Not so.
There was a case in which a landlord had installed a gas appliance in one of his rented-out flats (second-hand gas fire ISTR). There was an accident. It was argued he hadn't been paid, and did not have to be Corgi/Gas Safe.
M'lud ruled he was paid by the collection of the rents and should not have done his own gas work.
But that is the same even if one holds a certificate of competence.
Just from memory, I've had a registered gas man...
...leave a gas fire with gas leaking from the control
...burn the hair off his arm through not understanding the flow valve
...break a radiant through standing it on end then knocking it over
...'mend' the TRVs by hitting them with a hammer (it didn't)
...measure the air-flow to a back boiler by holding the smoke candle at the hot air outlet of the attached gas fire, the boiler air inlet was at floor level. It passed because we lived on a hill and the updraught was impressive.
...perform a pressure test by attaching the manometer at the feed from the meter, turning the gas on then off and removing the manometer, all in five seconds. It was late Friday evening and he had a hot date.
Competent? It's why I DIY.
I used to have a very accurate digital differential pressure meter (manomet er) through my work.
I used to visit a lady who'd recently been widowed. Her late husband had had a gas hob fitted shortly before he died. Several months after his death, there had been a smell of gas, she called t he gas fitter who'd installed it, he fixed the leak and charged her £50 o r so, which I thought was cheeky.
Some months after this, her grand-daughter said she could smell gas, but no ne of the adults could.
I had the manometer in the car so connected it to the meter test point. Su re enough, there was a very small gas leak, much less than the 0.2" w.g. wh ich was the maximum permissible. I left it alone.
I went back a couple of weeks later with a gas sniffer (also on loan from work) and tools and traced the leak to a compression joint adjacent to the hob in a few seconds. The compression nut was done up just slightly more t han finger tight. I tweaked it up, no more gas leak.
It was thought that this joint had been the one that had previously leake d. I don't know what was going on, but suspect it had been deliberately left l oose to generate call backs. I hadn't realise how loose it was until I'd applied a spanner, thereby des troying any evidence.
A Corgi or Gas Safe ticket generally starts my mental alarm bells going. I've had a few disagreements with Gas Fitters who think they're Gas Engine ers.
BG once stiffed me over a 3/4" gas service pipe and I vowed to avoid them thereafter. Some years later I was involved in a job that required the in stallation of a new external gas distribution system and BG were lined up t o do the work for £80k or so. I got a few quotes, and got the work done b y others.
As you sow, so you reap.
They shafted us when we moved in here, 21 years ago. It still rankles, and they'll never be getting another penny from me.
Along with WH Smith, Midland Expressway Ltd. (M6 Toll) and Pickfords.
What about a professional gas fitter turning up to do the same job never having worked on that particular boiler before?
If he observes the manufacturers service instructions, uses common sense, and tests correctly for gas soundness, and flame picture when done, then the chances are he will do a decent job.
To be fair I have not read through all the descriptions of the work involved for this particular boiler - but on many boilers, work such as cleaning heat exchangers can be done without even touching any gas carrying parts. Its a different category of question from say "can anyone tell me how to tweak the internals of this premix gas valve?".
Not leaving gas leaks is a pretty basic and fundamental requirement... but the techniques required are well documented, and the equipment needed readily available.
A annual gas safety check is required for rental properties. However that does not mandate a service.
Much would depend on what she looked like ;-)
Yes... it uses the word "competent" without defining it elsewhere in the statute.
You will note that other phrases like "gas appliances" or "gas fittings" are explicitly listed and defined in the introduction to the document since they want them to have a specific and understood interpretation.
Where legislation does not define a term to mean something specific, then it should usually be accorded the normal English usage (or normal legal usage if different). As a result one can't claim that competent means being a Gas Safe member, since it does not say that.
Agreed its *an* accepted way - but that does not preclude others.
(e.g. cross examination by an domain expert, or even sitting and passing the required exams a posteriori)
Its possibly a moot point, since I don't actually recall DIY gas fitting actually being tested in the courts
Yup same here.
And the answer is that if you do it properly you are allowed.
Its a separate but valid question. One would hope that Gas Safe do actually check the qualifications of professional fitters wishing to join. However one can hold the relevant exam passes, and not be a member of Gas Safe.
As to demonstration, how about pointing at the relevant C&G or ACS installer certificates?
How about directing someone to the Gas Safe registered individual under who's supervision you worked?
How about pointing to a long history of competent work carried out etc?
Ultimately, when doing work for yourself, the person that you need to convince of competence is yourself - and you need to do that in a informed way[1]. The price you pay for being wrong is potentially far higher than for a professional who gets to leave and go home when his work is done.
[1] i.e. avoiding the "ill informed and unaware" trap of not knowing what you don't know.So as a baseline, tracking down and reading and understanding the relevant British Standard docs pertaining to what you want to do (e.g. BS6891, 5440-2, then 6798 for boilers, 6172 for hobs, 5871 for fires etc) would be a start.
Grabbing a copy of Tolly's books etc.
Add to that enough practical experience to know without doubt that you can make decent work of pipework.
Do you have a citation for that please? I ask as it strikes me as a bit odd to prosecute on that basis rather than for the landlord's failure to comply with the separate obligation on landlords to use a (now) GasSafe person.
(AIUI work in short(ish) lets *must*, under regulation 36, be done by a card carrying member (or his/her monkey). It was a bit of old-fashioned , common-sense risk acceptance: you can DIY in your own home if you are competent as it is mainly you and yours who are at risk there; you can't do the same work in other accommodation where it's other people who bear those risks and where you might be less bothered/careful. Those were the days! I can recall when [continued, page 77].)
And before, just in case there is already a problem.
Something that is its very likely a DIYer would find IMHO...
I make a point of doing leak tests and let-by tests *before* doing any work as well as after. Saves spending time looking for faults in your work that are actually pre-existing!
Well that's regular. ;-)
I have sometimes seen them do it, but I have never seen one test the test point with leak detector after replacing the screw!
On Monday 21 October 2013 13:47 Peter Crosland wrote in uk.d-i-y:
There's a big gap between a presumption and a specific requirement though...
Not as a definition of the word. However, 3 (3) has a requirement for employed or self-employed gas fitters to be a ".....a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive".
The approved class of persons was Corgi and is now GasSafe. You need to pass their tests to join, which is a demonstration of competence.
3 (3) above and the "class of persons" criteria applies only to employers. employees and the self-employed.Clause 3.(1) applies to everyone, including DIYers; ( No person shall carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting ............unless he is competent to do so).
The DIYers cannot take the ACS-type tests to demonstrate how competent or incompetent they are because Corgi and GasSafe won't allow them to take the tests.
Interesting. We had a "finger tight" leaking hob connection too. I found and fixed it myself so nobody got rich out of it.
Tim
Good grief, I agree with Denis!
Tim
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