Am I being paranoid?

[Gromit]

Hello all

I'm about to have an installation of a system boiler and unvented indirect cylinder by a Gas Safe chap. The guys who installed were not Gas Safe card holders but they are getting a Gas Safe man to check everything and issue me with the paperwork.

Here's what worries me. Maybe being paranoid but the installer said that the Gas Safe guy wanted to know my boiler and cylinder details in advance so that he could look them up. Why would a Gas Safe engineer need to know these details in advance of the visit? I'm only wondering if the installer's going to go away and get a certificate from someone without the real guy doing the business.

Any replies welcome. Cheers.

 

[mikeygas]

Cos he's a smart Gas Safe guy who is doing his homework on your boiler and cylinder before he signs it , I mean checks it off to make sure that everything is by the book. For example if I'm doing a boiler service on a boiler that I'm not famililar with I will download the MI's to have a quick look and leave a copy with the user.

 

[moony]

thing is though it shouldnt be installed by anyone who is not gas safe simple as - if theyre not gas safe then chances are they havent got there unvented ticket either.

i agree with mikey on the fact we always ask for boiler prior to visit - if its a more popular boiler then not so bad - but obscure ones i always look up first before i visit.

 

[Gromit]

Thanks very much Mikey. Guys like you probably wonder why people like me are like we are. Not born this way but made this way through bad experiences. I was the victim of an unqualified electrician paying someone to produce a certificate for elecs which I later found out the hard way were not earthed. No harm done to me but it's made me pretty wary.

 

[moony]

on a further note - no i dont think your being paranoid - but youve only got yourself to blame for not checking there credentials first which you probably know now you should of - but on a good note - if someone comes and signs it off who is gas safe at least you know someone is putting there name to an installation and passing it safe.

 

[moony]

http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/plumbing-forum/13894-news-story.html take a look at the vid in this thread of an unvented cylinder - what can happen if theyre not properly installed.

 

[Gromit]

Thank you Mr Moony. Didn'yt know that. Ultimately if the Gas Safe chap is thorough and passes it then I think I'll be ok. The installers seem to be thorough right down to putting limestone chippings in a soakaway for a pipe from the boiler cos of no easy access to a drain.

 

[Gromit]

just taken a look at that You Tube link - scary stuff.

 

[fuzzy]

they cannot install the boiler without being gas safe, they are not allowed to get someone to sign off their work, its illeagal

 

[wheeto]

they cannot install the boiler without being gas safe, they are not allowed to get someone to sign off their work, its illeagal

So where's the cutoff with this? I mean, lots of GSR installers will have a trainee with them. Can the trainee fit a gas pipe under direct supervision? While the GSR guy has a cup of tea? Goes off for an hour or two to lunch? Takes an entire day off during a job? Never visits the site except at the end to check his apprentice's work?

 

[Toddyplumb]

Why did you not get a qualified person to fit it in the first place ? Agree with Fuzzy the guy signing it off is risking losing his gas safe card !!!!!!!!! Are you paying the Gas Safe Guy ? Or are the other guys ?
If you are that paranoid phone up Gas Safe and ask them what they think

 

[GrahamM]

So where's the cutoff with this? I mean, lots of GSR installers will have a trainee with them. Can the trainee fit a gas pipe under direct supervision? While the GSR guy has a cup of tea? Goes off for an hour or two to lunch? Takes an entire day off during a job? Never visits the site except at the end to check his apprentice's work?

Technically a gas pipe is not a gas pipe until it is connected to a gas supply. To connect or carry out work on a gas supply or appliance you must be a member of a class of persons approved by the HSE i.e. Gas Safe Registered. A trainee that is not Gas Safe Registered can carry out work under the supervision Gas Safe Engineer. How can we learn otherwise. The engineer will be responsible for the work carried out under his supervision.