Gas Cooker???

budgetflyer

Sorry,I didnt mean to offend,
my bark is worse than my bite,honest.
I just wanted to stress that even though legislation may allow you to do this,it really isn't a good idea without proper test equipment.
These bayonet fittings have an o ring seal. If its dry ,worn or torn it can leak.

flang

if your confidant in doing it do it!
If your unsure get a professional in!
As long as you test for leaks after you have finished i dont see a problem!

Martini

It is not illegal for you to disconnect the cooker and then re-connect it as the owner in your own home! It is however illegal for someone else to do it for you if they do not have the correct CORGI qualifications for that task!

It seems a bit daft I know but that's the law as it stands!

moneysavingplumber

It is illegal if you are not competent, but this will only become apparent or tested if you blow your house apart, which is unlikely but possible.

In 99.9% of cases removing a bayonet and pulling a cooker out will present no problem, but there's always the 0.1% of times that there will be and you are not equipped to deal with it if you are the 0.1%.

As a professional I will always carry out mandatory tests before disconnecting any existing appliances and after reconnecting, as is required by law. My guess is that you are not equipped to do this and are therefore not technically 'competent', so therefore it would not be technically legal.

YorkshireBoy

Anyone with 'academic' management/training & development qualifications will be familiar with the Conscious Competence Learning Model, which looks at how we learn (or are taught) skills. There are basically 4 stages, and I've adopted the model to fit the OP's situation...

Unconscious Incompetence
You don't know it's not safe to 'play' with gas if you don't know what you're doing. You don't know what tests you're supposed to perform before, during, and after the work.

13 year old children could be classed as unconsciously incompetent with regard to working with gas.

Conscious Incompetence
You know it's not safe. You know you shouldn't do it. You've checked the Corgi site, and asked a question on an internet chatroom. You've been told (by DIY'ers and a professional plumber) it might/may/could/is likely to be illegal. You've been told that it's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. You know you could lose your house if it goes wrong. Yet you still choose to go ahead with the work yourself.

DIY'ers and 1st/2nd year apprentices may fall into this category.

Conscious Competence
You've been trained, and assessed as competent by a professional body for the task that you're about to perform. You've done the task many times before and are aware of all the safety precautions that need to be taken. However, you still have to think about the task in hand because, due perhaps to only a few years experience, you still 'respect' the hazard that working with gas presents.

An example here may be a plumber in his 20's.

Unconscious Competence
You have the technical qualifications, but now also have so much practical experience that the job has become second nature to you. You've been there, and seen & done the task many times before and as such you're now working on 'auto-pilot'. The problem here is that you're likely to become 'complacent' in your approach, unwilling to adopt new procedures, and unable to teach anyone else how to do the job.

Plumbers in their late 50's and 60's may fit into this category.


Having had extensive experience with the HSE, and specifically with the COMAH (and it's predecessor, CIMAH) Regulations, I can assure you that they always come down much harder with Conscious Incompetence than with any other category. And, they have a word that scares engineers such as myself...they ask us to demonstrate our competence, and that of our staff, in the specific field they are investigating.


So, a couple of questions for the OP...

1. Which of the above categories do you think you fall into?

2. Have you thought about how you will demonstrate your competence, should anything go wrong?

budgetflyer

That, YorkshireBoy is the perfect answer, same for electrical work on DIY basis

BobProperty

If you ever have nothing to do for a week have a read:
http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38485
http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?forumID=25&threadID=40357&messageID=408106#408106
http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?forumID=25&threadID=40357&messageID=408338#408338
and the all time classic:
http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?forumID=25&threadID=4591&messageID=45062#45062
which has become famous throughout many "building" forums. Yes 51 pages 752 replies. :eek:

DilbertJones

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Conscious Incompetence
You know it's not safe. You know you shouldn't do it. You've checked the Corgi site, and asked a question on an internet chatroom. You've been told (by DIY'ers and a professional plumber) it might/may/could/is likely to be illegal. You've been told that it's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. You know you could lose your house if it goes wrong. Yet you still choose to go ahead with the work yourself.

DIY'ers and 1st/2nd year apprentices may fall into this category.

This is the category i would fall into, i can see your point, but i do not have the money to get someone in to re-connect my gas cooker, if i needed to have the pipes re-routed then obviously i would have a engineer.