Neighbour Complaint About Gas Flue

Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,451
Sometimes it's worth it just to keep the peace with the neighbors.
If you have one, make a point of taking to them and saying you took there concerns onboard and are having a kit fitted to help.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Dec 2008
Posts
977
Location
Near to Overclockers
You should know this then shouldn't you.

British Standard BS5440-1 "recommends" that condensing boiler flues should not be sited where the plume is "likely to cause a nuisance".

However, "guidance" (not compulsory) in the government document "Guide to the Condensing Boiler Installation Assessment Procedure for Dwellings" extends this 600mm to "a minimum 2·5m from a facing wall, fence, building, or the property boundary" for condensing boilers.

British Standards are not Rules and do not have any legislative standing, they are technical detail documents providing guidance on technical, safety and quality issues.
Determination of nuisance is subjective unless you are referring to the Tort of Nuisance. Statutory Nuisance on the other hand is defined and proscribed.
At the end of the day, if the OP feels that he wants to be a good neighbor, more power to him. But as the boiler was installed, with the minimum distance to the property boundary, 600mm Approved Document J - Combustion appliances and Fuel Storage systems (2010 edition incorporating 2010 and 2013 amendments), then technically he is within compliance and has no further obligation unless that it is determined, by a court or Local Authority Officer that the flue is so powerful that exhaust gasses are not dispersing adequately within the 600mm distance and are being ejected into the neighboring property, constituting a hazard or are resulting in loss of use or amenity to the neighboring property owners. Occasionally strange conditions do occur, and persist such as canyon effects, where flue and exhaust gasses do not adequately disperse, but become permanently trapped in a vortex on the leeward side of buildings.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,451
British Standards are not Rules and do not have any legislative standing, they are technical detail documents providing guidance on technical, safety and quality issues.
Determination of nuisance is subjective unless you are referring to the Tort of Nuisance. Statutory Nuisance on the other hand is defined and proscribed.
At the end of the day, if the OP feels that he wants to be a good neighbor, more power to him. But as the boiler was installed, with the minimum distance to the property boundary, 600mm Approved Document J - Combustion appliances and Fuel Storage systems (2010 edition incorporating 2010 and 2013 amendments), then technically he is within compliance and has no further obligation unless that it is determined, by a court or Local Authority Officer that the flue is so powerful that exhaust gasses are not dispersing adequately within the 600mm distance and are being ejected into the neighboring property, constituting a hazard or are resulting in loss of use or amenity to the neighboring property owners. Occasionally strange conditions do occur, and persist such as canyon effects, where flue and exhaust gasses do not adequately disperse, but become permanently trapped in a vortex on the leeward side of buildings.

You sound like you'd make a great neighbor.
I specifically said rule instead of regulation because they are a guidance.

OP print the above post out im sure he won't mind then. Or he will forever be a pain in the arse. The guidance "rules" are there purely because this exact issue crops up a lot which is the whole reason plume kits exist.
I'm grateful i live with neighbors that don't just repeat the regulations back at me and try to understand an issue and resolve it.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
28 Apr 2011
Posts
14,761
Location
Barnet, London
My brother called the guy that installed it all today, he's coming back on Saturday to install the kit which raises it by 40cm. They are doing free as it is a 'nuisance'... :) I've text the neighbours to let them know. Hopefully this will please them! If not, there's probably not a lot more that can be done.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
Posts
13,451
My brother called the guy that installed it all today, he's coming back on Saturday to install the kit which raises it by 40cm. They are doing free as it is a 'nuisance'... :) I've text the neighbours to let them know. Hopefully this will please them! If not, there's probably not a lot more that can be done.
Good result.
If they still don't like it, tell them to get a taller fence.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 May 2003
Posts
33,939
Location
Warwickshire
So they're raising it but it will still point directly at their place? Or are BG going to fit a 90 degree bend too?

I'd get a bend in or the neighbours might still moan.

For what it's worth I think their complaint is reasonable.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
What a bizarre statement.

Not really.

You put up with minor things to be civil. A boiler flue which will seldom be on in the summer when you spend most time in the garden isn't worth worrying about.

