corgi a must?

George_Bray

I'm always of the opinion that if I can try/do somethng, without it being dangerous, or costing me more money than if a tradesperson were to do it, I'd give it ago. In such a scenario, there is little to loose.

I agree 100% with your philosophy. And the more you do, the more you learn, and you are then competent, i.e. self trained with the help of Internet text like the excellent site you pointed out.

In the unlikely event of a major gas explosion after DIY work, though, you can imagine that the DIYer would find it almost impossible to prove he was competent. The expert witnesses would be so biased against the DIYer, even if the explosion was a virtual act of God. The jury would be impressed by the expert witnesses. The work WOULD be declared illegal and the DIYer would be in big trouble, starting with his household insurance being declared null and void.

Solution - make sure you do a good job and never have an explosion, major fire or gas poisoning.

Regards
George

Going_Digital

I would strongly recommend that you do all the water plumbing yourself as that can be done by anyone with a bit of common sense.

Leave the GAS to a CORGI fitter, don't even run a pipe from where the boiler will be to the mains point as the CORGI fitter will not be happy to sign it off as he has no idea if you have used the correct materials when joining the pipe etc. They will be more than happy to do the job as long as they do all GAS related work themselves.

Think about it would you be happy to take responsibility for something that you had no control over ? Note I am not a plumber but have a good friend who is CORGI registered who does all the maintenance on my house and this is his position. He found that some idiot had put a copper gas pipe through a wall and filled it with cement. Cement contains lime and when in contact with coper eats it. The pipe had been eaten through to the point that gas was escaping. Now a CORGI registered gas fitter would know not to do this but a DIY'er may not. A hole in a gas pipe could cause death, the worst a hole in a water pipe would do is have the celling fall in.

Going_Digital

Note 'competent' is not a generic term to mean someone who is good at DIY. It means someone who can demonstrate that they have been trained in such a way that they are able to perform work that meets all the necessary regulatory requirements. The reason the word competent is used is that organizations like CORGI are not necessarily unique. Any trade body could set-up a similar scheme to CORGI and register it with the government as an approved scheme to show 'competence' in a trade.

George_Bray

Going_Digital

The points you make are very valid. As much as I would fancy an attempt at DIY, I concede I would be quite likely to make a mistake like burying copper pipe under cement. I didn't know about that pitfall for a start! A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Unless 'competence' is closely defined in the regulations, I agree it is likely to be assessed on experience and qualifications rather than blind self-belief.

Regards
George

StephenB_2

Note I am not a plumber but have a good friend who is CORGI registered who does all the maintenance on my house and this is his position. He found that some idiot had put a copper gas pipe through a wall and filled it with cement. Cement contains lime and when in contact with coper eats it. The pipe had been eaten through to the point that gas was escaping. Now a CORGI registered gas fitter would know not to do this but a DIY'er may not. A hole in a gas pipe could cause death, the worst a hole in a water pipe would do is have the celling fall in.

Without wishing to sound too sarcastic, your friend would do well to contact the UK Copper Board who labour under the apparent illusion that "It is well known that copper is highly resistant to corrosion by most building materials: brick, plaster and concrete or mortar based on Portland cement do not cause problems." see here

SJB

dougk_2

A corgi radio ad on the way home from work the other day stated it was ILLEGAL for anyone not CORGI registered to do any gas work.

Going by what I have read here that is not strictly true.

Is it worth a complaint to the ASA? (or are they now called something else).

alienlaffinboyo

Hey Ade i'm A gas fitter, i see loads of diy disasters every day ( they keep me in work lol).
Best and safest thing to do is ......leave all the gas work to the corgi engineer, i kno this seems like ur not saving any money but how do u kno u are doing the job correctly ?
for exampe..... how do u kno what pipe sizes to use ?? ???
how do u kno wha flux and solder to use ??? ??? what if u have to run a pipe through a cavity wall ???? ??? is it the correct loction for the boiler ??? ??? the list goes on and on ....... save ur self the head aches mate. ::)