Hi,
Is a "competent" DIYer allowed by Law to fit a boiler (obviously not the gas connection). and if allowed, are heating engineers reluctant to make the gas connection and commision such installations.
thanks,
nige.
Yes he can, and even the gas connection. If you do ask questions here first.
AAUI, the law requires the connection to be made by a 'competent person'.
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 " 3. - (1) No person shall carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or gas storage vessel unless he is competent to do so"
Wow i didnt know that thought you had to be Corgi registered.
Only if your doing it for gain
As part of the new 'Home Information Pack' being introduced by the government (i.e. when you want to sell your house you need to supply this pack to a potential buyer) heating components, including boilers, installed after April 2005 require a 'Declaration of Safety' certificate. Only CORGI registered persons can supply this (I believe), therefore you will have to find one who is willing to put his name to your work, and be held responsible for any future events which may occur in relation to the work he has put his name to.
Read more here...
Angus
As per part 3(3) of above mentioned document:
"(3) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (1) and (2) above and subject to paragraph (4) below, no employer shall allow any of his employees to carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or service pipework and no self-employed person shall carry out any such work, unless the employer or self-employed person, as the case may be, is a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of this paragraph."
where "is a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of this paragraph." = CORGI
If you think about it, in order to provide a complete set of documents, there would need to be some kind of safety certificate for existing appliances as well, otherwise there's another gaping hole in this scheme.
Presumably CORGI fitters will be called upon to do this for work they didn't undertake anyway.
I don't know? You didn't need to register an appliance with CORGI until
04/05 to receive a certificate. Appliances installed before then didn't require notification, therefore no 'Declaration of Safety'. I imagine there will be some sort of retrospective cert done, similar or even identical to a Landlord / Home Owner Safety cert, but unsure whether this will have to be done via CORGI, but still carried out by a CORGI engineer nonetheless.Angus
Remember to take everything from CORGI with a bucket of salt. In the past some of their statements regarding DIY have been lies, certainly some remain, but looking at the link you sent, some seem better (but still highly biased).
For example: "Remember: no- one checks their gas work to make sure it meets the required safety standards." This is a lie as plenty of people on here who DIY'd it will have checked their work met the required safety standards. They should have said "many people don't" or "some people don't" - like the rest of their statements "But never DIY with gas. You could be breaking the law, you could be endangering lives"
- yes, you COULD be breaking the law if you get it wrong and weren't competent, but if you do it correctly and safely, then you're competent and fine.
D
If selling a house, you can have a Corgi safety check at that time. It is how it is at the time of selling that is important to the buyer.
You can get all the certificates you need from the building control department.
I notice that they've toned down the language since we last complained. All the "you will be breaking the law" type statements have changed to "you could be breaking the law". They also explicitly now state that only businesses need to be registered with CORGI, which they didn't before.
Christian.
So, if you DIY a boiler you need to pay money to the BC dept to register that you have changed a boiler?
???
Yes, but it is for Part L energy efficiency reasons, rather than gas safety and they should only really be checking that the boiler is condensing (or has an exemption certificate) and that the controls are fully pumped, interlocked and that all required zones have thermostatic control.
Christian.
Actually the gas connection is allowed by law if you are competent (which seeing as you thought you weren't probably means you aren't).
However you will, by law, need to submit a building notice application to install a heating system /replace the boiler.
Do they come and visit and you pay for this? How much?
Quoted CORGI as saying:
Never drive a car. You could be breaking the law, you could be endangering lives
Never carry a sharp knife. You could be breaking the law, you could be endangering lives
Never drink alcohol. You could be breaking the law, you could be endangering lives
Never .... oh you get the picture.
Not surprising since Corgi have done their best to make people believe this.
And now with Electrical installations I see every presenter (apart from Tommy Walsh) on the H&L channel telling people you need to use a qualified electrician for any electrical work.
DIY is unstoppable. There's good and bad. It people who are paid that make jobs like this all the while:
What a nightmare!!! Was the original fitter actually CORGI registered though, or simply a DIYer being paid to do the job?
Angus
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