Problem with Transco / British Gas

[Nick]

This week Transco called at a tenants property to change the gas meter. Having done so, the engineer tested the installation and found leakage upstream of the meter. The supply is (1) recent copper to a CH boiler upstairs and (2) is branched off to a gas cooker and gas fire on the ground floor. The ground floor supply is via steel pipe and is quite aged. It is also buried beneath concrete floors. The engineer isolated all the usage points (CH, cooker and fire) and diagnosed that the problem was in the underfloor steel pipe. He refused to reconnect the gas supply; and quite rightly so, I imagine. A corgi registered engineer has renewed the supply to the cooker and fire. Upon completion testing he found that there was still leakage. This was tracked down and found to be within the fire. This has been capped off and there is no longer any problem. As the fire is also aged it will have to be replaced. I had the engineer test the integrity of the of the steel pipework. This proved to be 100% sound. The renewal of the gas pipework has cost me £750. I will also have the cost of renewing the fire. As the steel pipework was not, as diagnosed by Transco, faulty: do I have any chance of making some claim against them?

Thanks

Nick

[Colin Wilson]

IANAL (or gas fitter)

Why ?

They left your premises in a safe condition after having diagnosed a problem - they were there to replace the meter and restore gas supply if safe to do so.

The leaking pipework and/or appliances are *your* responsibility to maintain.

From an electrical point of view, we leave people switched off if there's any doubt about the safety of an installation, but we are not expected to do a full test of the the consumers' installation, nor are most staff equipped to do such a test.

[Set Square]

Did Transco leave you with a written report certifying that the below-floor pipework was leaky? If not, you haven't got a prayer!

[Nick]

They did indeed leave the premises in a safe condition. This without the benefit of gas cooking or heating facilities due to the engineers' faulty diagnosis. Obviously these facilities had to be restored sans delai, and I have probably paid ott for this to be done (48 hours from start to end). The Transco engineer volunteered the info that I have given and he obviously was equipped to carry out any testing required. Whether the diagnosis was in the engineers' remit or not, I do not know; but I will find out.

Are you with an electricity supply company or a private contractor?

Thanks

Nick.

[Nick]

below-floor

Thanks Set Square,

I doubt that any report was left, but I will check. Probably another dead duck! All the best Nick.

[Lurch]

On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 16:46:02 -0000, "Nick" strung together this:

If someone called me to replace a faulty cable as someone had disconnected the whole installation from the meter the first thing I would do would be to test it for myself. If I hadn't then I would expect to not get paid if it turned out that it wasn't actually the cable but a faulty appliance, or have an argument on my hands at the very least.

I would have a word with the fitter who replaced the pipe, he should have tested it first rather than relying on what you and the meter fitter said, which came from you as second hand information.

[Colin Wilson]

[Paul Barker]

Well as you said he isolated all the usage points and there was a drop It is most likely that to isolate the cooker he unplugged the bayonette These fittings are classic for leaking, to do a proper tightness test o the pipework the fitting would have to be replaced with a cap, or a least tested with ldf, wherein it would be most likely proved to blo small bubbles.

If you have the same one get it checked out of curiosity, i.e. remov cooker flexible connection spray ldf inside and get down on your bac with a torch, look for small bubbles slowly forming. Get it changed b a competent person

-- Paul Barker

[Paul Barker]

Of course it's always best to run gas pipe exposed, better stil

externally, so it has been a good exercise to eliminate concret engulfed gas pipe. It's OK in the regs dependent on certain criteri being met, but it's still not sensible to run any pipe inside concrete

-- Paul Barker

[Mike]

Does it matter ? Transco did the only thing safe to do and I'm sure your neighbours are glad of this even if you're a bit pissed off over the cost.

[John]

In''t good old days the emergency service/BG visit guy would spend a brief while finding and fixing small faults such as disturbed connection to restrictor elbows and the like. It seems nowadays all they do is cut off the gas and depart. However I can visualise a scenario such as yours where a drop test fails and having isolated various bits and bobs still fails, a remark such as "its probably leaking under the floor" being made and picked up on by tenant for relaying to you. I cannot see the emergency guy cutting and isolating the said bit of pipe to test it individually so your own guy should have tested and located the problem himself. If you told him the under floor pipe needed replacing then he did what you asked and on completion of that bit he then found a problem which he fixed. I never trust the thoughts of others and arriving on a site with your circumstances I would have looked to see if the underfloor pipe could be/had been seperately tested, however its not unknown for a landlord to ask for a pipe to be rerouted from under floor simply as preparation for a future job such as kitchen refit/alteration etc. In short - its tough but shit happens

[Stephen Dawson]

Colin who do you work for ??

[Stephen Dawson]

Ditto this comment, you never trust someone elses diagnosis.

Steve Dawson

[Ed Sirett]

Nope. The Transco guy went beyond his duties to attempt to isolate the fault to a specific appliance. The test he did could only have detected a fault in an appliance AFTER the cut for each appliance.

The only way you could have avoided the extra expense would have been to ask you fitter to carefully check and find the leak before embarking on the expensive repipe work. However it would have been a gamble because if the leak was identified as being in the floor you would have lost all the extra time the fitter took to find it.

[Jim Alexander]

Where did the OP say that? I thought it was the CORGI fitter that eventually discovered the fire was leaking.

Surely Transco only proved there was a fault in the carcasing BEFORE the cut-off for each appliance?

I'm guessing the story isn't quite accurate probably due to some misunderstanding somewhere. If the steel pipework WAS sound then the fire isolation MUST have been passing. Reluctant to believe that Transco made such a basic misdiagnosis as implied.

Jim A

[Ed Sirett]

I read and still read the OPs as 'the engineer' who diagnosed the leak as in the floor pipe as the Transco operative.

The paragraph starting "A corgi registered engineer" introduces the fitter employed by the Landlord.

Yes but presumably there is more to the carcasing than simply what is in the floor.

It seems to me that the fault lay between the floor pipes and the isolator for the fire (likely a restrictor elbow).