Gas appliances left unsafe by engineer.. Please read

jessicamcelvaney

Hi
Not sure how relevant this post will be in here but I am at an absolute loss at what to do in this case..

We purchased a new electric oven which, when it arrived, was too deep as there was a gas pipe in the way. This gas pipe ran from our meter, through to the combi boiler and also serving the gas hob.

It should have been a fairly simple and easy job to complete, however when we got an engineer out a whole array of problems started to rear their heads.

Now, abit of background - We purchased this house from a developer two years ago. She had a new combi boiler and gas hob installed when she was renovating the house and we do have relevant gas safety certs to state who completed the work ect.

So anyway these problems - First of all the engineer stated that the pipes feeding the boiler and gas hob were undersized (15mm rather than 22mm) so rather than this being a simple pipe relocation job, this then became a big replacement of all the pipes between meter - hob - boiler

Secondly, the gas hob was installed and left without an isolation valve on it - This should have been put on upon installation a per regulations.

After completing all the work (At a cost of £260) the gas hob failed the safety test - The engineer looked into it, and it seems a small section of pipe has been cross threaded which has in turn left the hob leaking - For two years!!!!! Albeit it is a small leak but the hob has now been condemned and we're awaiting advice on whether the engineer can source a replacement part or whether it is going to have to be a full replacement of the hob.

The cost has got us annoyed as hell - We've had to pay for all this work to be done all because the engineers could not be arsed to do the work properly in the first place - However the thing that upsets me the most is knowing they're doing this to SO many houses in this area (She develops alot of houses locally and always uses the same engineers/decorating team ect) and they could be leaving ALOT of people at risk by doing half arsed shoddy work.

So my question is, how do I go about making a complaint? Would you go directly to the developer with the threat of trading standards (I imagine she would be liable had our house blown up!!) Or do I complain directly to the gas board (Or whatever governing body is responsible for gas safe registered engineers!!)

Sorry for the lost post, thanks for reading, and hope theres enough info here for you to help me figure out how to get these crappy engineers sorted out. I hate to think what would have happened if we had decided not to get this work done and the leak on the hob got worse.. We could have all died

unclebulgaria

Call Gas Safe on 08004085500 and request a free Gas Safety inspection.
Lets hope your current engineer has done his job right or he'll be answering some questions too!

Keep_pedalling

I am a bit dubious about the claims for undersized pipe, unless it is supplying a range type hob or there is a long pipe run from the meter 15mm should be ample.

As for the boiler again unless this is a large house or it is situated some way from the meter 15mm should be fine, so before you go after the original installers make sure you are not being spun a line to increase the value of the job.

jessicamcelvaney

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

I am a bit dubious about the claims for undersized pipe, unless it is supplying a range type hob or there is a long pipe run from the meter 15mm should be ample.

As for the boiler again unless this is a large house or it is situated some way from the meter 15mm should be fine, so before you go after the original installers make sure you are not being spun a line to increase the value of the job.

The installation manual states a minimum of 22mm pipe

Regardless of this, they left our gas hob A) without an isolation valve and leaking gas when they sold the house

I'd love to know if this should have been discovered by our surveyor as well..

jessicamcelvaney

unclebulgaria wrote: »

Call Gas Safe on 08004085500 and request a free Gas Safety inspection.
Lets hope your current engineer has done his job right or he'll be answering some questions too!

I so wish I had known about this before we had the work done!

Fluff15

I do believe it is the engineer themselves that is liable if anything happened, not the developer. Thankfully you weren't injured, but you are right to be concerned that other properties are in this state.

Ask your engineer to write a full report, then contact both the developer and the HSE - you can contact them through 08454 04 05 06, or through the trading standards of your local council. The developer is probably using this gas safe engineer in good faith and without somebody reporting any issues they may continue to use them.

Hopefully, you can claim back the costs through the gas engineer such as in this case:

http://press.hse.gov.uk/2014/gas-engineer-left-boiler-in-dangerous-state/

And remember, it is always wise to have a CO monitor in your property!

EmmyLou30

All new boilers now require a 22mm incoming supply so yes leaving the 15mm one was them cutting corners. Definitely get a CO monitor as well.

jessicamcelvaney

EmmyLou30 wrote: »

All new boilers now require a 22mm incoming supply so yes leaving the 15mm one was them cutting corners. Definitely get a CO monitor as well.

We already have two, one was ironically fitted to the wall by said engineers so we've bought another one, just in case!

phill99

The surveyor would not have picked up the issues with the gas installation. They would caveat their report by suggesting you get a gas inspection. They are surveyors, not gas engineers.

Ring Gas Safe as suggested above. They may well investigate other work that he has undertaken.

stevefoss

Yes 22mm pipe is needed for a combi boiler. (I am GSR)

jessicamcelvaney

phill99 wrote: »

The surveyor would not have picked up the issues with the gas installation. They would caveat their report by suggesting you get a gas inspection. They are surveyors, not gas engineers.

Ring Gas Safe as suggested above. They may well investigate other work that he has undertaken.

Yeah someone at work suggested the surveyor thing.. I wasn't quite sure really especially as it was a basic survey

Im going to be contacted Gas Safe anyway but I've found that this particular business was dissolved BEFORE they carried out the work on the boiler and the engineer who carried out the work under the name of this company is not on the GSR. Not sure if he was at the time or what...