** Splitting gas supply for conversion to 8 flats

[JayGasEng]

Dear all,

Long time lurker of these forums but first post for me as some advice needed on an upcoming job.

Details: One, 35 mm supply of gas already serves 3 storey detached building which used to be offices.

Plan is convert to 8 flats mix of 1/2 beds.

Landlord wants x8 combi's, 25kw units. No gas elsewhere as cookers will be electric.

Currently the supply is connected to a G10 meter.

Ok so where the advice would be appreciated is on how best to go about arranging the supplies.

Do we speak with the supplier, to remove the original meter, get them to extend the supply to a riser which would then feed each flat and then new meter for each flat?

OR

Ask supplier to fit x7 new gas supplies so in total x8 gas supplies from the mains outside to serve all x8 new flats so each unit has its own separate supply from outside.

OR

Change exisiting G10 meter to larger unit and then install secondary meters off the primary meter, so 1 primary meter and 8 secondary meters.


Your thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated as the landlord is jut trying to whey up costs here dependant upon which methods will actually safely supply each flat with the gas required to operate the 25kw combi.


Cheers

Jay

 

[Harvest Fields]

Welcome along mate. Are you Gas safe registered? If so you need to PM either @Harvest Fields, @Riley or @ShaunCorbs your gas safe number and we will get the ball rolling so that you can get access to the correct areas of the forum.

 

[Scott_D]

Will the flats be sold?
Might be cheaper to have a communal boiler and hit water cylinder

 

[JayGasEng]

Welcome along mate. Are you Gas safe registered? If so you need to PM either @Harvest Fields, @Riley or @ShaunCorbs your gas safe number and we will get the ball rolling so that you can get access to the correct areas of the forum.

Yes I am will send over the PM shortly

 

[JayGasEng]

Will the flats be sold?
Might be cheaper to have a communal boiler and hit water cylinder

Long term the landlord may sell, but in the interim he will be renting them all. However inorder to make splitting leases etc it would be ideal if all the services were separate. He is not keen on a communal system at all as he wants to keep the door open to him if he wishes to sell a few of them

 

[Rob Foster]

Long term the landlord may sell, but in the interim he will be renting them all. However inorder to make splitting leases etc it would be ideal if all the services were separate. He is not keen on a communal system at all as he wants to keep the door open to him if he wishes to sell a few of them

ok JayGas. be aware this fella might make plenty of dosh good luck to him. Do never do this on the cheap, treat it as 8x new properties AND a good rolled up figure for the supplies
to,each gaff , inc water gas etc.

do never be tempted to lower your price because ...its loads of
work ..no no and get stage payments ...every week if possible these boys can and do go bust regular and will leave you for dead

keep us updated. centralheatking

 

[JayGasEng]

Hey Rob thank you for the reply and advice pal. Well to be fair, i've done a load of jobs for him before, I've known him for about 7+ years. He buys properties all the time and does them up to rent or sell depending on the market and im his go to guy as the gas engineer / plumber for all his purchases. If im honest he's by no means looking to go for the cheapest option, he's just trying to assess all his options before making the decision as financially there is quite a bit of money involved and if separate supplies can be avoided that would be the ideal route if the gas can be arranged/split safely.

 

[Rob Foster]

Hey Rob thank you for the reply and advice pal. Well to be fair, i've done a load of jobs for him before, I've known him for about 7+ years. He buys properties all the time and does them up to rent or sell depending on the market and im his go to guy as the gas engineer / plumber for all his purchases. If im honest he's by no means looking to go for the cheapest option, he's just trying to assess all his options before making the decision as financially there is quite a bit of money involved and if separate supplies can be avoided that would be the ideal route if the gas can be arranged/split safely.

hey I am not offended at all, We have been around the block alot and seen most things ...so,thats why I posted ..good luck to,you
chking

 

[Chalked]

If he’s is looking at selling any of them off in the future, it would be best to have separate meters for each residence.
Transco won’t put them in each flat these days, so will either need one room for the upper floors and normal recessed, or floor boxes for the bottom flats.
Last one we did there was space for a communal cupboard under the stairs, that housed all the gas , water and electric meters.
You will need a decent route for the supplies to run from the meter to each flat. Outside is sometimes the only option. But a purpose,duct in the communal area is neatest.

 

[rpm]

Welcome along mate. Are you Gas safe registered? If so you need to PM either @Harvest Fields, @Riley or @ShaunCorbs your gas safe number and we will get the ball rolling so that you can get access to the correct areas of the forum.

Isn't there a minimum number of posts required anymore?

 

[Harvest Fields]

Isn't there a minimum number of posts required anymore?

Yes. But we go through all that once we have confirmed gas safe number. Which we have not had yet as far as I am aware.

 

[JayGasEng]

Hey Harvest, sent my GSN to Riley but hes asked for a pic of the front and back of my GS card as these are the new rules. Will get it sorted and sent over later when i get in.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

TBH two options

New u25 meter and sub meters or seperate meters for each flat from Nat grid

Either won’t be cheap and if it’s the u25 meter will be a commercial engy s job not domestic

 

[JayGasEng]

If he’s is looking at selling any of them off in the future, it would be best to have separate meters for each residence.
Transco won’t put them in each flat these days, so will either need one room for the upper floors and normal recessed, or floor boxes for the bottom flats.
Last one we did there was space for a communal cupboard under the stairs, that housed all the gas , water and electric meters.
You will need a decent route for the supplies to run from the meter to each flat. Outside is sometimes the only option. But a purpose,duct in the communal area is neatest.

Thank you for your input chalked. So yes we have decided on the front communal area for the riser. The chippy has fitted 3 large riser cupboards, 1 for each utility. The old g10 meter is downstairs in the basement. Do you think it would be possible for the supplier to extend this supply up to the riser from the basement to the ground and put an iso on it. We can then run branches of this and fit the 8 separate meters. Then technically each flat will have their own metered supply. All that remains would be ensuring the pipe sizing etc checks out.

I guess the main question would be, can a 35mm pipe handle enough volume demand to be split 8 ways, because if that is not the case then separate supplies connected from outside on the mains will be the only choice. Pipesizing calc from meter position in riser on the ground floor, will be approximately 10 meter run each in 22 mm and potentially 6 elbows each run to each 25kw combi.

 

[JayGasEng]

TBH two options

New u25 meter and sub meters or seperate meters for each flat from Nat grid

Either won’t be cheap and if it’s the u25 meter will be a commercial engy s job not domestic

Shaun thanks for your reply m8, in regards in the u25 meter. If we did get them to install one, then the 8 sub meters will be installed downstream. However as theres only 1 supply, if the landlord say signs up with SSE for his gas, can the secondary/submeters choose whom their supplier is, or would they just be entitled to take a tariff from SSE only as they supply the primary u25 meter

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Shaun thanks for your reply m8, in regards in the u25 meter. If we did get them to install one, then the 8 sub meters will be installed downstream. However as theres only 1 supply, if the landlord say signs up with SSE for his gas, can the secondary/submeters choose whom their supplier is, or would they just be entitled to take a tariff from SSE only as they supply the primary u25 meter

Sse would be the biller

They would bill the landlord and then the landlord would bill the tenants

 

[AMGasServices]

What’s the size of the supply coming in to the property?

 

[Chalked]

You won’t be able to sell them with sub meters.
Far better to have individual meters fitted , then run supply from on meter location

 

[oz-plumber]

If I were you, I would request a visit from someone from the Gas Supplier.
They should tell you what they want from their perspective.

Too many variables asking us on a public forum.
You don't want to do the work and find out it's not what the Gas Supplier wants