Don't want to drop a fellow engineer in it but....

[billychuff]

I passed my Gas Safe exams in April. I now have an inspector coming out to see me Tuesday week. I serviced a family members fire but didn't; and have now learnt my lesson, do a TT before hand. WhenI did one after found a leak on the gas valve on the boiler. The boiler was installed last Christmas by BG. It was a subby working for BG. He obviously didn't do a TT after installing. Would you just inform BG so they have a word with him? Or take it further?Also, when I removed the internal flue cover, he hadn't sealed it all, just squirted SOME mastic in the hole. Be interested in your thoughts

 

[AWheating]

what part of gas valve was leaking? you can not prove whether the leak was there when it was installed unless it was something stupid like an open test nipple.

i would let the house owner phone BG and get them around to fix the problem under the warranty.

the internal flue cover is only there to cover hole for decoration purposes so i would not worry about it too much, now if the outside has not been sealed correctly then i would be more concerned.

 

[gasmarc]

as above i would let the house owner phone BG and get them around to fix the problem under the warranty.

 

[stevetheplumber]

should be sealed internally especially on cavity walls

 

[mfgs]

As Steve said, I'm sure it needs to be sealed both inside and outside for a cavity wall.

 

[billychuff]

Thanks Steve. it is a cavity wall

 

[billychuff]

sorry i haven't worded this correctly. The nut on the inlet wasn't tightened fully. It was dropping 4mbar over 2 minutes with appliances isolated. Should i let this go?

 

[GQuigley67]

phone the installer let him know what you found, might give him a kick up the back side

 

[billychuff]

i think that's the best option. Thanks Mr. Quigley

 

[Ian10261]

sorry i haven't worded this correctly. The nut on the inlet wasn't tightened fully. It was dropping 4mbar over 2 minutes with appliances isolated. Should i let this go?

Appliances isolated means a drop on the pipework and thats not allowed.

 

[billychuff]

Exactly!! but i'm going to go with what GQuigley proposed

 

[metaldust9]

be careful how you talk to him or word it cos if you just passed he might think youve got a cheek even tho your doing him a favour also theres no proof he,s left it like that and after a yr there defo would been a smell of gas with that kind of drop

 

[billychuff]

Thanks metaldust. I'm not the sort of person to tries to lord it up over anyone. I certainly wouldn't give it the big I AM. That's why i came on here coz i don't like dropping people in it so i knew that other people, with this sort of experience, would point me to the correct way of dealing with this

 

[Pssst]

I wouldnt bother.

We do not wish to create a situation where it is common place for RGEs to dump on eachother by ringing/reporting/Riddor'ing every minor flaw. If we end up in that position,we may well eventually find ourselves a victim of it.

To err is human and none of us are perfect.

Who is to say when/how this small leak occurred? We cannot assume anything and the only thing that matters is facts which can be proven.

Speaking for myself, i am not in the business of reporting every other minor issue. The stuff i would RIDDOR are those things which are blatantly dangerous/bodged/diy'd where there is a clear and present danger.

 

[the baker]

sorry i haven't worded this correctly. The nut on the inlet wasn't tightened fully. It was dropping 4mbar over 2 minutes with appliances isolated. Should i let this go?

Just out of interest, was the joint one containing an olive, or a fiber washer?

If it was one containing an olive how many flats did it take to achieve a satisfactory seal (not that any one would count them)

My mentioning the olives is that over past few years copper tube and the material olives are made of seem to be changing in their hardness/compressibility/elasticity so compression joints can seem to be tight but don’t need much movement of the connecting bits to loosen off slightly, so what may have been sound some time ago might not be so tight on your arrival.

With small diameter pipe work it can be difficult to decide just how much force to apply to what can be a fragile connection.


if you carry out a soundness test before carrying out any work at least you know if the final drop (if any) is down to you.

Tim

 

[gasmarc]

i have come across similar where end capped pipes have been left loose. I

 

[desrob]

forget about it, worry about some thing worth worrying about..?

 

[midge]

An 4mb escape left last Christmas and no one has smelt it?

 

[cdodds2004]

to be honest sounds like he hasnt tightend it up properly, but it still may have sealed, and just worked loosed a touch more recently, gas isnt like water it seals alot easier, when at college my tutor showed us flux can hold gas for a time on a unsolderd joint, so i wouldnt be pointing the finger at him to much, and the flue well its not technically correct but aslong as sealed from the outside and sleave on the inside isnt to bad imo, the do get pushed reallyhard the subbies on bg so maybe he forgot/rushed etc, on the other hand he could be cutting corners but i doubt you will ever no!

 

[buckley plumb]

sorry i haven't worded this correctly. The nut on the inlet wasn't tightened fully. It was dropping 4mbar over 2 minutes with appliances isolated. Should i let this go?

what boiler was it from memory there was a tech bulliten about gas valve washers relaxing after tightening cant remember which boiler make now though..

ant

 

[Ivor Bates]

The bottom line is, is that you are now the responsible person onsite. And the responsibily lies with you to deal with it. Have yet to meet the perfect plumber who has never had a leak, apart from liars of course....

 

[gasmarc]

I would not worry about it myself lifes to short