I have much bigger issues and I've not posted notes to any of my neighbours;

1. Guy across the road has 15 vehicles. 5-6 work vans. 2-3 work SUV's. 4-5 personal cars in the househols and 2 motorbikes. He takes up all the visitor parking 365 days a year. So people in my street are parking their cars 2 streets away as it's the only space available which doesn't involve parking on the road or pavement. He also parks 2 cars on the pavement/road and double parks behind his own vehicles and dangerously parks on a junction where a bend is involved.

2. Woman next door. Her dogs decided to put large holes in our fence trying to get through so they could then have it out with the 2 rottweilers my other neighbour has. I went round straight away and they said they would get it fixed and a year later we still have holes. She also has about 100 pigeons nesting underneath her solar panels. Meaning they crap all over our cars and property. I'm talking about 20+ on just my car per week.

3. Neighbour around the corner. One of his mates decided to vandalise my car by having a fight in my driveway with his mate which resulted in his mate falling into the car, etc. Got it all on CCTV. He told police he was a random guy who was a mate of a mate and he doesn't know his name so even though I have his picture and all the evidence because he wouldn't give up his name the police never pursued it as they have nothing to go on. This was at 6am in the morning after they had been drinking all night at this neighbours house which spilled onto my property just by sheer chance but it still happened. Their is a local who is part of a notorious crime family who lives in the area so it's not the place you want to randomly confront people. He got hacked with a machete last year and the damage to his face was such the police thought he had been shot by a shotgun. The machete took his nose off, etc.

So yeah I think he has a point when he says his neighbours have too much time on their hands to be complaining about a flue.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
30,835
Location
Shropshire
It's a polite request about something which is negatively effecting the neighbor due to a change made by the OP which was not an issue before the change.

Seems reasonable, if less people operated under the "**** you, it doesn't effect me" way of thinking the world would be a little more pleasant.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2012
Posts
17,493
Location
Gloucestershire
Not really.

You put up with minor things to be civil. A boiler flue which will seldom be on in the summer when you spend most time in the garden isn't worth worrying about.

I have much bigger issues and I've not posted notes to any of my neighbours;

1. Guy across the road has 15 vehicles. 5-6 work vans. 2-3 work SUV's. 4-5 personal cars in the househols and 2 motorbikes. He takes up all the visitor parking 365 days a year. So people in my street are parking their cars 2 streets away as it's the only space available which doesn't involve parking on the road or pavement. He also parks 2 cars on the pavement/road and double parks behind his own vehicles and dangerously parks on a junction where a bend is involved.

2. Woman next door. Her dogs decided to put large holes in our fence trying to get through so they could then have it out with the 2 rottweilers my other neighbour has. I went round straight away and they said they would get it fixed and a year later we still have holes. She also has about 100 pigeons nesting underneath her solar panels. Meaning they crap all over our cars and property. I'm talking about 20+ on just my car per week.

3. Neighbour around the corner. One of his mates decided to vandalise my car by having a fight in my driveway with his mate which resulted in his mate falling into the car, etc. Got it all on CCTV. He told police he was a random guy who was a mate of a mate and he doesn't know his name so even though I have his picture and all the evidence because he wouldn't give up his name the police never pursued it as they have nothing to go on. This was at 6am in the morning after they had been drinking all night at this neighbours house which spilled onto my property just by sheer chance but it still happened. Their is a local who is part of a notorious crime family who lives in the area so it's not the place you want to randomly confront people. He got hacked with a machete last year and the damage to his face was such the police thought he had been shot by a shotgun. The machete took his nose off, etc.

So yeah I think he has a point when he says his neighbours have too much time on their hands to be complaining about a flue.
Sounds ****, no wonder you're so angry all the time :D
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
Sounds ****, no wonder you're so angry all the time :D

It's actually a decent area. It's just a handful who just happen to be in close proximity. Had we known mr 15 vehicles would move in across the road after us then it would have made me choose a different home in the same area but you can't predict the future. Far enough away it wouldn't cause me issues. The woman next door just needs to leave she doesn't look after or pay for anything to get fixed. She has had a broken wheelie bin (rubbish being spewn all across the street and into my garden) and a broken electricity meter box which she hasn't bothered fixing in 2 years. She has dementia and lives alone. Well she seems to have a son and daughter who move in from time to time then out again. The other one is just a scrote who throws parties when his parents are away. Because he lives at home he has no respect for peoples property. Well I'm sure he will learn soon enough now that he just bought a new car. It would be a shame for it to get damaged through no fault of his own.
 
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