J
Jez_uk1
Hi all
Sorry for long post.
I live in a house that's about 25 years old. There is an old gas fireplace that I having professionally removed (don't worry I'm not touching anything gas related!). It's the type of fire that stands on 4 legs and neatly sits inside the fireplace area.
At the back there is a copper pipe that rises through the concrete base, into a T-piece, and then horizontally around the back before eventually reducing into smaller diameter piping that snakes around the side to the front and into the control unit for the fire via a shutoff valve.
During my last gas safe inspection I believe they did a bit of resoldering/reflow(?) on that T-piece. Because the gas fire unit just sits on the floor, it is evident that this has probably moved or wiggled around a bit over the years and probably put a bit of stress on this T-piece. Nevertheless that was dealt with during the last inspection (I don't know if it was actually leaking, but there was a bit of soldering work done).
Anyway, that is just a bit of background. The fireplace is getting removed and the only option will be to seal off the end of the copper pipe because the other end is currently not accessible.
My concern is that if there has been some wiggle over the years, could this be transferred under-floor to a below floor joint? From a completely layman's perspective I would imagine that only pipe bending would be allowed with underfloor pipes and certainly no soldering or types of joint that can't could potentially degrade and can't be inspected? What I am trying to say is would that vertical pipe that rises up into the fireplace have a 90 degree bend to horizontal below the fireplace and not some sort of soldered in joint that could be subjected to fatigue?
Would I be correct in saying this or should I get a fiber optic inspection done below the base of the fireplace or worse still have to pull some heavy stuff up?
This is not so much in the event that there are currently no leaks. It stems from my paranoia that any underfloor pipe could need inspection...
Thanks very much and I hope this makes sense.
Jeremy
Sorry for long post.
I live in a house that's about 25 years old. There is an old gas fireplace that I having professionally removed (don't worry I'm not touching anything gas related!). It's the type of fire that stands on 4 legs and neatly sits inside the fireplace area.
At the back there is a copper pipe that rises through the concrete base, into a T-piece, and then horizontally around the back before eventually reducing into smaller diameter piping that snakes around the side to the front and into the control unit for the fire via a shutoff valve.
During my last gas safe inspection I believe they did a bit of resoldering/reflow(?) on that T-piece. Because the gas fire unit just sits on the floor, it is evident that this has probably moved or wiggled around a bit over the years and probably put a bit of stress on this T-piece. Nevertheless that was dealt with during the last inspection (I don't know if it was actually leaking, but there was a bit of soldering work done).
Anyway, that is just a bit of background. The fireplace is getting removed and the only option will be to seal off the end of the copper pipe because the other end is currently not accessible.
My concern is that if there has been some wiggle over the years, could this be transferred under-floor to a below floor joint? From a completely layman's perspective I would imagine that only pipe bending would be allowed with underfloor pipes and certainly no soldering or types of joint that can't could potentially degrade and can't be inspected? What I am trying to say is would that vertical pipe that rises up into the fireplace have a 90 degree bend to horizontal below the fireplace and not some sort of soldered in joint that could be subjected to fatigue?
Would I be correct in saying this or should I get a fiber optic inspection done below the base of the fireplace or worse still have to pull some heavy stuff up?
This is not so much in the event that there are currently no leaks. It stems from my paranoia that any underfloor pipe could need inspection...
Thanks very much and I hope this makes sense.
Jeremy
