Chimney Liner

rustyboy21

muckybutt wrote: »

HETAS this and HETAS that, all they are is another profit making organisation that do eff all for the money the engineers fork out for.

A good recommended sweep is all you need, I have been sweeping 9 years now - provide certification for jobs etc etc. Providing they can produce references and know what they are doing then go for it. Many times I have come across HETAS jobs that have been signed off that I have condemned as unsafe to use or have breached building regs - some of their fitters leave a lot to be desired !

As for suck it and see ? yeah great advice using something that is uninspected and could potentially either kill you or the other occupants in your house :mad:

Mucky


I understand where you are coming from re HETAS, it is the same for some GASAFE jobs too, but this is where we have an issue in this industry.


There are a lot of Charlatans out there, who say they are registered, but are not. There are also a lot of Non registered sweeps ( like yourself) who do a great job, know what they are doing and can knock spots off anyone registered, but don't depend on being registered, to get there business.


I know it looks and you may feel that it is like a Pyramid scheme, with the fat cats at the top, creaming of all the money and doing diddly squat for the registered engineers, but the issue is, people who need to get things like this done, who don't know who to get in, the easiest thing for advisors to do is to get the poster to check on either HETAS, or GASAFE websites for accredited traders, who you would hope and think were competent in their work. It really is one of the only ways, apart from getting someone recommended, to find someone to do the job.


MY window cleaner, who is a bit of a shark and cowboy ( but does my windows at a good price and I have no issues with him ) is always asking me if I want my garden done, trees pruned etc. A couple of years ago I was talking to him whilst he did my back windows and I commented on a house further down my road, which had a chimney stack on the back of the house on a single storey. It was cut down by half and a flexible copex liner was sticking 5 foot out of the top waving around in the wind.


He said that he was asked by the woman if he could fit a new liner for her and repoint her chimney stack. He took half the stack down, fitted the liner and said that would be ok. Took the money and ran and was quite pleased with himself. He said she was a cow and wanted to get his own back.


This is what people, have to be aware of. He does my windows, nothing more and either I, or my OH watch him like a hawk !

muckybutt

I know where you are coming from rusty, I myself would - if I had to - recommend a registered NACS or Guild of Master Sweeps - sweep if anything, at least you know all their members have been vetted by other chimney sweeps and have regular meetings and trade shows etc.

As for certificates tony, all the customers that I leave certs for have said all their insurance needs are a certificate to show it has been maintained - ie swept and an inspection done so a far as is reasonably practicable, suffice to say I am adequately insured as well ! but in my eyes the certs really aren't worth paper they are written on, who's to say that the day after the sweep the customer goes out and puts a load of chopped up railway sleepers on the fire because they burn well and they have a chimney fire ? ..... it happened !

sma11person

I don't know whether there's a way to check he type of liner, but if it's been supplied for a burner, it should have a guarantee. If you don't have a guarantee, you should seriously consider changing the liner.

As for HETAS... We had a HETAS registered trader to install a burner in our property. Nightmare, and the upshot is that the installation turned out to be non compliant (no liner, and the connecting pipe didn't reach our existing chimney... ). This idiot shouldn't have been registered with HETAS in he first place... such an incompetent moron. The company is still registered, and after that experience, I wouldn't trust HETAS registration at all. I have wondered whether HETAS would be up for manslaughter if one of the cowboys registered with them managed to kill someone.