Handyman liability? (long, with boredom potential)

Witchy · 2003-10-16T09:36:52+00:00

Hi folks, To avoid boredom you can jump to the question at the end. It's marked 'question'. Talking about becoming a handyman type of bloke in another thread reminded me of this scenario from last week: In the summer we bought another place and I set about bringing it up to standards for letting. A sparky came in and told me what needed to be done to get up to 16th edition regs and fire regs which I did, and that passed the inspection with only a couple of minor points (sockets on skirting boards aren't allowed now etc). I also moved the kitchen radiator and added 3 more in upstairs bedrooms. No leaks when the system was refilled and still no leaks when the pump was switched on for the first time. To pass the gas safety cert the heating was on long enough for some of the rads to heat up (the one in question is furthest away from the boiler, typically).......but still no leaks....water must've been circulating round the whole system, yes? However, the NEXT time the heating was put on a few weeks ago one of the SpeedFit joints literally popped, but because it was under a bedroom floor and said floor was over the garage nobody in the house really spotted it, despite the fact it was almost pissing into the garage! I had to drain the system to replace the elbow in question and it turned out the rubber seal had a manufacturing defect that meant about 10mm of it is missing - there's nice straight edge on one side of the gap in the seal so it's not a case of bad fitting. 37k JPG at The puzzling thing is, when I found the leak water was pouring out with no help from the pump, so if said seal had been in this state when the system was refilled it would've leaked from the word go, and DEFINITELY would've leaked with the pump on, so what happened to the missing bit? Question: Now if this had happened over any of the other rooms the potential for damage is huge, so who would ultimately pick up the tab for the damage and repair? Me for not being around when the heating was used...

Oct 16, 2003 43 Replies

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tony sayer 22 years ago

In article , David Hearn writes

Is it OK therefore to have them supplied off a ceiling lamp in a room or not. I thought that they *had* to be linked together to comply with the regulations?..

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BigWallop 22 years ago

Yes.

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BigWallop 22 years ago

They should be on their own separate supply, but the lighting circuit is as good anything if that's all that's available. The interconnection is a must so that they all sound together and make as much noise as possible to wake the house and alert neighbours. The mains supply must be constant, so taking it from a switched light fitting is a no, no.

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Witchy 22 years ago

That's possible, and its also mentioned elsewhere in this thread by Owain on the 16th.....

-- cheers,

witchy/binarydinosaurs

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