Gas appliances in bedrooms and bathrooms: the rules

The rule is regulation 30 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. A modern room-sealed combi meets it in either room, so a boiler in a bedroom cupboard is allowed. In a bathroom the boiler maker's electrical rules then decide where on the wall it can go.

What does regulation 30 say about bedrooms and bathrooms?

It restricts which appliances may be installed in three places: bathrooms and shower rooms, rooms used for sleeping, and anywhere at all for an instantaneous water heater. Room-sealed means the appliance takes its air from outside and discharges its flue gases outside, so nothing it burns mixes with the room's air.

HSE's approved code of practice, L56, words the bedroom line differently. Its paragraph 263 says appliances of 14 kW or more should not go in a bedroom unless room-sealed, and those of less than 14 kW may with the safety control. The regulation says more than 14 kW and 14 kW or less, and the regulation is the law.

Can you have a gas boiler in a bedroom?

Yes, if it is room-sealed, which a modern fanned-flue boiler is. L56 counts central heating appliances among those regulation 30 covers. Worcester rates the Greenstar 4000 combi and Ideal the Logic Combi2 as types C13, C33 and C53, the room-sealed types, so either may go in a bedroom or a cupboard opening off one. An open-flued boiler over 14 kW may not.

Can you have a gas fire in a bedroom?

Only a room-sealed one above 14 kW gross. At 14 kW or less an open-flued fire may go in a bedroom if it has a device that turns the gas off before a dangerous level of fumes builds up, as L56 puts it. On a service the engineer checks that device as one of the fire's safety controls.

Can a gas boiler go in a bathroom?

Yes, if it is room-sealed, and then the boiler's electrical rating and the zones in BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations, decide where. The two manuals differ: Ideal's Logic Combi2 must sit beyond Zone 2, while Worcester rates the Greenstar 4000 IPX4D and asks only that mains switches and controls are out of reach of the bath or shower.

Does a cupboard off a bedroom count as the bedroom?

Yes, when it opens off the room or ventilates through it. Regulation 30(4) covers a cupboard or compartment within the room, and one next to it with an air vent into it. L56 paragraph 264 adds the reverse: a space whose ventilation comes from somewhere else, with no vent into the bedroom or bathroom, is outside the rule.

What if a room becomes a bedroom later?

The rule follows the room's use. L56 paragraph 265 counts rooms intended as bedrooms or bathrooms when the appliance is fitted, and any room with a working bath or shower. For rented homes, regulation 36(11) bars a fitting that would break 30(2) or (3) in a tenant's bedroom, unless the room was a bedroom before the 1998 Regulations came into force.

• Worked example 1: a landlord wants a new combi in the cupboard of a back bedroom. A Logic Combi2 is room-sealed (C13, C33, C53), so regulation 30 allows it; the cupboard counts as the bedroom under 30(4), and the bedroom rule is met.
• Worked example 2: a lounge with an open-flued 6 kW gas fire becomes a tenant's bedroom. The fire is 14 kW or less, so under 30(3) it may stay only if it has the safety control that shuts it down before fumes build up; without one, regulation 36(11) puts the landlord in breach.

On a Manifold gas safety check each appliance is recorded with its location and flue type, and the gas safety record the landlord receives lists every appliance by location with its flue result.