Servicing your own gas boiler

I was asked to provide the certificates

Reply to
Rick Hughes
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But it is one of the accepted ways of proving competence if required.

same way an Electrician can use NICEIC registration.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

My concern would be that would become irrelevant if it went wrong, they would say you were not certified to do the work ... and professional body certification is the accepted way of proving competence.

Also disagree with logic "Ultimately, when doing work for yourself, the person that you need to convince of competence is yourself " at some point someone else may own that house and therefore your work is then no longer for yourself.

Your standards don't count .... it's what is the accepted standards ... eg GasSafe & Corgi registrtaion.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

But there are accepted standard of professional certification .... that would meet requirements.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

Don't understand the question ?

I installed it, to a professional design, and it works fine.

I have maintenance contract as I travel extensively on business .. and I want 24 x 7 call out .....to cover family. Took it out as soon as warranty expired.

Same way I have house buildings & contents insurance - I built the house .... still have insurance.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

oops, so did I ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

Alternatively one could ask if you think it is acceptable potentially putting people's lives at risk by employing someone of indeterminate skill, when you know you can do the job properly yourself?

The irony being that one is only really be in a position to assess the quality of the work being done by the professional if one is also sufficiently educated in the subject matter.

Reply to
John Rumm

Who is more likely to do a job diligently, a DIYer or a pro with time constraints?

Reply to
Clive George

Presumably after ticking the box indicating you had them?

In my case there was a general query about availability of certificates (gas, electrical, and fensa) etc, service history, and the the age of the boiler.

I told them that there were no certificates available for the electrical work (done for my loft conversion) since it was done by me prior to part P. That the boiler was self installed and hence there was none for that beyond the records in the benchmark book, but that there was a receipt for a service on it carried out later. I also suggested that if they wanted further tests etc carried out then they were welcome to arrange them at their own expense. Needless to say nothing further was heard on the topic.

Reply to
John Rumm

I've done a smidge of gas work, and it's not gone wrong. I made sure it wouldn't by testing it - I didn't want to just guess.

As I said to Peter, this stuff isn't magic. It's not that hard to do appropriate testing to demonstrate that it's not going to go wrong as a result of what you've done.

Their problem. When buying a house you take on all the crap which comes with it - and get professional advice if you're worried.

It appears that the certification isn't required on selling a house, ie it doesn't matter whose standards one is using.

Reply to
Clive George

Perhaps. Although if it done correctly, going wrong is not really a concern. I accept the point that if something unrelated and beyond your control goes wrong, then you will invite more scrutiny if you have also had your fingers in the box so to speak.

The obvious answer is that for anyone not comfortable doing the work, or with what they see as the potential problems, then don't do it.

The point I was making was that I care less about blowing up a future owner of the house than I do the current owner and his family (no disrespect to any future owner - but it is personal!). Hence any work I DIY must be to an acceptable standard. If I can't satisfy myself that I can do a job properly then I would rather not do it.

I don't think you can make a blanket statement that just because the guy has a trade body membership card, his work will automatically be to an acceptable standard. Don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting that all registered fitters are not up to scratch - I have seen many who turn out first class quality work, and are diligent in the process. However I have also seen some who are according to the paperwork they carry, safe to do the work, but in reality are clueless, slapdash and a liability.

Reply to
John Rumm

Although we are a self selecting group - so its probably less likely that those who have done poor work will seek out this opportunity to brag about it ;-)

I also get the impression that "most people" are content with the mindset that you "can't DIY gas" and hence leave it to the pros, so there is relatively little DIY work to actually observe, and even when one is observing it, one may not be aware of its origins.

Of those that will do some work, there is obviously a range of tasks in what is considered DIYable. I can't see many practical and technically minded people objecting to replacing a thermocouple on an old boiler, or brushing / vacuum the crud out of a (traditional) heat exchanger. However they may stop short of fitting the whole thing or carrying out more complicated jobs.

Reply to
John Rumm

Every single competant person started out not having done this job before. I work on the principal that if someone else can do it I can.

A recent instance ,I am not a mechanic, I am not an air con technition, but I just replaced the condensor in a 316i BMW including the vacuum and then regas which is not for the faint hearted. Just look at this mess.

It is all back together and working now, but working on your outlook on DIY I should not have attempted it.

Reply to
F Murtz

As the PP said, there is no legal definition of competence in this context. Holding 'formal gas qualifications' *might* meet a legal definition, if that was ever tested in court. At present, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Remember, we are answering the OP's question about DIY-ing on his own gas installation, which is a different issue to that of paid-for work.

Reply to
Terry Fields

Nope. I've just reported what the legal requirements are. They are solely that you should be competent.

I've serviced my own gas appliances, I think the work was completed competently. I don't have a flue gas analyser, I'm not CORGI. I have a deeply ingrained distrust of those that are and, for that matter, of all car mechanics. IMHO there is a tradition of institutional dishonesty in both trades.

Reply to
Onetap

Please cite? Are you having a laugh? Go and google it. I've given you enough information.

The case happened as described, about 4 or 5 years back I'd think.

Reply to
Onetap

Fredxx put finger to keyboard:

As a colleague of mine remarked, "I'd get someone in to do it, but I want it done properly."

Reply to
Scion

The longer the interval, the better the relative regularity.

Reply to
PeterC

How did you have a warranty on a self installed system?

You have a maintenance contract on your house?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

That's latter remark is a straw man.

Someone gave an example of a house exploding, and I stayed with that. Had he given a list of potential disasters, I would have followed that instead. The issue is that those judged 'competent' by a scheme can be found legally incompetent in the event of a disaster, just as the home DIYer can be. But each case is tested on its merits, because legal competence has not been defined.

Reply to
Terry Fields

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