Servicing your own gas boiler

[Roger Mills]

But also quite difficult for anyone else to prove that you *didn't*!

[The Natural Philosopher]

actualy post explosion forensics areremarkably good.

[Clive George]

I was once a passenger in a van + trailer at dartford. It was a quid for a car, 4 quid for van + trailer. Quid in coin bin, gate opens, drive off with man leaping out angrily behind. Not a word more was heard.

Another friend drove through the barrier. Got a bill for the toll, paid, nothing more :-)

[chris French]

If a fire in the house was caused by my failure to do a job properly, then I would deserve to be prosecuted if appropriate. That's fair enough.

[PeterC]

I've limited what I do to: cleaning condensate drain checking and, if necessary, pressurising the expansion vessel taking out the PCB and looking for bulging caps.

Other than that, removed the connection to the pressure switch for the DHW, as I don't use it.

Other work has been on the CH side: new TRVs. Move 2 rads. and put in a new one. Flushing, adding cleaner and inhibitor, bleeding and rare top-up.

Gas side - no.

[PeterC]

Doctor "Mrs. Jones, are you regular?" Mrs. Jones "Oh yes doctor, once a month - regular as clockwork".

[Huge]

Dartford don't charge for trailers any more. I all but fell out of my seat when the tollbooth attendant said so.

[Peter Crosland]

Which is an entirely specious argument. The difference is that meddling with a gas appliance without adequate knowledge is potentially life threatening. To say that just because someone else can do it means that you can is sheer arrogance that is the attitude which leads to people making fatal mistakes.

By your logic you are competent to perform brain surgery that you are clearly not.

[Onetap]

I could. I can't be arsed. There is a difference.

[Fredxx]

If you "could" then do, otherwise your claim is worthless.

[F Murtz]

how do you know?

[Martin Brown]

ISTR there were two reports - one by the local fire brigade who attended the blaze and another by HSE? or someone similar. Their conclusions were that the explosion and fire started because the house was full of gas when the CH timer provided the spark for ignition. The house was full of gas because of a (very) leaky unsupported pipe with a less than finger tight connector or something like that.

I presume that had a gas fitter done it then the household insurer would claim against his professional indemnity insurance and the guy would probably never be allowed to work on gas again.

However, it seems I am wrong based on recent experience in Salford the worst the dodgy gas fitter can expect is a £1k fine + costs.

The forensics for fires and explosions are remarkably good. I don't know what percentage they get down to exact root cause for but it is high. Possible design flaws in the boiler itself is one thing they look for and aim to rule out. But when the installation is clearly cowboy quality they will obviously look for piping defects first!

It is this sort of investigation that led to the warning that certain makes of washing machine tend to self immolate when run unattended.

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 23 October 2013 07:29 Martin Brown wrote in uk.d-i-y:

That's shockingly poor - expecially when such appliances are designed[1] to run overnight.

[1] Otherwise, explain why so many have a feature of a delayed start timer to take adantage of Economy 7?

Tumble dryers do not surprise me - dry hot element, lots of fluff.

I *am* surprised by washing machines catching fire though. The element is in the water tank. There should be little else that poses a serious risk in a well designed device. Perhaps the motor and the pump - both of which could be protected by attached thermal fuses to cope with mechanical lockups.

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 23 October 2013 07:29 Martin Brown wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Card carrying cowboy.

I hope someone can explain to me what the point of using these people is, if after such hideous bodgery, he's not getting a short stiff bit of time inside, seeing as his incompetance destroyed a house and could easily have killed people?

[Apellation Controlee]

Sheesh, if my wife sees this she'll be carrying the laundry down to the river bank.

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 23 October 2013 08:39 Apellation Controlee wrote in uk.d-i-y:

I've done that - for real, holidaying in Latvia.

Big boulder, beating clothes with soap in the River Daugava. Easier than the bath as rinsing is one operation, what with there being a million gallons of fresh water in the vicinity.

Would not fancy it in winter though!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

All that shows is the person who worked on it wasn't competent to do any DIY - let alone gas. It's not impossible that a leaking water pipe could cause death under certain circumstances, so perhaps working on that should be reserved for pros too?

[Onetap]

No Mr Fred, that is a non-sequitur.

I could, if I wanted; I regularly recall relevant facts and then search for the relevant documents. I earn part of my living by doing it.

I choose not to, because my time is valuable to me whilst verifying the relevant fact is worthless to me.

It is simple; you were mistaken. I work in building services and so was able to point out your error. The Gas Safety Regulations do not permit landlords are not permitted to work on gas appliances in rented accomodation that they own. The HSE/CPS will prosecute them.

If you want details, go and Google it for yourself.

[Martin Brown]

But that is more than enough evidence for the insurers not to pay out. I can't recall if there was any prosecution of the DIY home owner.

I hate plumbing. Water gets everywhere when it leaks!

I have been on the wrong end of two major floods at work. It isn't much fun arriving at work to find your office under 6" of water and multiple fire tenders in attendance. You don't realise how non-level large industrial concrete floors are until you add copious amounts of water to find its own level. The fault was that a single hose clip came undone on a high capacity water cooling system overnight and no leak detection. Kit was all happy because the fault was on the drain side. Mains water dutifully kept the header tank topped up.

The ceiling collapse in Belgium due to dumb as a rock amateur plumbing was lucky because no-one actually got hurt despite a lot of physical damage to the boardroom table. The office was like something out of a comedy show when I arrived with a layer of plaster dust absolutely everywhere not just in the room where the ceiling had collapsed.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just the same as claiming for damage done by a leak.

Don't touch gas, then. Which is my advice to every incompetent DIYer. It's not rocket science - learning how to do the basics of plumbing.