In message , Christian McArdle writes
To paraphrase (I attended the HSE fundamental review on gas safety)
"The HSE do not have sufficient data to have an opinion on the matter of DIY gas work.
They are monitoring the situation, but do not have any serious concerns at the moment"
This was a couple of years ago, but having heard nothing since to the contrary, I presume that their position hasn't changed
If you feel you are competent, then D.I.Y. it But you should then get either a Corgi registered engineer to commission the boiler and sign off the installation. OR diy and get a Landlords gas safety inspection. You would then be completely covered insurance wise, and saved lotsofmoney.
Since there is clearly no legal requirement to belong to CORGI to do what you describe, then I would expect if the insurer wanted to avoid payment based on your "competency", they would have to do far more than just argue that the you do not belong to CORGI. They would have to demonstrate that the fire was a result of substandard gas fitting that you carried out.
IANAL, but I would expect that in a case such as this you would demonstrate your competency by calling an expert witness to verify that the procedures you followed were indeed those that would be carried out by a competent person.
Er no. Proving such would do them no good. You could be driving up the wrong side of a dual carriageway at 120mph, swigging Southern Comfort and taking pop shots at passing motorists with an Uzi and it would still not invalidate your insurance, at least not the 3rd party part.
However, this isn't a general insurance issue, as this situation comes about because of the compulsory nature of 3rd party motor insurance. Other voluntary insurance policies can have whatever exclusions they like, provided any unusual restrictions are pointed out before sale, rather than being buried in small print.
Christian.
Thanks to all...
I've just had a stolen boiler replaced, like for like, by a CORGI reg'd plumber. Less than 2 hours work for 400 quid, and some hassle if you read my other thread. Tiny little things too, like he scorched the white enamel where you can hardly notice it, but he shouldn't've scorched it at all. And the pipes arent exactly parrallell, and stick out further than necessary from the wall. I'm getting a safety check, for £60, on this guys work tomorrow.
Too frustrating having a buzy tradesman rushing to fit me in between jobs. In future, I'll alwaysdiy it, and get a gas safety check. I have some idea about pipe sizes and flue locations, bu I'll read up on it before I do any gas work myself.
............... A job I might want to do myself is put a gas fire in without lifting much of the laminate floor. I think it's doable with one sub-floor weld at most, but I don't think I'd find someone else to do it. ............................................. The car analogy is interesting. Supposing the headlights weren't working at all, and I had an accident at mid day, I don't think the lights, an mot fail, could be an issue as far as the insurance company was concerned, since they didn't contribute to the accident. ............................................ Another interesting point raised: If a CORGI plumber did the gas work, and the house blew up, then his competence is in doubt despite his qualification.
Thanks again tony
Good point. Has anyone ever seen an insurance policy that made explicit mention of DIY gas fitting? Most I have read don't even mention DIY of any sort, other than perhaps in relation to an accidental damage policy.
Hi,
If you have a video camera try recording parts of what you are doing, especially the testing and commissioning. That should go a long way to proving you are competent in case of any problems.
cheers, Pete.
one of the problems i can see with DIY boiler fitting is the vallidity of the warranty The installation manual for my ideal boiler states that'By law this boiler must be installed and serviced by a CORGI registered fitter' the only mention of a competent person relates to the Republic of Ireland. Iwould presume on a warranty claim the manufacturer would require the Benchmark logbook which should contain the fitters CORGI number installed and
"andyd" wrote | one of the problems i can see with DIY boiler fitting is the vallidity | of the warranty | The installation manual for my ideal boiler states that'By law this | boiler must be installed and serviced by a CORGI registered fitter'
which is (a) incorrect and nonsense, and nonsense has no legal effect, and (b) a restriction on your statutory rights, which is illegal.
Owain
Well, not entirely nonsense. If it *is* installed by a "fitter" (ie someone who does it as a job and is paid for it) it is certainly true that the fitter must be CORGI registered - the regulations are quite clear on that. Clearly the words "or other competent person if they are doing it as an employee" were left off deliberately!
The bit we all argue about is how the phrase "competent person" will be viewed by a court if you do it yourself. In the end this will be decided by a court making the decision, at which point their interpretation will become law (I don't know that this has happened yet). My view (stated higher up the thread, but somewhat shouted down) is that they will say it means CORGI registered or they may accept lots of documentary evidence.
This is only one view and I don't believe anyone on this ng (including me!) knows how the law will be defined.
Typo, sorry:
I meant to say "or other competent person if they are NOT doing it as an employee".
Murphy's Law: "typos always reverse the sense of what you are saying when they are very public".
The phrase is misleading. It states that only Corgi register people can fit the boiler otherwise no guarantee. That is incorrect. Being half correct is not enough.
I didn't say it was enough. I said it wasn't entirely nonsense (Owain had already said it was incorrect). I also detailed the area in which it was misleading.
What does it actually take to become a corgi registered operative? I've just put in my gas cooker with new pipe work back to the meter. Followed Ed Sirett's excellent f.a.q. Bought a manometer (not expensive). Will do the manometer test gain at some point just to check. Can't see a prob with simple DIY but doesn't a new boiler require 'commissioning' i.e. setting up with the aid of various test procedures and meters etc?
cheers
Jacob
In many cases very little. The only commissioning tests specified on my boiler (other than basic soundness tests) were checking the gas pressure at the test point in the boiler, and then various obsevational tests to verify that it went rhrough the right sequences and status indication codes as you demanded heat and hot water. The instructions explicitly instructed not to touch anything else since it was all preset at the factory.
Not just the registration number but also the card's unique serial number which changes each year.
In my experience with a middle quality boiler you probably have got c. a 10% chance of a warranty claim in the first 2 years.
You may well be right. However to get the boiler maker to deliver on your rights will likely take some doing. True you could take them to court but it may well cost a lot of time to save a little money.
For the most part if the boilers are conventional then the commissiong checks will either be stuff that any conscientious fitter would do or they will require no more than measuring a few pressures and gas rates.
However in my experience you absolutely need a combustion analyser (£250+) if you are going to set up a forced premix burner as you invariably find in condensing boilers.
When you consider how much you save it is wise to pay a Corgi registered fitter to check it and a give a certificate Look upon it as an insurance protecting your investment. either that or get someone in to install the central heating and pay for the privilege MikeS
A Corgi gas safety check, (which I had recently) comprises from what I've seen of a flame colour check, front equipment visual check, and the drop test. There's no checking the quality of solder joints, the correctness of pipe diameters, or whether isolator valves are fitted appropriately.
I thought they'd go deeper into it.
Tony
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.