Incorrect gas safety certificate

LORDb

Hi

I have recently purchased a property and insisted a gas safety certificate be provided. The vendor did so with no issues so I was happy.

5 months on I have decided to service our boiler and the engineer found that the pipes from the gash meter around the house are too small and the pressure is far to low in the system. This, he says, is unsafe and needs immediate rectification which will involve taking up my floor.

The gas safety check should have found this but it gave a clean bill of health. Given this is dictated by the diameter of the pipe it would still have been the case at the time of the check.

I am now forking out the best part of £1,000 to fix it and feel the engineer was negligent.

I am shocked as:
My house was unsafe
The engineer was lying/did not do his job
I am having to spend money that I would have asked off of the purchase price if I had known.


Has anyone got any advice or experience to say if I am in my rights to do this?

Thanks very much

lemontart

contact www.gassaferegister.co.uk for the correct advice on this one.

espresso

How can you be sure that an incorrect gas safety certificate was issued?
Was it a BG engineer that told you that it is unsafe?
Do you really believe that the installation is unsafe due to the smaller diameter gas pipe?
It sounds like you have fallen for the typical 'safety card' sales patter!

Read the document for yourself here

Not to Current Standards (NCS).
A good example could be when a gas pipe feeding an appliance is too small. The pressure drop along the pipe means the inlet pressure at the appliance is too low, so the appliance burns less gas than it is designed to burn (the flame is a bit smaller).

Should you not have investigated this further yourself before actually agreeing for this work to be done? e.g. the opinion of another independent qualified engineer who is not trying to extract a large sum of money from you?

From the Gas Safe document

NCS situations
It is currently operating safely, but you may wish to take advice on whether the installation should be brought into line with current installation standards.

jd87

Yeah the "Gas fitter" (I doubt he's an Engineer) who has told you it is unsafe is lying/exaggerating.

cairndog

:mad:

jd87 wrote: »

Yeah the "Gas fitter" (I doubt he's an Engineer) who has told you it is unsafe is lying/exaggerating.

The whole "safe or not safe "gas fitter/engineer is a complete shambles. The GAS SAFE site is a JOKE!! Many registered details are out of date and if you ring the Gas Safe number ( don,t bother unless you've lost the will to live ) you get recorded info you can't hear properly which is also incorrect .
All I want is someone competant to servic:mad::mad:e my lpg boiler at a reasonable price. No chance. Looks like I'll have to go back to Worcester Bosch and pay another small fortune just to stay safe.

Cardew

I agree the the 'safety card' is being played.

Get the engineer, who serviced your boiler, to state in writing that the installation is unsafe!

JasX

I'd echo the 'take advice from the gas safe register' and/or talk to both inspectors about it, there is some leeway between 'inefficient and not up to the latest revision of the standard' but basically OK or a 'pressure far too low and dangerous if the flame goes out due to variations at low pressure'.

If it is actually the latter would the second chap not had to condem the installation and isolate/take it out of service? if he didn't he's either the more negligent one or possibly trying it on.....