DIY LPG installation

[tony.newland1]

I want to install LPG in my house for heating and a hob. The installation is for myself, nobody else, in my own property. I will only be using 2 small cylinders outside with an auto change-over valve. I have installed central heating systems before for myself before both gas and oil and I am not a member of any proffesional body. I have had past work checked over the years by proffesionals (people I know in the industry, including British Gas) in the cases of the boiler installations to check for leaks and regulation compliance with no problems at all. I would consider myself competant but no body seems to actually be able to prove in black and white that you have to be CORGI registered person to undertake LPG work (or OFTEC in the case of oil) yourself.

I have been trawling the internet for months and I cannot find anything which clearly states what the law is. Can anybody enlighten me please.

[Bob Mannix]

For gas fitting you should be competent.

If nothing goes wrong your competence is unlikely to be questioned.

If something does go wrong and your competence is questioned by a third party or organisation (eg an insurance company), you can either prove you are "competent" through the normal route of CORGI membership OR (in the final analysis) by presenting large quantities of supporting documentation of previous installation experience/other qualifications to prove your case.

Therefore, in the normal case, now, effectively, in the UK, CORGI is taken to be equivalent to "competent" (it may not actually mean competent though, but that's not the point).

[Bob Mannix]

I should add that, if you are doing it for yourself and never involve anyone else there is unlikely to be a problem as you are not being paid to do it. Were a third party to get involved after an incident, even if just doing it for yourself, is when the competency issue would be raised. If you are being paid to do it then you may be in trouble even if nothing goes wrong.

In your situation it's your choice and make sure nothing goes wrong!

[Fred]

The law is quite clear with working with gas. If your not paid then you can work on gas to your heart's content. I'm not so sure with oil.

In the past the links to the relevant legislation has been posted here, for a definitive answer I would suggest you google this group again.

[YAPH]

Wrong - the law /is/ quite clear: that you've got to be competent. Where it's unclear is that it doesn't define competent.

In practice you may be competent at doing pipework and various other practical things, including maybe having and knowing how to use the tools for checking your work for leaks, but still not know - and not *know* that you don't know - something important about the work that you're doing, and so not really be competent.

LPG is a bit trickier than natural gas and even people who've passed the rigorous assessments for NG aren't qualified to work on LPG. If you get it wrong you can blow up not only yourself but your family and even neighbours. Personally, as a CORGI-registered (for NG only) installer I'd hestitate to DIY LPG.

[John Rumm]

Out of curiosity, other than the problems related to its density (pooling etc), and ensuring that you are dropping the bottle pressure with an appropriate regulator, are there any other specific issues that you are aware of with regard to LPG? I presume testing for leaks should be carried out using similar mechanisms (but a longer water gauge!)?

On a practical level, it strikes me as odd in some respects that anyone can rent a bottle, and is entrusted to make connections to it without much in the way of advice or guidance on ensuring gas tightness of the connections.

[Huge]

OTOH, I installed a new hob, moved the bottles & replaced the regulator on my LPG installation about 10 years ago, and I'm still here.

[Fred]

Very few people are killed or injured in gas explosions, one reason is the pungent aroma added to gas, which isn't found in butane canisters for lighters.

Yet despite that Corgi et al have a smoke and mirrors act to dissuade any of us to touch gas perpetuated by its members. As John Stumbles intimated, our weakness is not having intimate knowledge of working practice but we'll then go overboard in checking our work.

Many years ago I coupled up a boiler to LPG and then changed it to natural gas when it came to the area. I can't see the concerns regarding the difference apart from LPG shouldn't be used in basements and the like. Perhaps he'll put us right on what the differences are.

For info, I am aware in boating situations bottled gas is more fraught with having sealed hulls but I though gas alarms were common place?

[dennis]

Roland Point (IIRC).

Nobody is trusted to make connections to bottled gas in some places not even corgi!

[Owain]

Ronan Point. And that was mains gas.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

Ronan.

Not so much the fault of the unlucky bastard who had a leaky bottle, but more the s**te design of the block and the slipshod buggers who built it.

[dennis]

Good point, memory is going, I should remember it I was 12 at the time.

flats. I wonder what plumbers do?

[Derek Geldard]

They gave up looking for my arms and legs and I had to type this with a headstick. Not bad Eh?

8-)

Derek

[YAPH]

Yes, tightness testing is somewhat different to NG. Also gas rate testing can't be done the same way as on NG (by measuring how long it takes to pass 1 cu ft or how many m^3 are passed in 2 minutes) since you don't have a meter. There may be other things I don't know: I haven't done LPG so I don't know what I don't know, hence I'm not competent.

[Tim S]

YAPH coughed up some electrons that declared:

Back in the 70's, those of us who had parent's into caravanning thought nothing of wopping some copper together and sticking in a new butane fire (in a caravan, obviously).

Then again, caravans have loads of floor ventilation and you generally turn the bottle off when hibernating them...

Wouldn't do it in a boat mind...

Cheers

Tim

[Owain]

Do you also paint christmas cards with your mouth?

Owain

[John Rumm]

Bet you still run your blowtorch from it ;-)

Must admit that the extent of my tightness testing on LPG (for things like blowtorches etc), is a quick spray with the can of parrot snot.

[Andy Champ]

IIRC boat lockers are designed to drain over the side, and if you have any sense you turn off the bottle before hibernating them.

I'm told it can be quite amusing watching someone who has had a gas leak into the hull of a boat. The gas sinks into the bottom, and sits there. The only way to get rid of it safely is to bail it out with a plastic bucket. Which results in someone standing there bailing out what appear to be empty buckets!

Andy (whose boat is far too small for anything like that!)

[Derek Geldard]

Not since the advent

- of "one button" colour copiers. They can't touch you for it ;-)

Derek