legality of gas plumbing?

[Pete]

Does anybody know if it's legal - or if it affects house insurance - to plumb in your own gas hob? Or does it have to be done by a Corgi man?

[Christian McArdle]

The general opinion seems to be that it can be done legally by the homeowner in many circumstances. However, there are some caveats.

1. You must be competent. This means that things like jointing pipe, leak detection, pressure testing etc. must be understood and correctly performed to the standards expected of a CORGI registered fitter.
2. The house must not be rented out.
3. Rules (such as whether using flexible hoses is acceptable or not) must be followed.
4. No payment of any kind can be made.

Christian.

[Doctor Evil]

Already a thread on this. Do a find on corgi. You can do it.

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Squirt copiuos amounts of fairly liquid around the joints and wait for the bubbles

[RichardS]

Add to that a general point - it's a bit of a grey area (and implicitly recognised as such by CORG1 if you read their warnings carefully - last time I read it their wording was definitly designed to give the impression that doing your own gas work is illegal, but they don't actually state it). If something were to go catastrophically wrong (if for instance the hob developed a non-fail safe fault that led to loss of life or serious injury) you might find yourself in the uncomfortable spotlight of an investigation.

In other words, you need to be beyond reproach in your execution of the job - I would argue that in this context "competence" extends to understanding of the regs & issues; planning; due regard to such things as siting, ventilation, test requirements, etc; workmanship; and procedure. It might be a good idea to record all the tests performed & their results.

There is a website (think it's somewhere on the HSE site) that lists prosecutions for illegal gas work - I read as many of these as I could stand a while ago, and did not find a single prosecution for a householder carrying out their own gas work. They were all either unregistered workmen carrying out gas-work (explicitly not allowed) or gross incompetence in gas fitting.

As for the insurance aspect, there's only really one answer - get the policy terms & conditions and read them very, very carefully, especially any catch-all clauses.

[Doctor Evil]

Wrong. You don't use neat liquid, you a soap solution of water/liquid.

[Peter Crosland]

Legally you have to be competant. Your insurer will be more than unhappy if they find out.

Peter Crosland

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Try neat fairly liquid and see what happens.

[John Rumm]

Note that many detergents contain salt and can be corrosive, so if using one make sure you wash it off after.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Gas leak detector spray works much better too. It has a nice capilliary action into the joint and then grows much clearer frothy clumps of cuckcoo spit if there's a leak. Doesn't leave any marks if you manage to spray it on the wall, drip it on the floor, etc. LD-90 is one make I use which the local builders merchant stocks.

[RichardS]

If they haven't specifically excluded it (or caught it with a rather more general clause) then pretty much sod all they can do about it.

Might not stop them trying, though.

[Andy Dingley]

Or do what our CORGI fitter did - use aerosol flux. As flux, to cool joints down after soldering, and as a leak detector spray.

You can imagine the corrosion problems afterwards.

[Ed Sirett]

I have not taken the attitude that d-i-y should be totally outlawed. I have tried to provide some information which might help people who are already highly experienced general plumbers about gas fitting, although I stress that work must e done competently.

I take the view information is to be preferred to ignorance. I receive emails thanking me for the Gas Fitting FAQ and others telling me something along the lines of "I'm endangering people by giving them knowledge which they will misuse."

However some things I'm sure of. a) Proper leak testing is done _before_ and after work on a gas installation. b) leaking joints are found using soft soap solution or approved lead detection fluid.

Fairly liquid can be corrosive once it dries and becomes more concentrated.

[Dave]

The problem with doing this is that the leak may be greater that the liquid's ability to create a bubble. I suffered this problem looking for oxygen leaks in the cockpit of aircraft.

A better way to check for leaks is to use a brush and make a collar of small bubbles around the whole length of the joint. If you can make a full 360 degree collar then you can see if any of the bubbles begin to grow. The use of a mirror and lots of patience helps in proving that there is no leak. If you fail to make a 360 degree collar, then you have a big leak.

HTH

Dave