Gas question- Can a novice UNinstall gas fires?

thescouselander

I dont know if this is true or not (perhaps someone could tell me). As an earlier poster has already said, any gas work has to be completed by a "competent person" I was told it was only a legal requirement to be corgi registered if you are doing the work for someone else and being paid for doing so. Is this correct or not?

BobProperty

thescouselander wrote: »

I dont know if this is true or not (perhaps someone could tell me). As an earlier poster has already said, any gas work has to be completed by a "competent person" I was told it was only a legal requirement to be corgi registered if you are doing the work for someone else and being paid for doing so. Is this correct or not?

Pretty well correct. This is a good explanation:
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/diy-gas-work-is-not-illegal-t436.html

deca_321

I think if you can connect basic plumbing joints then yes you could connect a gas joint your self, provided you know what to use with that joint to make it sealed and tight so no leaks occur. When u try this sealing, make sure you buy a can of gas leak detector spray. I would do some of the joints my self but maybe nothing else, gas is not to be messed with.

You can buy all you need to do this stuff your self from plumbingworld.com

deca_321

a corgi gas man came and done my gas fire, connected it and that. He put the floor boards back down. And lisiten to this, 6 months after he done the job we had a gas leak and neighbours phoned the gas board. Turns out that the gas man hammered a nail over the gas pipe just to get the floor board into place as quickly as he could so he could beat it. Now from that very day he hammered that nail over that pipe, he must have put a large hole in the pipe!

and we have been breathing in gas for 6 months! all because this retard wanted to get the floor board back in place asap. The pipe had a large hole in it!! What does that say about this corgi gas man! he basically tried to kill us Now we cannot find him. I would rather do all trade jobs my self now! coonecting gas pipes is like connecting water pipes, if u got the tools and the leak deteaction spray, then give it a try. If u r skilled at DIY that is

Aubs

deca_321 wrote: »

a corgi gas man came and done my gas fire, connected it and that. He put the floor boards back down. And lisiten to this, 6 months after he done the job we had a gas leak and neighbours phoned the gas board. Turns out that the gas man hammered a nail over the gas pipe just to get the floor board into place as quickly as he could so he could beat it. Now from that very day he hammered that nail over that pipe, he must have put a large hole in the pipe!

and we have been breathing in gas for 6 months! all because this retard wanted to get the floor board back in place asap. The pipe had a large hole in it!! What does that say about this corgi gas man! he basically tried to kill us Now we cannot find him. I would rather do all trade jobs my self now! coonecting gas pipes is like connecting water pipes, if u got the tools and the leak deteaction spray, then give it a try. If u r skilled at DIY that is

If you have the certificates that he was corgi registered then you should raise a complaint with (or maybe against?) Corgi... I may be wrong but it's worth a try. look on their site (hehe) TrustCorgi.

The electrician we have in at the moment told me of a story exactly the same as yours, about a floorboard being hit into a gas pipe... they lifted it and hisssssss. put it down, nothing... lifted again... hissss.... put it down and called Transco in... all sorted. but it's not uncommon!

Aubs

deca_321

tradesman r unreal, never trusting them agian. l am actually going to do online courses in all trades now.

wiggly

wiggly wrote: »

if a firre has been disconnected, and is in front of an old open fire place (and the opening sealed off)

what danger can I come to removing it? what am I likely to find behind the fire?

well we took it away from the hole and nothing bad happened tidied it up (sweep away the soot etc) and now have a very pretty fireplace with a hole rather than a dire 1970's fire in there

:beer: :beer:

vygec

Slavia wrote: »

Do not fit or remove gas fires yourself, this should only be done by qualified corgi fitters. Otherwise one day you may be shafted by Transco, assuming you are still alive after a dose of carbon monoxide.

If anyone is thinking of fitting flueless gas fires, my advice is don't, not even by a qualified fitter, as these fires are disgustingly filthy. Many gas engineers will not fit or service them.

The following is a good site for info and discussion about all things gas.

http://www.argi.org.uk

so whats wrong with flueless?
we had them fitted last year, and i wouldnt go back.

thescouselander

Slavia wrote: »

Do not fit or remove gas fires yourself, this should only be done by qualified corgi fitters. Otherwise one day you may be shafted by Transco, assuming you are still alive after a dose of carbon monoxide.

If anyone is thinking of fitting flueless gas fires, my advice is don't, not even by a qualified fitter, as these fires are disgustingly filthy. Many gas engineers will not fit or service them.

The following is a good site for info and discussion about all things gas.

http://www.argi.org.uk

This is all a lot of nonsense. Its quite easy to remove a gas fire yourself if you are competent.

Also, I know loads of people who have flueless gas fires. In fact, going flueless is the only option in my house as there is no chimney. No one i know has had any problems.

darkcyde

I think this DIY question is a no brainer to be honest - no, unless you are certified as competent then you should not attempt anything with gas.

With regards to the comments surrounding gas piping, it's not just a matter of making a sound/tight joint. Certain appliances require certain gas rates in order to operate correctly, such as Combi boilers. If you run a gas line in 15mm to a Combi boiler your water from the hot tap won;t get hot enough because the boiler cannot burn enough gas to achieve the required temperature. Training will tell you how to calculate the correctly pipe sizing. Also, there are regulations regarding how deep you can cut into joists to stop people from weakening the overall strength of the house. There are regulations on the distances between surface run pipe clipping to ensure the pipe is adequately supported, etc, etc.

Regarding the general DIY at home, what about this...a home owner decides to put in a new boiler themselves prior to selling the house. The house is sold, new people move in and an incident occurs whereby someone is killed due to a poor installation. You can't tell me that that is acceptable because it is within the law. If a certified competent persons was to do a poor installation which resulted in death they would find themselves in court for manslaughter. Should this also apply to the home DIYer?

There are reasons for registration, and there are reasons for regulations. I'm not saying that they are entirely fair, and Corgi can be a bunch of facists more often than not, but they do save lives.

Couple of examples for you...

Recently a non-competent person installed a new gas line in a customers house and decided to use Hep - the Hep leaked and blew the house up at a cost of £180,000 - luckily no-one was killed.

Again, recently a non-competent person installed a room sealed boiler at a customers house and decided that the flue wasn't required, effectly turning it into a flueless appliance. Killed the entire family, which included two little toddler twin girls.

And not to mention the Corfu incident where Carbon Monoxide killed all those kids!

Regarding these new B&Q flueless decorative effect gas fires, these are borderline dangerous. Regulations state that you can place a flueless appliance of no more than 11/12kw (I forget the exact figure) in a room provided that the room is more than 10m squared and it has an openable door or window to the outside. These decorative fires usually exceed this, but get around the regulation by using some kind of catalytic device. However, the resulting gases from combustion are still vented into the room, and this can include Carbon Monoxide. That sweetish smell you can associate with gas? That's formaldehyde which is a signal that gas is not being burnt properly and will result in Carbon Monoxide being released into the room.

Sorry to rant on for so long, but people should be made more aware of the reasons behind the compentency schemes, and why DIY gas work should not be attempted in any way whatsoever.

(and yes, I am a Corgi registered gas engineer for those of you that were wondering!) :-)

DC