Electrics and gas
The back boiler has been removed and the old flow pipes remain in boxing beside the chimney breast. What might still be open inside that boxing?
Because the boxing was not opened, the old flow pipes beside the chimney breast might still be open inside it. The back boiler has been removed, and the survey can record the pipes left in that boxing. It cannot see the cut ends, prove they are capped, or show whether a gas way or a water way is still live. Open, here, means not shown to be sealed. A Gas Safe engineer should confirm the gas side. Do not pull the boxing off on a viewing and do not assume removal of the boiler closed every pipe.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Taking a back boiler out leaves the connections that used to serve it. Those old flow pipes, still in boxing by the breast, are the likely place for an uncapped end, a valve that does not shut, or a gas pipe that was never properly finished. The survey sees the boxing and perhaps a pipe entering it. It does not see the ends. Might still be open is the right caution.
Ask a Gas Safe engineer to open the boxing with the seller's agreement and confirm that any gas connection is capped and sound. Ask a plumber about water pipes in the same void so the two services are not mixed up. Do not smell-test it yourself by breaking a panel. Until someone competent has looked inside, keep the survey sentence as a limit: the boiler is gone, the pipes remain, and the boxing hid the ends. Removal on its own did not finish the job.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What could you see without opening the boxing: pipe ends, or only the casing?
- Any smell, stain or temporary tape at the edge of that boxing?
- Did you see a capped gas point elsewhere that you are not treating as these hidden ends?
What are the typical next steps?
- Treat the hidden pipe ends as unproved, not as safely capped.
- Ask a Gas Safe engineer to open the boxing and check the gas side.
- Do not pull the boxing off on a viewing.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If you cannot smell gas, are the old pipes capped?
No. No smell on one visit does not show the ends inside the boxing. The survey did not open it, so a cap has not been seen.
Does removing the back boiler automatically make the flue safe too?
No. The flue is a separate question. These old flow pipes are about what might still be open in the boxing, not about the flue lining.