Gas cooker point

Haven't a clue myself Bobby. My gas point is on the right, faces upwards and is about 6" off the floor and it just passed the gas safety inspection.

Ash

Well "should" in law is different in meaning to "must".

Cross-posted to uk.d-i-y because there are actual gas safe people there :-)

Probably what you are paying for the comet gas safe fitter to do is connect to a convenient existing cooker point.

The flexible pipe should hang in a U shape without touching the floor.

The fact that he wants the bayonet fitting on the left is probably because the cooker connection is on the right and the hose could kink if the connectors were too close together.

Without seeing the job and the cooker it would be difficuld to judge if the fitting was too high. Generally 750mm from the floor is about right.

The bayonet fitting should be pointing down otherwise the hose could not hang in a neat U shape.

It is unlikely in his remit to make any alterations to the fixed pipework.

Are you saying that the flexible hose of the new cooker will not comfortably reach the existing gas point because it enters the cooker on the opposite side to the old one?

Well "should" in law is different in meaning to "must".

Cross-posted to uk.d-i-y because there are actual gas safe people there :-)

I am not a lawyer so I do not know. In any event it does not help me although your cross posting is a good idea - thank you.

Bobby

I think you are right about the Comet Gas Safe fitter. I suspect he just wants to connect and check for leaks to a specific gas point. Mine, he says, does not meet regulations and for him to connect is "illegal" (his words not mine). Also the driver said it was their last job of Sunday (late in the afternoon) and they had been everywhere. I hope they were not in a hurry to get home hence his reluctance to connect to the existing point.

As to paragraphs 2,3,4 and 5, thank you for that useful information.

Bobby

No. The flexible hose of the new cooker, although a little shorter, will comfortably reach the existing gas point. The gas point and the cooker gas point are on the same side i.e. back to back. The existing cooker is the same. The Comet Gas Safe man says that it is against regs. Whilst the cooker gas point is on the right; the wall gas point should be on the left. The hose thereby reaching across the 600 mm back of the cooker in a U hung shape. Whereas at the moment it hangs tight in a U shape being back to back on the right.

Bobby

You'd probably find chapter and verse in the appropriate British Standard, which I'll look up for you if you'll just supply me with your valid Credit Card details ;-)

My older (3rd) edition of the installers' "Essential Gas Safety" manual (the current copy lives in the van) says that the hose should be looped downwards and under no stress. This would imply that the bayonet outlet must face down. and that the bayonet should be positioned such that the hose can hang in such a loop when the cooker is in its normal position.

Thank you for that. I am going to have another chat with the second, local Gas Safe Man about the matter and get him to install the cooker.

Bobby

From viper...

- Historic - gas supply point 500-600mm from the floor... 50-150mm from the RHS

- Current - standards suggest 750mm with no guidance L or R

- Bayonet fitting - example diagram show a downwards pointing wall fitting

Such that the hose can hang free, without being stressed, below any oven flue outlet, and permit the cooker to be moved forward to enable disconnection of a bayonet fitting.

I suspect 750mm has been chosen to reduce the risk of someone tipping a cooker over trying to reach down, stability bracket &/or chain not withstanding. I grew up with an old cast iron cannon, so heavy it was hilarious, miserable insulation, and pilots leaked like a pig such that the HSE would have put it on a military test range and blown it up.

Go with a local fitter so you have an easy single point of responsibility.

I'm not GasSafe (I might or might not be gas safe) but I believe a bayonet elbow is supposed to point down. The idea is that if the hose becomes disconnected it will fall out, and the spring-loaded valve in the elbow will close. Otherwise, the hose fitting could disconnect sufficiently to be no longer sealed, but remain sitting in place with its central prong still holding the valve open, creating a leak.

Pete

If it's a sensible design, the central prong should disengage /before/ the seal breaks.

It's true that it *should*, but not having played with one recently I can't remember if it actually is made that way or not. Since it's a standard connection it's not trivial to introduce an improved version, so I wouldn't be amazed to find that it doesn't have the failsafe you describe.

Pete

"Pete Verdon" wrote in message news:hb5mv1$7lg$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

That would be a pretty stupid design assumption.. the hoses are so stiff they probably wouldn't fall out anyway. You would have to have it 6 foot up the wall and hanging down to get it to fall out. I would think the reason you have it pointing down is to stop dirt falling in it.

Right! I found a down-to-earth common sense Gas Safe man who left the cooker point at the same height (about 750 mm) and move it about 100m to the left to avoid hitting the gas pipe inlet on the back of the cooker. He fixed a bayonet point pointing downwards on the wall point. Installed a new

Total cost for less than 30 minutes work was £50. Another Gas Safe man wanted £145. Comet are to refund £89.95 for a simple no nonsense fitting and £8.95 for scrap removal as I'm taking the old cooker apart and taking it to the Sunday dust cart myself.

I would also add the fellow offered to give me a hand to take outside the old cooker, which I declined.

So common sense prevails and is a live and well in some gas fitters minds but not Comet ones.

Bobby