Propane, Wood Heat and Carbon Monoxide Safety in an Auburn Rental

Why fuel-burning homes need a closer look

If your rental heats with a propane furnace or a wood stove, cooks on a propane range or has a garage attached to the house, fuel burns close to where your tenant sleeps. EPA's indoor air page lists back-drafting furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves and fireplaces, gas stoves, leaking chimneys and car exhaust from attached garages among the sources of carbon monoxide in homes.

California law settles most of the device questions directly. The rest, such as who orders propane, who sweeps the chimney and what may be burned, belongs in your lease and your maintenance calendar.

The site's post on preventative maintenance and the seasonal maintenance guide cover when to book furnace and chimney visits. This guide covers the rules behind those visits. SPMG's services page lists maintenance and repairs coordinated for owners, who keep the final say on major repairs.

Smoke alarms at every new tenancy

Health and Safety Code 13113.7 requires smoke alarms approved by the State Fire Marshal in every dwelling unit. For a rented single-family home, the owner must test and maintain them and make sure they work when each new tenancy is created. Tenants, in turn, must tell you when an alarm stops working.

You do not have to rip out older alarms that still work; the statute says existing alarms need not be replaced unless they are inoperable. When you do replace a battery-only alarm, the new one will have a sealed 10-year battery, because Health and Safety Code 13114 has required that for alarms approved for sale in California since mid-2014.

Carbon monoxide devices and water heater straps

Health and Safety Code 17926 requires approved carbon monoxide devices in each dwelling unit that has a fossil-fuel heater or appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage. A propane furnace, range or water heater, a wood stove or a fireplace each meets that test. If an enforcement officer finds a device missing, the owner first gets a 30-day notice to correct.

Section 17926.1 adds the landlord-tenant rules: the device must work when the tenant takes possession, the tenant must tell you when one does not, and you are not in violation until you have been told.

Water heaters sit on the same checklist. Health and Safety Code 19211 requires residential water heaters to be braced, anchored or strapped to resist falling or moving in an earthquake. Check the straps whenever a water heater is replaced.

Propane tanks: who owns it, who fills it, who pays

A propane tank on the property belongs either to you or to a supplier, and that single fact shapes most of your lease terms. California's LP-gas safety orders say containers "shall be filled or used only upon authorization of the owner" (8 CCR 470). If a supplier owns the tank, your tenant usually cannot switch to another company for fills without that supplier's consent.

Gas lines and appliances you provide stay your responsibility, because Civil Code 1941.1 counts gas facilities that met the law when installed among the basics of a livable home. Before move-in, settle these points in writing:

• Who owns the tank, and where the ownership or tank lease paperwork is kept
• Whose name the fuel account is in and who orders deliveries
• Who pays for fuel, and how the gauge reading is recorded at move-in and move-out
• Who keeps the tank area clear of brush and stored items and keeps the delivery path open
• What the tenant does if they smell gas, written as plain steps, with the supplier's emergency number posted
• Who arranges leak checks and repairs to lines and owner-supplied appliances (normally you)

Wood stoves, fireplaces and chimneys

Wood heat has its own local rule. Under Placer County Air Pollution Control District Rule 225, since January 1, 2012 no one may install a wood burning appliance in Placer County unless it is an EPA Phase II certified appliance, a pellet heater, a masonry heater or a unit the district approves in writing. Every wood burning appliance must also be installed and operated according to the manufacturer's specifications.

Rule 225 bans burning garbage, treated wood, plastics, glossy or colored paper, plywood and green wood above 20% moisture, among other materials, so put that list in your move-in packet. The district's point-of-sale rule matters later: a property cannot be sold or transferred with an operable non-certified free-standing wood stove, though inserts and fireplaces are exempt.

For chimneys, EPA advises having a trained professional inspect, clean and tune up furnaces, flues and chimneys every year. The City of Auburn's defensible space checklist calls for a metal screen with openings no more than 1/2 inch on chimney and stovepipe openings, and for dead branches to be kept 10 feet from the chimney.

What tenants report and what the lease adds

The statutes give tenants a reporting duty for broken smoke alarms and CO devices, and Section 13113.7 lets you enter with reasonable written notice, with 24 hours presumed reasonable, to test or fix alarms. A short heating and fuel addendum usually covers the rest:

• Do not disconnect alarms or remove their batteries, and report any chirping or failed alarm the same day.
• Burn only dry, split, seasoned wood, keep the stove door closed except when loading, and put ashes in a covered metal container stored outdoors on a nonflammable surface, as EPA recommends.
• Never burn trash, treated wood or other materials Rule 225 prohibits.
• Never run a generator, grill or vehicle inside the house or an attached garage.
• Report any smoke smell, soot or backdrafting from a stove, fireplace or gas appliance.
• The owner books yearly chimney and heating service and keeps the dated invoice.