Combi Boiler Heating

[blaxter]

Just a general question, a couple of Gas fitters are doing work at my fathers house at the moment, they have taken out an old boiler from the kitchen and a water tank in the cupboard in the bedroom and replaced it with a combi boiler in the loft.

The main problem i see is he now has a copper pipe running up the full front of the house from the gas supply box up both floors and into the loft (4-5 mtrs I think) which is unsightly, is this normal practice and safe to do, it doesn't look too pleasent and am scared it could get damaged and causes a gas leak, there is no protection around it only clipped to the wall.

are there an issue with safety?

 

[Pssst]

Presumably your father has agreed the pipe route ? If not ,then he needs to speak with them. Outside pipe runs are fine as long as you dont mind looking at it. There is also the issue of vandalism and theft to consider.

 

[diamondgas]

COmbi in a loft is a bad idea !for anyone to work on it you need to provide loft ladder with rail and secure flooring to walk on and work off as well as lighting!!! Nit to mention the potential issues around pressure!!! pipework outside is last resort and personally should be done in mild steel to reduce the chance of theft!! All said though, the installation is perfectly acceptable!

 

[AWheating]

its not against regulations, it is always a good idea if there is a hign risk of damage or theft to use mild steel as mentioned above.

As regards the boiler in the loft it must have correct access. so a fixed loft ladder, a fixed light, a fixed walkway from hatch to boiler and a fixed hand rail along the walk way. This is for safe access for home owner and engineers to gain access to boiler controls and perform service and maintenence.

 

[stevetheplumber]

its not against regulations, it is always a good idea if there is a hign risk of damage or theft to use mild steel as mentioned above.

As regards the boiler in the loft it must have correct access. So a fixed loft ladder, a fixed light, a fixed walkway from hatch to boiler and a fixed hand rail along the walk way. This is for safe access for home owner and engineers to gain access to boiler controls and perform service and maintenence.

the hand rail has to be around the opening not on the walkway

 

[AWheating]

oh, my mistake. i have always done it this way as i thought it was classed as a work area and health and safety requires walkways to have hand rails/barriers.

i would consider fitting one anyway especially if the home owner is elderly or unsteady on there feet.

 

[cdodds2004]

gas runs outside are common for many reasons, undersize pipe and new position of the boiler are most common, it saves having to rip hal!f your house up to run the pipe internally!