gas safe cert cock up

[rockyraccoon]

I had a gas safe engineer to do a landlords cert, he tested all appliances and these were found to be safe apart from one fire which he disconnected. He removed the electric cooker and said he had to move the shutoff valve from behind the gas hob as it was in the wrong place. I agreed for work to go ahead. After he`d finished rerouteing the pipe into a side cupboard the measurement of gas went from 22 mb rapidly down indicating a large gas leak. The engineer couldnt find out where it was coming from after doing various tests and capping off what he`d already done. He presumed it was coming from under the concrete flooring he said he would have to cap the original piping off at the meter and recarcass to all appliances (fre, ckr and chtg) I havent had the bill yet but he said it would be in the region of £350

My question is who is liable for the extra cost when there was no sign of a leak before he arrived, and although he is a registered gas installer, could give me no explanation as to why the gas mb dropped so low and before he started any work it tested ok

 

[newbie1]

if there was no gas leak when work started then i would negotiate a price for the new carcass..have to say thats fairly good price for recarcass of several appliance as copper pipe is pricey at present i did a meter run external to boiler due leak and price was 600.00

 

[REDSAW]

without sounding mean, you are as it is your property and your safety and was a fault waiting to happen. fortunately for you it was exagerated by the gas guy whilst he was there and not when you were asleep. that is to be sure it wasnt done deliberately,, although i would hope not but it does happen.

 

[Mbear]

It's best practise to do a tightness test on the installation before commencing any gas work, this way u know what the drop was before and therefore what it should be after the gas work has been completed. I'm sorry to say but for all u know there may not have been a leak before ur engineer started working on the gas?

A u6 meter can have a 4mb permissible drop over 2mins as long as the gas cannot be smelled by anyone(customer or engineer). Different kinds of meters have different permissible drops.

 

[Puddle]

From what you say,sounds like a very good gas safe plumber you have

As for the reason why the pipework under the floor is now leaking it is difficult to say,it could be a compression joint under the floor,that should not have been used and has been disturbed ,when works carried out,could be a bad soldered fitting,in any case,all pipework under the floor should be able to cope with any normal works on pipework above,you can not blame the plumber,all he has done,is carry out works that needed doing,this situation would probably have happened who ever did the work,as said he has also given,what seems a very good price to correct situation,maybe you should think yourself lucky ,this has happened now,under controlled conditions,rather than tenant knocking pipework at later a date and having a very dangerous situation
It is not good when things like this happen but seems your guardian angel has put you in good hands

imho

 

[migoplumber]

you sure on them figures mbear ?

 

[Mbear]

you sure on them figures mbear ?

pretty sure but feel free to correct me migo, the last time I done my ACS was almost 4yrs ago. Uve got me thinking now now? Lol

 

[wildcard]

If he had done a tightness test before touching any pipework,which i was taught to do, he could of identified this,saving himself time & you money.

 

[rockyraccoon]

Hi thanks for all your replies, i think puddle summed it up, i have asked the engineer for a detailed report so i can pass on to the landlord, and yes he is a good engineer, me being just a plumber needed to know if the landlord had any comeback Thanks again

 

[newbie1]

u6/g4 can have 4mb drop over 2 mins but only if the drop isnt on the pipework
many engineers use this drop as a get out clause ideally if i have more than 2mb drop i start isolating appliance to ensure drop isnt on pipework as there is no allowance for any drop on pipework and if there is you have to then find it