BG fitment of gas wall heater

[js.b1]

Pictures of BG supply & fit gas wall heater, 1996 at my mother's house. Seen very little use except during last winter (kept on minimum).

When Transco replaced the leaking cast iron main with alkathene, they found 7 leaks in the outside piping, 2 in the inside piping and meter at an "excessive angle" and a suspected 8mm-stuffed-into-15mm elbow (yet to find out if that's the case). That is after emergency visits in 1996 summer re gas leak (internal gas valve, no isolating valve fitted), and again in 1997.

Removing the heater from the wall yielded the following.

vinyl wallpaper is well charred & crispy, no proper seal between the flue and body, no proper seal between the flue and cavity (which is unsealed and wide open).

Above the heater is an utterly trashed ceiling - it appears moisture in the wall (or combustion vapour leaking) evaporated to condense on the eaves above, dripping onto the sloping ceiling, the internal side of which would be heated by the heater. The location is on a small stair-landing, not where we wanted it, but he had already drilled the hole so a bit late.

Surprised there was such poor attention to detail around the flue fitting.

[geoff]

In message , js.b1 writes

Why ?

The subject line says it all

[David Perry]

They fitted a gas fire at a relatives house about 6 years ago, both suffered carbon monoxide poisoning as they didn't check the chimney or renew the lining as they should, and they charged for. To stop my relatives reporting it, they had to "sign papers for a new fire". Both relatives later died.

[JimK]

mmmm how much later?

JimK

[js.b1]

I know.

People blindly trust BG as much because "they are big so can more easily be held to account and must be trustworthy", but the reality shows it is can be miss-placed. They did not follow the installation instructions re clearances, fitting, stopcock etc - but they old sold

3 as I recall so should have known (Maxol, Baxi & Robinson Wiley which are relatively similar).

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember JimK saying something like:

Five years later, in a nursing home.

[JimK]

eh? .....same family tree?!?

[js.b1]

BG did use a core drill on the cavity wall, but in an odd way

- Inner leaf drilled from inside, but only part way - bolster used to smash the core out creating an enormous "burst" inside the cavity.

- Outer leaf drilled from outside, again only part way - bolster to smash the core out creating again an enormous "burst" inside the cavity.

The only logic I can think of is they didn't want to risk the core drill teeth breaking. Wonderful, the cavity either side of the hole measured out to 120mm. Had to use stainless mesh epoxy'd outside the "cone" to create a framework for refilling. Trying to mortar it would have just put more crap down the cavity.

Outer leaf to fill once I get a new 8-step stepladder... Hire Station or new yellow fibreglass from Ebay...

[JimK]

also would have been much quicker than drilling all way thru....

presumably all those 2 cores etc is down the cavity as well ....nice "clean" job...

JimK

[js.b1]

It was odd, I saw & heard the core drill, then BANGing.

Cores were kept, but equivalent volume of shattered brick down there. He is probably doing Grid work now... LNG...

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember JimK saying something like: