My gas supplier has turned the gas off at the meter saying there's a a leak or the system needs tightening. Currently there's a 0.5 milli bar 'leak' in 2 mins. which he says is within limits but should be checked out by a gas safe engineer.
while in a 'discusion" with an 'expert in everything' :- when I said I don t; know anyone that's gas safe so I couldn;t do this as a DIY job, unless I became gas safe registared and I don't believe that would be an efficient use of my time or be profitable.
he has said in another post.
me > > I don;t know anyone that is gas safe,
> You don't need to be when doing work on your own house.
He is a blitheriong idiot or have I got this wrong ?
AIUI, yes, you can work on gas but you must be competent, i.e. if it goes wrong you were not competent. If you get paid for the work you must be Gas Safe registered.
1 are you capable of repairing your own gas leak and testing the system afterwards?
Generally speaking, judging by your username and various typos, plus the fact you are having to ask the question at all, the answer is probably no.
To test the system, you would need a manometer. I am guessing that you do not have one. So, you will not be able to test the system after you have worked on it. you can make a manometer, but I will leave you to work that one out.
2 Are you allowed to work on the pipework, now that the gas has been switched off?
Yes you are. however, on a practical basis, it is going to be very difficult to find any leak without the gas switched on. The usual way as to pressurise the pipework and spray soapy water on the joints. That will not work if there is no gas.
3 are you allowed to switch the gas back on again after you have worked on the pipework?
No. You really need to get your local gas safe engineer to come and switch it back on again and test the pressure drop.
All in all, if you want to stay legal, you may as well get your gas safe engineer to do the whole job.
If you do not care about being legal, then you may be able to get it sorted out yourself, but I strongly recommend getting somebody to do a further pressure drop test after you have finished. you may be astonished to find that there are not that many gas safe engineers queueing up to check over your work, though.
ISTR this was discussed here recently... (look in the wind power thread above from a week ago or so)
Possibly both...
That depends.
Have a look at the GAS fitting FAQ
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Having said that, there are relatively simple things that you likely could do to help narrow the investigation, even if you are not competent do more involved work.
You would need at a minimum a U tube manometer connected to the test point on the meter. With all appliances switched off, you would do a pressure drop test (see FAQ). You will likely see the pressure loss being discussed. If you then turned off the isolation valves to all appliances (and say unplugged the cooker's hose from the self sealing connector). You could then repeat the test and see if that made a difference. If it eliminated the loss, then you know the loss is in one of the appliances. (a small rate of loss with appliances connected is permitted - up to 4mbar so long as there is no smell of gas). With no appliances connected there is no permitted drop - so a loss then would indicate a leak in the pipework.
If you are in a detached house with nobody about and at least fifty yards from the nearest dwelling I'd give it a go! grin Seriously, if its just a loose joint, it could probably be tightened yourself, but anything else is a bit of an issue. I don't have gas here any more. Brian
Correct. There are two requirements in the legislation: Firstly, *anyone* who works on gas must be "competent". "Competent" is not defined in the legislation, so it has it's usual English meaning of "capable of doing the work without serious errors". Note that pretty much any error with gas is serious ...
Secondly, if someone is *paid* to work on gas (the legislation goes a little wider than actual money changing hands), then the effect of the legislation is that they must be Gas Safe registered. (Actually the legislation allows the Secretary of state to define classes of people who may be paid to do work on gas. At the moment the only defined class is "Gas Safe Registered").
So the OP's correspondent is correct that you don't have to be registered on gas in your own home, but that doesn't necessarily mean the OP is permitted.
If I were the OP, I'd find a local plumber and pay the call-out charge.
Which regulation allows a gas safe technician (they are not engineers) to turn the gas on but prohibits a competent person who is perfectly entitled to work on the installation from doing so?
An interetsing question. After the gas safe engineer turned up and switched off teh gas and putting a notice on it saying such. I'm not sure if I can switch the gas back on and use it as I have for the last few years, with the leak I reported. ?
I don't see usernames as meaning very much. But if that is what you use to 'test' a person compendancey in anither I've think I've read enough.
Not that difficult.
That's what I thought.
Yep I know, I have a spray can leak detector I brought a couple of years ago. when I first thought I had a leak.
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That's what I was assuming, especaily now it has been turned off by a gas safe man and notice put on it.
Which is what I thought in the first place.
Well I did have a sip of beer on the undergound a few months back.
I assume they will if I pay them.
Do you have an advice on choosing a gas safe person ? I mean would someone called bestgasintheuk.aol.com be a good choice or perhaps British gas, we all know how great their service and business models are.
That sounds like good advice. Leaks tend to get worse with time.
You can't be prevented from mending your own gas leak or as a bloke who lived a few miles from me installing your own gas CH system. However, when it explodes destroying your house don't expect the insurers to pay up. The house I recall was left as a blackened ruin for years after.
ISTR another case where a "Competent" person with the appropriate Gas Safe certificate failed to properly leak test the system and demolished three houses in a terraced row but at least the insurers did pay up.
Ah thanks, that really is the useful information I was trying to get, rathe r than have to discuss user and posting names and how they help you work ou t whether or not someone is compendent to do the work. ;-)
As the gas safe person turned the meter off. I was thinking (subject to leg ality) about turning it back on to locate the leak which WE believed to be under the floor. I asked him (while there) to service my baxi gas fire, which he looked at a nd said is older than he is (installed 1988) and he couldn't service someth ing that old without getting the parts which would be expensive. When WE tr ied the fire he said the orange flame meant CO could be present perhaps cau sed by a blockage in the chinmey which he advised to get looked at. My CO detector didn't detect any CO. He then 'switched off' the connector/v alve near the fire so the fiure couldn;t be used.
His suggestion was to get a new gas fire and get that installed, then he'd come around and run a new gas pipe for £400 via the loft. I don;t want a gas pipe running the wall from the ceiling and down, so was thinking of trying to find the leak under the floor in my own time. If I fo und it I could get him to come and seal it or whatever. I'm not sure how bubbly a 0.5mb would create, perhaps I wouldn't be able to find it and if it is still within regulations, surely he could reconnect me with a newly installed fire as there's no smell of gas.
My other option is to get rid of gas completely and go with only electric. I'm currently attempting to work out if having an elctric fire on in the ev ening is cheaper than running gas, unfortunalty the weather is rather warm so I can't tell yet. Thanks for *your* help
For the purposes of testing (especially as you know the leak is small) I can't see any problem with that.
You may find that a good vacuum of all the dust and accumulated soot would improve the flame picture. You could also test the flue is drawing correctly with a smoke match.
Even small leaks tend to be quite visible with leak detector.
For clarity, if the leak is in a pipe, then it can't be within regulations since the pressure loss allowed from the pipework alone is nil. Its only when the appliances are connected that there is an allowance for a small amount of let by in the appliance control taps.
Check the prices you are paying on your bill. Chances are electricity is at least three times the price of gas per kWh. Some gas fires (particularly "living flame" style ones) are fairly inefficient which narrows the margin a bit.
Not quite sure how one's username and the quality of their typing is supposed to indicated their competency to trace a gas leak...
Also I don't see the point of statements like "if you need to ask, then you are not competent...", since surely part of the process of becoming competent in anything is to do basic research and ask questions?
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