all our trades and professions to submit a blog!

Russ