DIY Boiler Installation

WS is right but the real issue here is : Are you
competant?

No. The real issue is can he legally do DIY gas. The answer is YES.

 

I agree, he can do DIY gas work and fit his own boiler. But should he ? Only he knows if he is really capable of doing a safe job.

IF he is planning to get a Corgi in as he suggested then he ought to agree things before he goes ahead.

Still, this is old hat and this post could run and run if we let it.....ZZZZzzzzzzzz

 

I agree, he can do DIY gas work and fit his own
boiler. But should he ?

That is NOT the piont. The point is he can. It is very simple indeed to understand.

 

Surely common sense must prevail here?

Get plumbing wrong and you can cause a lot of damage but unlikely to be fatal.

Get gas wrong it could be a silent killer or it could blow up your house.

I know what I would be doing on this one. Get the experts in. Is it worth the risk?

 

Surely common sense must prevail here?

Get plumbing wrong and you can cause a lot of damage
but unlikely to be fatal.

Get gas wrong it could be a silent killer or it could
blow up your house.

I know what I would be doing on this one. Get the
experts in. Is it worth the risk?

That is not the point here. The point, yet again, can he or can't he DIY gas. He can.

 

Getting repetitive aren't you?

We get the point but the question "should he?" is STILL a valid one.

Especially for other people living in the house and next door neighbours.

The law states he must be competent: If the job is done well then he is competent. If he blows himself up or kills his family with carbon monoxide then I guess he's incompetent.

Lets wait and see shall we

 

If I can add my humble four penn'th- a factor which I always feel is overlooked is that professionals - even C.O.R.G.I. registered engineers - are only human. Some "professional" work I have seen in my time has been appalling and this must by the law of averages occasionally extend to gas installation. It seems to me that a house can blow up with a gas explosion but providing the installation was carried out by a competant person (on paper) this is fine. Surely the bottom line is "how good and safe is the final installation?" not "what bit of paper has the engineer got?".
PTP

 

I agree, and most gas leaks are caused by fractured gas mains anyway. But it is still better to be safe not sorry.

 

Getting repetitive aren't you?

No, you are as you can't get a sinmple poimt. Which is, yet again, can he or can't he DIY gas? He can.

All other talk is hot air.

 

Getting repetitive aren't you?

No, you are as you can't get a sinmple poimt. Which
is, yet again, can he or can't he DIY gas? He
can.

All other talk is hot air.

He can only do it if he is competent to do so, how can you be the judge of that.

 

It's not up to anyone other than the installer to judge his competence to install a boiler. That's the way it is wether we like it or not. If it blows up, then the investigator can judge the installer's competence, too late of course but that's life.

Don't forget that CORGI was set up to deal with the partial collapse of the Ronan Point tower block, involving allegedly competent & professional gas fitting & architecture.

 

I'm a graduate chemical engineer and have worked on rather bigger gas systems than a combi (try direct fired drying hoods on a 1500m/min paper machine) but I STILL wouldn't bother doing this myself - the BC notification issues, lack of warranty/public liability, oh-yes-he-is-oh-no-he-isn't-competent arguments all combine to make the short term saving rather likely to be more expensive in the longer term.

 

I'm a graduate chemical engineer and have worked on
rather bigger gas systems than a combi (try direct
fired drying hoods on a 1500m/min paper machine) but
I STILL wouldn't bother doing this myself - the BC
notification issues, lack of warranty/public
liability, oh-yes-he-is-oh-no-he-isn't-competent
arguments all combine to make the short term saving
rather likely to be more expensive in the longer term.

The makers has to honour the warranty as it been fitted within the law.

As been said, you decide if you are competent. It is your results that is in question - after you do it not before.

 

you can install the system pipework but the actual
boiler installation must be done by a CORGI person

WRONG!!! He can do it all. The law says he
must be <u>competent</u>, giving no description at
what is competent and not earn money from the work.
Don't come back saying you need to be CORGI and such
h tripe, you don't need to be.

where would i stand with this,many years ago i was corgi registered but through the company i worked for and then more recently I was corgi for industrial soundness and testing etc but that ran out 7 years ago,when i've finished fitting my boiler i will still need a corgi man to check everything and fill my boiler registration card out,wont i ?

 

you can install the system pipework but the
actual
boiler installation must be done by a CORGI
person

WRONG!!! He can do it all. The law says
he
, giving no description at
what is competent and not earn money from the
work.
Don't come back saying you need to be CORGI and
such
h tripe, you don't need to be.

where would i stand with this,many years ago i was
corgi registered but through the company i worked for
and then more recently I was corgi for industrial
soundness and testing etc but that ran out 7 years
ago,when i've finished fitting my boiler i will still
need a corgi man to check everything and fill my
boiler registration card out,wont i ?

No. Many makers used say "only installed by a CORGI man". Now they say "competent". Glow Worm documentation makes no reference to CORGI as do most other Makers instructions these days.

