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Baxi cracks down on counterfeit flues with industry-first QR code verification
Baxi is cracking down on counterfeit flues with a new integrated flue checker verification system designed to expose fakes, protect installers’ professional integrity and maintain their customers’ trust.
According to Baxi, and industry groups such as the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC), a growing number of counterfeit parts are entering the UK heating market. The concern is that installers who unknowingly fit a counterfeit part could find themselves exposed to liability and financial risk.
Counterfeit flues are illegal and potentially harmful. While they may look similar to genuine parts, they are frequently manufactured using inferior, non-compliant materials and without testing and accreditation. Fitting a counterfeit flue can also invalidate a boiler’s warranty, affecting both customers and installers.
Genuine Baxi flues are sourced to a tight specification. Flues, by their design, exhaust products of combustion which contain carbon monoxide. They are a safety critical part and are produced and tested to a very tight tolerance. Flue components need to fit together functionally on the 100mm outer diameter as well as the 60mm inner diameter. Any breach of this seal can cause a safety issue to which non-genuine flues are essentially out of control and may not be safe.
Baxi’s new verification system gives everyone across the supply chain a quick, consistent solution to verify what they're buying and fitting. The integrated solution connects each Baxi flue terminal, its packaging and its labels with a new “check your flue” feature in the Baxi Toolbelt app.
Toolbelt is freely available for anyone to download – installers and merchants do not need to be a Baxi Works member to use it. It reads the unique QR code and checks the flue's serial number against Baxi's production records to confirm it's genuine. Baxi introduced the new QR code labelling in October 2026.
