Liam
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| posted on 11/7/08 at 10:18 PM |
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Calling plumbers - 'do not use' stickers on me taps...
Hi there
Finally got the keys to the house me and my partner have bought so I can start to get on with all the work!! Woo!! Anyway - everything plumbimg
related has a sticker on it saying (roughly) 'Do not use - residue left in pipes. Get CORGI registered plumber to refil system'. The
house has been empty (and presumably the plumbing emptied too) since April which I presume must be the reason it's apparently not just a case of
turning on the stopcock under the sink, hence the stickers??
I'm just wondering exactly what this implies. I mean I could do what it says but I dont want to call on a plumber just yet if I can get away
with it! If it's related to the filling of the header tanks, hot water system then I'm not really bothered about that cos all
that's gonna be pulled out as I'll be fitting a combi boiler. My question really is am I OK to use cold water from the kitchen taps for
washing and let the toilet fill up, just so I have these facilities whilst doing the work, or do the stickers indicate some nasty contamination
potentially present? I turned it on just to see if it all works and water runs clear and clean from the taps. If i did 'call a CORGI plumber
to refil the system' what would he do? Could I do it myself if necessary?
Any advice appreciated,
Liam
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Chippy
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| posted on 11/7/08 at 10:34 PM |
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Sounds like the usual HSE bullsh*t to me. I would just turn on the main and run all the outlets for a while, just to be on the safe side, and to
clear any stale water from the system. My opinion, for what its worth. Regards Ray
To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 11/7/08 at 10:40 PM |
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Are you allowed to fit a combi boiler? I know around here you have to apply to the council and have a bloody good reason otherwise its condensing
boilers all the way.
CORGI only relates to gas so if you're only using cold mains then I'd say yes crack on. A long time ago when I started life as a plumber
we used to use similar signs for when a system failed its leak test or a gas fire was letting out fumes.
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Liam
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| posted on 11/7/08 at 11:20 PM |
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Hmm yeah I think it's probably either health and safety nonsense or related to the hot water system (has an old back boiler which i dont intend
to ever turn back on anyway). Using fresh cold should be reet - though it'd suck to get legionella or owt like that!
Grumpy - condensing just relates to how the boiler works. Condensing boilers are the latest super efficient boiler design with twin heat exchangers
blah blah blah. Combi relates to the type of boiler (and hence type of plumbing system the installation will use). A combi system is fully sealed
(no header/expansion tanks) and hot water on demand (no hot tank) as opposed to the conventional vented system with header tanks etc.
Thus any type of boiler can be of a condensing design, or it may not be. I will be pulling out the old back boiler, all the tanks and pipework from
the loft and fitting a condensing combi boiler meeting sebuk efficiency band A. It would be trying to fit something in a low efficiency band that
will be frowned upon - but that doesn't stop you having a combi as long as it's an efficient one.
At least that's how I understand things!
Liam
[Edited on 11/7/08 by Liam]
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nitram38
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 04:22 AM |
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Right, not actually "bull**it".
The plumber should chlorinate your pipes before use, because when they are empty, bugs can grow in the pipes.
I work in maintenance and even with water in them, we have to have the drinking water systems chlorinated once a year.
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eznfrank
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 07:36 AM |
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When the house was emptied I'd be surprised if they had bothered to drain the system. Are you actually living there or just renovating. If
you're renovating and it aint drinking water then I'd just crack on with it. And TBH with you if it was me I'd not worry about the
drinking water either, if it was empty a year or two I might have a different view.
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Peteff
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 07:42 AM |
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Turn all the cold taps on and then open the stop slowly till the tap in the kitchen runs without splashing back out of the sink. If I turn our stop
cock on full the back splash nearly hits the ceiling  There's chlorine in the water system already along with all the other stuff the water
board uses to purify it. Has it been turned off at the street as well?
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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iiyama
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 08:22 AM |
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There is chlorine and flouride in the water system, but if the house has been stood empty for that amount of time and the water system wasnt
decommisioned then there could be a problem.
You can run the taps, (all of them), for a period of time and see if the chemicals that the water authorities put into our drinking water will clean
anything that happens to have taken up residence in the system, (thing is you aint gonna know if youve cleaned it out untill you get gut rot or
worse). Or you can get it commisioned by a plumber, Cant think of any reason why he would need to be Corgi though.
Legionnaires can still occur in storage tanks if the ambiant temp is right, flouride/chlorine dosnet get rid of it.
Own risk really! 
Reference Combi's, yes you can still fit them but they have to be condensing as well.......
If its broke, fix it. If it aint broke, take it apart and find out how it works!
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 09:02 AM |
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Liam. I'm aware of the basic differences between the traditional combi and the new 'condensers' just didn't want to get all
technical. The reason I mentioned is that my parents had their combi serviced recently as they were looking at moving house and it failed on a seal
and a leaky heat exchanger so they looked at getting a new boiler and were told by 2 different plumber that they had to fit the new 'super
efficient' condensers if you get me. Apparently Bolton Council will shaft anyone who is replacing or fitting from new and not using the new
condensers. Nowt new there I suppose, the council shafting us. Anyhow it came down to me to replace the heat exchanger in the end and cost me a
dislocated thumb!
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Liam
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 10:03 AM |
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Well it was never turned off at the street and when i turned it on under the kitchen sink I never really got any spluttering and splashing, so it
probably wasnt all that empty. Well I perhaps wont drink any till i've had a chat with a plumber.
If the pipes were gonna be chlorinated, where and how would that be introduced? I've got the stopcock under the kitchen sink and so far
haven't located any point 'further back' in the system (except for the meter out in the street). If it was gonna be introduced near
the kitchen stopcock there's only about 2 foot of pipe to the kitchen tap anyway. Hmmm well i think i ought to at least speak to a plumber for
peace of mind.
A related question - the stopcock under the kitchen sink I used yesterday to turn the water back on is in 15mm pipe comming up from the floor. Does
that mean my mains inlet is all in 15mm and is that a problem for combi boiler fitting? As I say i haven't investigated enough yet to find
precisely where the mains inlet to the property is but if that stopcock in 15mm pipe turns the whole house off I guess it must be there or close to
it. I'm gonna borrow a pressure guage from work and measure mains flows and pressures to check everything's cool, but was just surprised
to see the inlet in 15mm. Or is that what it's supposed to be?
Cheers for all the advice so far,
Liam
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iiyama
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 10:31 AM |
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15mm is standard for mains pressure into the house.
If its broke, fix it. If it aint broke, take it apart and find out how it works!
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Macbeast
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| posted on 12/7/08 at 05:00 PM |
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I understand that any new boiler of any kind has to be condensing, unless it would be impossible to allow the condensate to run away.
Bonus is the condensing boiler is supposed to be more efficient so that the saving will pay for the boiler in - oh let's say- 50 years 
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