 

I bet it would be cheaper to get a heating eng to do it for you. I charge £600.00 labour for hanging a boiler and about £2,200.00 for a full system and that includes a power flush and up 27kw boiler.


I'm not Corgi but I work with a Corgi guy when I'm doing it as it's two man job in my opinion.

The problem you will have doing it your way is that if anything goes wrong then you won't have the backup you would normally have.

 

So, if you were to go along the route of doing all the non gas stuff yourself and just getting a corgi guy to hang the boiler, connected the gas, setup and test, what money would you charge?

 

Water Systems said:-

""Many makers used say "only installed by a CORGI man". Now they say "competent". Glow Worm documentation makes no reference to CORGI as do most other Makers instructions these days.""

Whilst that is correct, Glow Worm do say that the second year warranty cover is dependent on having it serviced by a CORGI registered engineer

Tony

 

This topic has been done to death so many times before
Bottom line is you can do all the work yourself and get a Corgi to sign it off. That is assuming you can find one who is willing to do that for you. Junkies and alchoholic RGI's are generally best bet for this.
However, you will find that most RGI's surround the wagons for the purpose of self preservation of the species and refuse to perform this simple task for you unless they get the complete job to do.
This is because RGI's are warm,kind hearted,caring human beings who only have your safety and well being in mind when they refuse to help you and when you realise this you will thank them for doing the whole job for you and fleecing you for the privlege.
Combis are nothing more than glorified water heaters as I've stated many times before,so if you understand that there is little else to worry about if you are competent to do the installation yourself.
Buy a good quality carbon monoxide detector as a back up against possible gas leaks.

 

I know this is an old post but wherever you turn these commercial tradesman who are so proud of their achievement in the plumbing trade they feel they know it all.
Granted they are very knowledgeable and do know allot but they are not competent. They are in fact qualified under a bracket of employed or self-employed.

Different rules apply to these people and Health and Safety is that paramount body that overhangs their every move and can destroy their career.

A DIYer on the other hand does not have this draconian garbage hanging over his head and therefore falls under, is he competent?

A competent person would take the effort to ensure 100% Gas tightness and that requires a manometer NOT washing up liquid. No insult intended for the old school plumber but saying a Gas system is 100% tight based on washing up liquid is putting you faith in the fairy...

So competence... If you are stupid enough to hang a flue through an open window and think that all the fumes from any kind of combustion will just go out the window and stay out then you are NOT competent.
Common sense will be apparent that the wind will try and will blow back those fumes back into the room. It is the way it is.
If you think using a garden hose pipe is suitable to connect a gas supply to a boiler then again you are not competent.

The real purpose of a Gas safety registered engineer is to inspect the installation and deem that installation safe. I really get angry at these engineers thinking they can play judge and jury because of their accreditations.

I appreciate they have worked hard to achieve where they are but seriously, that is a job you get paid for. The DIYer is not getting paid for it on a work basis and therefore is or is not competent unlike a registered engineer is qualified NOT competent. The legislation really is not complicated, lets not make it complicated.

There is no doubt what so ever that a Gas safe registered engineer can or can not proclaim that a DIYer is competent or not. He can take action to condemn or choose to accept the operation of a appliance installed by a DIYer. He after all does fully understand the regulation and does put health and safety above everything else.
If a DIYer proves to be incompetent and has installed something in a very dangerous setting then he must without hesitation take action as to save lives.
This does not make him judge or jury as he still needs to prove his actions without doubt.

The notion that a engineer puts his name to a job, give us a break seriously. A Gas safe engineer tests the appliance and makes sure it is within spec and conforms to regulations. He signs his name to say "Yes the appliance meets regulations and specifications based on his/her inspection" he then adds advisories depending on things that are not to spec but not dangerous. I have never seen a Gas engineer test for tightness of the radiators plumbing.
In fact the inhibitor labels if affixed on the boiler is enough for him to take a picture of and mark down in the paperwork.
Does a Gas safety registered engineer carry around a radiator inhibitor tester? If so does he even use it on a gas test?

Seriously think some of these plumbers who have worked hard for Gas safety register are just annoyed that a DIYer can undermine all that hard work. It is like they are second class citizens or something. Well i got news for you, that is the commercial sector within the EU system.

Yes you can install any Gas appliance you wish to provided you are competent meaning you have enough common sense to install a boiler properly as per the manufacturers guidelines.
Oh wait for the haters to come in on that one, they always run away with the installation manual after they install a boiler, it is in the box with the new boiler and you have to follow it word for word doting the 'i' and crossing your 't'

If the manual says test for CO and burner efficiency then regardless of you being a DIYer you must do it or get the Gas Safety registered person to test all that for you.
He is not signing off your work, once again this is commercial stuff only. That signed off work goes back to head office and put on record as part of the legal requirement the company has to keep. It DOES NOT APPLY to a DIY installation.

What does apply is the gas safety certificate which a gas registered person must sign because he must perform the test.

Sory i did not mean to burst the bubble of the big snot nosed gas safety registered organisations scaremongering authoritarian autocratic draconian fascist regime.