For 30 years I've used free-standing gas cookers connected via a flexible pipe which enables them to be pulled away from the wall for cleaning.
I've just bought a modern kitchen with an electric under-oven and a gas hob. The instructions for the hob specify a "fixed" gas pipe though they don't specifically exclude flexible connections. A fixed connection means an expensive Corgi job. Is it possible to continue using the existing flexible pipe?
TIA
Another Dave
What does it say in the instructions? a fixed connection. Flexible connections are for moveable/mobile appliances,not fixed appliances.
Must be a fixed copper gas pipe with an in-line gas tap that is accessible.
I've seen a hob plumbed in with a flexi hose over a leccy oven.
The oven melted its way through the hose...
Out of interest are you allowed to use one of those corrugated flexible copper connectors on a gas pipe?
Jon
Assuming the flexible pipe isn't going to be subjected to heat etc, I
*really* can't see what they're on about.My hob is connected in exactly this way. Makes it easy to remove for cleaning.
Yes. They are for a one off bending and not fully flexible. They are also fire resistant. They are also expensive.
What they are on about is the gas installation regulations..
Peter
Doesn't mean it makes sense, though. Either a flexible with a bayonet connector is satisfactory, or it's not. If it's significantly more of a risk than rigid pipe, it should be banned.
Both the installation of a freestanding cooker and an inset hob whether by flexible or rigid pipework are defined as 'gas work'. As such they may only be performed by competant diyers or registered professionals.
The problem comes when the use of a flexible hose is within the competance of a diyer but not the costruction of a rigid pipe supply.
In the Gas Fitting FAQ below you will still that the use of a flexible hose is deprecated (and almost impossible to install in a compliant manner for the supply of an inset hob). As of 20th November the loop hole which permitted the use of flexibles is closed with a revision to BS 6172. Also required is minimum 300mm of worktop on each side. Forbidden is fitting 700mm (5 burner) hobs under 600mm gaps in wall cupboards.
I shall update the Gas Fitting FAQ to reflect these changes soon.
Thanks for that the 300mm is new on me I must confess, being registered and being employed to fit new hobs as replacements I find that 90% fail as to clearances in some respect so unable to fit new hob. The instructions with the new appliances are very good as a rule but diy persons never read them.
Peter
The new stuff is in this month's "Gas Installer" comic.
I don't think they are to any British Standard - at least not one for pipework approved for gas - in which case unless the manufacturer says their flexible connector is approved for use with gas, then you can't.
Can't be arsed to dig mine out again but I do recall they _relaxed_ the regs wrt the 50mm gap either side extending upwards, so now you can have a 600mm wide hob below a 600mm wide gap in wall units.
Surely it never was OK to have a 700mm hob under a 600mm gap?
I read them! That's how this thread got started :-)
I've resigned myself to staying in for a couple of days waiting for a gas man.
Cheers all,
Another Dave
No; but it got done they are now stating explicitly it is wrong.
Ed,
Does the above mean that my new 900 mm hob which will be installed by a CORGI gas bod cannot be connected by a flexible hose to a rigid gas pipe to which (s)he attaches a bayonet socket after 20 November? And does it really matter, by which I mean that in a greenfield installation a CORGI bod would be capable of making a fully rigid connection?
TIA
Richard
Even if currently: a) The manufacturers don't forbid the use of a flexible for a fixed inset hob. & b) The flexible would hang in a neat unstrained U. & c) Enter the bayonet connector from below. & d) Not come into contact with anything that could get over 70C & e) Will not come into anything that might damage it (including what ever might be stored in the cupboard below)
After the 20th Nov you must use rigid pipework for a fixed appliance.
A new installation would of course use fixed pipework with an isolator. There would be at least one screwed joint to ease removal of the hob as needed.
The proper way to supply a fixed appliance is with fixed pipe work. This discussion only arises because often when kitchens are refitted the inset hob ends up near where the old gas cooker stood. The temptation to reuse the flexible hose as short cut to supplying the hob arises. This temptation is heightened because some people feel they are competent to connect up an inset hob with a flexible hose. Whereas they do not feel sufficiently experienced to make a supply connection with copper pipe.
I can see why even a competant user of rigid copper would favour the use of flexible pipe - access to the threaded stub on the u/s of my new hob is likely to be obscured by the back of the cupboard (actually draw) unit under the worksurface that the hob is to be set into. Generally speaking how would that problem be overcome?
The only good thing seems to be the absence of heat sources under or behind the hob and a tangle free route to the gas pipe.
Cheers Richard
With difficulty. The usual tactic is to route the pipe horizontally directly below the worktop and in such a way that the drawer etc. is not obstructed. The rest of the route will depend on the feature of the cupboard, in a very awkward case I have had to route the pipe into the adjacent to keep it clear of the gubbing in the drawer unit.
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