Gas Safe Registration - Legality clarification please

cyclonebri1

gas4you wrote: »

Keith.

Not wanting to seem to blatantly disagree with you, I have had this out with GSR in the past, and their view, at the time I hasten to add as god knows, they change their minds more than I do my underpants!, was that they basically didn't care, but would hold the signatory as fully legally responsible for the installation.

Cyclone, yes of course I would be able to tell if an installation was to standard or not, but that is not really the point I was trying to make.

Apart from the safety and regs side, you also have to consider the benchmark and manufacturers warranty side of things.

You are also signing of the boiler saying it has been flushed and commissioned as per the MI's, so if they reject a warranty call, it falls back on the signatory.

After saying all that, I have happily signed off a mates work who is no longer Gas Safe Registered.

He trained me and I worked for him for many years. I trust him and know his work is always excellent. He has also signed off oil boilers for me as all he is qualified now for is oil.

Would I do it for a stranger? Definitely not.

The chances are that a phone call out of the blue asking to sign off a boiler, would have been a DIY installation by the home owner doing it on the cheap.

OP. The only direct answer I can give, is that it is illegal for anyone not gas registered to fit a gas appliance whilst charging a fee for the privilege.

Gas4you, Sound advice there chap,

Keith, I too now think the op has hidden agenda by the way

Keystone, I think it's the anomaly in the regs that spawns most of the DIY gas issues. By which I mean the fact that it is not illegal for the homeowner himself, assuming he is competent, to carry out his own gas work.
Unfortunately that leads to him working for the rest of the family, his mates etc etc, which is where it becomes taboo, and rightly so.

I worked in industry all my life, the factory units we covered, I was an employee remember, all had gas fired heating and gas feed networks to feed.

Several new employees question the legality of us carrying out this work, suggesting that as they weren't corgi registered as it was then, it was illegal.

I was managing the engineering and electrical staff at that time.
Several call to corgi registrations to ensure I spoke to a couple of different people gave the answer that in commercial property that is covered by public liability insurance, demanded by the factories act in our case, there is no requirement to have a formal corgi qualification. I assume this is the same now as regards Gas Safe.

There was a requirement to prove competence.

The only reason I've mentioned this is to suggest why many diyers who have possibly been involved in engineering feel it ok to dabble.

Not justifying it, it's illegal under those circumstances, just giving a possible reason why it is prevalent.

Spiggle

Good morning and thank you all for your replies.

Genuinely no hidden agenda. I really do need my boiler replaced and will be employing a GSR installer to do it.

If there was anything detected in my posts, it may have been that I have family and they have homes and I am not 100% sure all of their work over the years will have been done by GSR (or CORGI) installers. As I was reading the threads to research for myself (particularly this one) I became increasingly concerned for family members' homes and appliances. Therefore the issue of legality, insurance, warranties, etc. became more and more relevant.

Then the more I tried to get an answer on the specific legality question, I seemed to not get any straight answers and so was a little frustrated yesterday. I apologise if that was detected in my posts.

Anyway, back to my boiler, I have got three possibilities from the local free paper and have checked the registrations on the GSR and will be contacting them today to give me prices to replace this awful Ideal isar. Unfortunately, i have no one else to ask for recommendations so it'll be a case of fingers-crossed. It certainly appears from the thread linked to above that GS aren't that interested in the quality of installation but rather the essential safety aspects.

Thank you all for your time and contributions. Please wish me luck for finding a decent (and reasonably priced!) GSR installer.

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

ANOTHER QUESTION PLEASE.

I have just read post #10 of the this sticky which says:

Also, it mentions that if you replace your boiler (which I did 18 months ago) I should apply for building regs, oh dear .

The post is five years old. Does this requirement still apply please?

Thanks in advance again,
Spigs

southcoastrgi

Yes building control need to be notified, however when a flued appliance is installed it is a req to notify GS of it's installation (however since changing from corgi to GS you do not have to notify a flueless appliance ie a cooker or hob), you pay your money as an installer to GS £2-50 if it's done online they then will inform building control & you will get a cert in the post.

Spiggle

Thanks for your answer Keith,

So I don't need to do anything (i.e. approach building control directly) and the GSR installer will do this.

Thank you, that's a relief!

I really do appreciate the help all of you guys give on here, thank you. You do have an awful tendency to argue with each other though and that can be very confusing for us mere mortals who know nothing!

Thanks again and all the best,
Spigs

southcoastrgi

No probs, it's confusing for me most of the time on here, but also entertaining at times, you think this is bad wait until the xmas party lol

cyclonebri1

Spiggle wrote: »

Thanks for your answer Keith,

So I don't need to do anything (i.e. approach building control directly) and the GSR installer will do this.

Thank you, that's a relief!

I really do appreciate the help all of you guys give on here, thank you. You do have an awful tendency to argue with each other though and that can be very confusing for us mere mortals who know nothing!

Thanks again and all the best,
Spigs

Can the regulars take note please, and no I'm not trying to become admin, I just have the view that we should give our opinions, not our advice, point out any errors in other posts that could potentially hazardous to both pocket and health.

Then armed with allthe views the question asker can use that to deal with whoever they are dealing with, or to satisfy themselves how they should do the job.??>

Or does someone want to argue, :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Footnote OP, 99% plus of us here are really trying to help :T:T:T:T:T:T

Spiggle

:T :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


:beer: for all of you!

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

ANOTHER QUESTION (and I have no doubt you will argue on this one!!!)

What would be the best size of boiler for me - 9/10 rads running off it in a detached bungalow that has loft and cavity wall insulation - please? ETA: It will swop out the Ideal in a cupboard in the kitchen by the way.

My preference for maker having read these boards would be Vaillant or Worcester Bosch but I don't have an unending budget. So if these were too expensive, what would you recommend I went with please? (A work colleague talked about a German (I think) make but I don't remember the name as I'd not heard of it before.)

My first combi (before the Ideal isar) was a Ferroli and the BG engineers on a home care contract nagged constantly about it for years!!!!! I have seen a couple of positive comments on here about them recently. Have they improved please?

Bring on the discussion!!!!!

Seriously, thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

All the best,
Spigs

southcoastrgi

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Or does someone want to argue, :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Can we have a separate thread please to discuss the various merits of whether we want to argue.