Gas fire in a bedroom?

[crunchtimes]

My sister has been relocated to my town (yay!) and is going to stay with me and my son in my 2 bedroom house until she finds her own place.
There's no spare bedroom, so we were planning on her using my living room as a temporary bedroom.
However there is a 'real fire style' gas fire in the living room.
I'm trying to work out whether you can legally use a room with a gas fire in it as a bedroom (we wouldn't ever light the fire) but getting a bit confused.
Anyone know?

I'm a bit confused...Why does it matter, is she not just temporarily sleeping in your living room which happens to have a gas fire in it? Why do you need it to be officially called a bedroom if it's just a temp arrangement?

I am also confused. It's your house, you can do what you want.

This is us OP. We turned the tv room into a bedroom & it still has the gas fire in it. We've been ok & it's 3yrs now. The fire is never used I should mention.

Sorry, although its temporary, it might be up to a year.
She is hoping to buy in the area, but needs to make sure the job works out and to save a bit for a deposit etc.

I'm just worried about carbon monoxide.

Does this not matter because she is not an official tenant?

If there is a carbon monoxide danger, the "official" rules are not the issue: the danger is.

I don't see how there can be any danger if the fires not being used. ( But I'm no expert).

Why not get a decent carbon monoxide alarm ? Get the fire serviced?

Cause if there's a danger, it could affect people, day or night: carbon monoxide don't care what you're doing , it just kills you. Whether you label the room as sitting room, bedroom, or butler's pantry, won't make no difference.

But why do you think there's a danger?

Just can't get over the ' official' tenant and 'rules' being seemingly more important to you than the presence or absence of serious danger.

Just get a carbon monoxide detector, surely if you're worried then it's not just about sleeping in there, it's actually sitting in there too?

Get a carbon monoxide detector - one that sounds an alarm if CO is detected, not one of the little discs that changes colour. There is nothing to say you cannot have a gas fire or heater in a bedroom afaik, but it should be check annually to ensure it is working correctly and is safe.

And you can use your house any way you wish. If you wish to make the living room a bedroom you can.

There should be a gas stop tap to the fire or if not you can get the gas pipe capped off so that the fire cannot be lit at all so that you have peace of mind.

Legally even if she is an official tenant you can have a gas burning appliance in a bedroom. Perfectly legal. You should have a carbon monoxide detector in any room with a gas burning appliance.

Thanks butterfly I'll look into that.

Of course the rules aren't more important than the potential for death...I perhaps haven't expressed myself very clearly...but really?

Yes I'm worried about the legalities, as I assume that health and safety laws are there to help protect ourselves, partly by drawing attention to risk.
I did say in my second post that I am worried about carbon monoxide...I guess I should have been more specific....I am worried about the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning when someone is asleep in the room, with the doors and windows closed in that room.

At the moment we use the sitting room for watching TV etc with the door open, and although I do occasionally fall asleep on the sofa watching a Sunday afternoon film, the door is always open, so I'm not really worried about CM poisoning in that context.
There seem to be tighter recommendations/rules on having fires in bedrooms when I googled it before posting, so I got concerned it might be risky...that is why I have posted.
The fire is serviced annually, and I have ordered a carbon monoxide alarm already, so I've done the obvious things.
I just want to be safe, and until this evening I wasn't aware of the recommendations concerning gas fires/bedrooms and was wondering if anyone here could clarify it for me.

So even in kitchens if you have a gas hob why?

Yes, any room with a fire in it. Hobs, boilers, gas fire, even wood grate fire.

They're under a tenner and they last for half a decade or more. JFDI.

www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/180116-non-room-sealed-gas-appliances-located-in-sleeping-accommodation.pdf

Here is the latest bulletin.

A non room sealed gas fire is usually about 7 kw. A basic google of your model can find out exactly yours. But many fires are now room sealed, and those that aren't are for the most part rated above the requirement.

But a carbon monoxide detector should be used - correctly! Not on a windowsill, or on the floor etc- but positioned correctly, and yes in kitchens too.