Electrics and gas
A boiler flue terminal is at head height beside a path and no guard was fitted. What combustion test was not done, and what guard was simply absent?
No combustion test was done, and the guard that was simply absent is the guard on a flue terminal at head height beside a path. The survey has seen the terminal in that place and has seen that no guard was fitted. It has not analysed the flue gases, has not tested the burner, and has not decided the appliance is burning safely. The missing guard is a visible absence. The combustion performance is an untested separate matter.
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?
A terminal beside a path at head height is where people walk. A guard is a physical screen over that terminal. None was fitted, and that much is a look, not a measurement the survey failed to write down. Combustion testing is different again: it needs instruments on the boiler and a record from a heating engineer. The home survey did not do that test. Gas safety remains a Gas Safe job.
Ask a Gas Safe registered engineer to combustion-test the boiler and to deal with the missing guard as part of that look at the terminal. Tell the solicitor the survey saw no guard on a head-height terminal beside a path and did not test combustion. Do not treat an unused path as a reason to ignore the guard. Keep the service record, if any, separate from this visual absence.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Where is the flue terminal relative to the path?
- Was any guard present, even if it was the wrong type?
- What combustion test was not carried out on the boiler?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask a Gas Safe engineer to combustion-test the boiler and to look at the missing guard.
- Tell the solicitor the head-height terminal had no guard and combustion was not tested.
- Do not treat a quiet path as a reason to ignore the missing guard.
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 the path is little used, does the missing guard cease to matter?
No. How often people use the path does not fit a guard that was not there, and it does not perform the combustion test the survey skipped. The terminal is at head height beside the path, and no guard was fitted. Use of the path is not a test result.
Did you see a combustion certificate, or only the unguarded terminal?
The survey did not see a combustion certificate as this finding. It saw an unguarded terminal. If a certificate exists, the solicitor can ask for it, and an engineer can say whether it is current. The home survey has not done the combustion test, and a missing guard is not that certificate.