I am having a system boiler with a pressurised water cylinder installed by a Corgi plumber.
I've just noticed on the cylinder it says that I should inform Building Control.
Why? I'm not looking for unnecessary fees to pay.
mark
Er... because it's the law.
They have to be installed by appropriately qualified fitters (ie not just a bog-standard CORGI). If not done properly, with all the appropriate safety features etc, they have the potential to be extremely dangerous
David
It is the law for a good reason. Safe as houses if installed correctly. When incorrectly installed, Mr. Unvented is not your friend.
Interesting link. There is no issue with my plumbers qualifications. My question was why does B.control need to know? Do they have to be informed every time a gas appliance is installed etc. A gas bang will make that one on you-tube look like a cheap firework.
mark
If the corgi bloke has the right qualifications for unvented installs then he can self certify IIUC.
Sure, take an unvented cylinder, and : 1) weld up all the inlets/outlets/safety vents; 2) bypass all the thermal input controlls
then you have an issue. But you have the same issue with an unvented system.
Weld up the inlet /outlet /vent pipe and bypass the thermal controlls and guess what. Same Same.
In either case its not a realistic scenario.
Yes..I think you are simply supposed to ge a signed off bit of paper saying its been installed to spec and tested properly and send a copy to building control.
OTOH as lg as it has been done to spec, and you have tat pare, and dont tell BCO othg bad will happen.
At the worst we you want to sell some stupid lawyer will want to see all the bits of paper.
AFAIK BCO powers are limited to making you take out or redo work that is not to spec. He has no powers to fine you for failure to notify if work is found to be to spec
The worst that can happen is somehow he gets to know and says 'I want a fully signed off test on that installation or take it out'
I suspect Drivel has found a new alias since he loved to post that particular reference.
Of late we (the population of this country and especially people in construction and building services) have been subject to a large number of extra regulations. I'd personally go for less rules and more enforcement.
Even replacing a VENTED hot water cylinder is a notifiable activity. So also is adding an electric socket in a kitchen.
Any person qualified to install an UNVENTED cylinder (a good proportion of heating engineers will be qualified) has the option to notify building control via their guild (CORGI in this case). The cost of this is likely to be £2.50 as oppose to over £100 if you do it yourself. What's more unvented cylinders are not permitted to be fitted by anyone who is not qualified.
Yes gas appliances are heat producing appliances and come under Part J of Building regs.
It does happen, usually if someone finds the safety valve is dripping and plugs the pipe. Or if it is installed by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Thermostats frequently fail by the contacts welding themselves together. It is rare enough that it has the status of an urban myth. It has never yet happened with an unvented system in the UK. In the US they only have one safety valve fitted.
Drivel used to post the waterheaterblast.com link; he always claimed they were unsafe and advocated thermal stores, but he is a moron. They're safe.
The odd one or two does go kabooom.
Or service them either. They require an annual service, so £60 to 1000 a year to store hot water.
I agree to an extent (and I have an unvented cylinder myself), but the above is a completely unfair comparison... a vented cylinder is
*designed* to operate not under pressure, so far a start if, it was welded up and pressurised, it would go 'pop' at a much lower pressure than an unvented one - sure, a nasty bang, but nothing like the one in the video clip.And since an unvented cylinder is designed to be pressurised, it doesn't need welding up to produce a fault situation: that could be achieved by a complete moron installing it wrongly without all the appropriate safety valves etc.
David
Moronic amateur here it is
If the OP has bought an unvented cylinder I would advise he takes it back and gets a heat bank (Range Cylinders call them thermal stores). The advantages are tenfold.
It is designed to operate under pressure. IT IS NOT at atmospheric pressure as is a venetd thermal sgtore or heat bank.
Before you write this sort of stuff just ask me first.
An unvented cylinder can bring down the side of a house and few in the UK have kabooomed.
The exercise was to show what can happen if they fail. Anyone with common sense can see that. Murphy's Law says that if it can happen, it will happen.
Inspection. And carried out during the same visit as the boiler service, so not a big deal - certainly not 100 GBP/year (presumably you didn't mean 1000/year?)
David
Dribble the well known
becomes dangerous.
You will be telling us that if you drive down a motorway having removed the steering wheel, you might crash next.
OK, you know what I mean - it operates under the small head of pressure generated by the cold water tank; which is a completely different ball game to an unvented system which has to cope with mains pressure.
Thanks for the advice - I'll take that under consideration...
David
A water heater exploded in the block of flats I used to live in - it took out most of the partitions walls and most of the windows in the flat in which it happened. It had been leaking alot and we suspect that someone blocked up a safety valve to stop the leak.
AFAIU local council can choose to not allow unvented systems but I would think that would be unlikely. Thus, I think you need approval before the work begins.
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