Fancy fitting some central heating , I'm thinking remove hot water tank fit combi boiler in airing cupboard or loft .

If I am a bit creative with my rad placements (ie not under any windows!!),the pipe work would be very straightforward.

But I'm worried about the gas part, is there someone reasonably local to me who can give advice before I start, and also connect / commission the system when fitted so I don't , take down a row of houses........

at the least,. id get a book. I dont think is that straightforward - if you dont balance the system correctly some rads wont work.

you MUST have the gas fitted by a CORGI registered fitter, or you will have an illegal installation.

atb

steve

ive had various quotes from,plumbers before i did my self build and the baxi 105e is the one we used and the boiler itself is easy to fit with templates for hanging and piping up. you could fit it yourself and let the plumber do the gas connection but some dont like this arrangement i found but its not that bad to do .i think the plumber will want to do the flue fitting too though. im not sure if you need building regs approval for replacing a boiler as you are supposed to use a condensing boiler now and plumbers arent supposed to wire boilers in unless trained to do so

you can slyly add a power point for the boiler yourself, twould be illegal but you can always say you did it early in 2004, after the colour change but before it became law. The pipework is dead simple, my mate is corgi registered and we fitted a full system together last year, took about 20 odd hours.

Plumbers dont like comissioning someone elses work because they lose out on so much wage!

My house is mid terraced so its never super cold.

At present I have an old warm air central heating ,which is housed downstairs in a cupboard which is fairly central in the house , there is an old round pin socket and the gas comes up out of the floor in steel pipe, directly above is the airing cupboard upstairs.

Therefore within this central space approx 1m x .5m running floor to ceiling I have all the pipes etc I need. and directly above i have acces to a cold water feed and an old asbestos flue running up out of the roof.

If i run the pipes front to back along the landing i can pickup the bathroom and all the bedrooms with minimum floor lifting.

Hence trying to bend the radiator location rules.

[Edited on 26/11/05 by Surrey Dave]

quote:

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Originally posted by JoelP
Plumbers dont like comissioning someone elses work because they lose out on so much wage!

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So you disagree then Ferg ?

P.S. You wouldn't seriously be interested in fixing someone elses f**k ups would you ?

P.P.S. How's the GTM going
(John F now ex GTMer)

If you enjoy having a bath and plentiful hot water DO NOT have a combi!

Most are absouloutely useless when filling a bath etc.

I'll bet now the pipes coming from you cylinder are 22mm and they'll be replaced with 15mm (and be as good?) coming from a combi, doesn't add up somewhere!

P.s Plumbers or Gas engineers don't like comissioning other peoples work because they have to put their names to it by law! If you tell them its all done properly and there's a un-sleved gas pipe they haven't seen they risk losing their Corgi Registration.

>Regarding radiator positions. Make the effort and get the rads under the windows - then the whole of every room will be warm.

I'm against putting your radiators underneath the windows, it means that your radiator heat goes straight out of the window. If the radiator is away from the window the room is heated by the radiator, then the room loses heat out of the window rather than the heat going straight outside. If a room is cold it can only be because there isn't enough heat going into it (or too much escaping).
Trying to heat a house by warming up outside isn't very fuel efficient!

rads under windows was the norm before double glazing but it doesnt apply as much nowadaysif you have a laser thermometer you will find the inner pane of glass on most double glazed unit nearly the same temp as the rest of the room.anyway if tradesman hadnt got so greedy over the last couple of years it wouldnt be worth trying to do it yourself anyway.my labour costs went up 25% between costing the biuld in late 2003 and starting in jan 2004 but what goes round comes round as the housing market implodes on itself things will get back to normal ,i dont begrudge anyone a living but some of the prices i got were insane! plumbers wanting £50 an hour on a new build so i had to do it myself in the end

quote:

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Originally posted by MkIndy7
If you enjoy having a bath and plentiful hot water DO NOT have a combi!

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quote:

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Originally posted by MkIndy7
...P.s Plumbers or Gas engineers don't like comissioning other peoples work because they have to put their names to it by law! If you tell them its all done properly and there's a un-sleved gas pipe they haven't seen they risk losing their Corgi Registration.

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you also have to comply with building regs regarding how and where you notch joists etc...

I've got a great idea !, what about a pile of twigs burning in the middle of the lounge?

With a ladle suspended over the top for hot water..........

Seriously where do I find the rules regarding what I can and cannot do to my own house!!!!

[Edited on 26/11/05 by Surrey Dave]

[Edited on 26/11/05 by Surrey Dave]

You can ask GasGasGas (Paul) he fits/services them for a living !!

Jason

quote:

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Originally posted by JoelP
you also have to comply with building regs regarding how and where you notch joists etc...

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Aaaaaaaagghhhh!!!

When notching joists it should ALWAYS be in the second 10% of the joists supported span on the top surface and not within 100mm of any bolt securing joists together.

quote:

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Originally posted by froggy
anyway if tradesman hadnt got so greedy over the last couple of years it wouldnt be worth trying to do it yourself anyway.my labour costs went up 25% between costing the biuld in late 2003 and starting in jan 2004

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Pop into you local Plumb Centre or PTS and ask them who does 'weekend work'.

Corgi registers fitters don't generally mind commisioning the work as long as they've done the gas and flue (the bits that kill).

I'm industrial and commercial and refuse to commission anyones work. The ACS is a joke and costs a fortune. Corgi is the law in this trade and without your registration you are out of business.

By the way, domestic boilers should be registered. Unless you lose the card

quote:

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Originally posted by zilspeed
So you disagree then Ferg ?

P.S. You wouldn't seriously be interested in fixing someone elses f**k ups would you ?

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i dont doubt that the cost of keeping up with all the current regs isnt valid when pricing but all the info i used to fit my unvented system came from the manufacturer and the nhbc manual ,ileft the flue and gas pipe to the plumber. im not blaming anyone for charging what they can . its getting to the point that you wont be allowed to do anything at home apart from wallpaper unless your a big housebuilder and then you can build any old rubbish and still get it passed by the nhbc unlike the selfbiulder who gets it all checked twice by the council and structurall warranty people

quote:

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Originally posted by froggy
all the info i used to fit my unvented system came from the manufacturer and the nhbc manual

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thats my point its all tested and cert,d by the plumber nothing is hidden so why shouldnt i have done it? its all as it should be be ,im not a qualified welder but i still repair cars every day .i fully agree you dont touch gas at all fair enough but where will it end? will you need to get a licence to own a plasterers trowel! the sva is a good example, we build a car to the best of our abilities and someone inpects it and says yes or no as long as it meets the reqiured standard ,how many of us are fully qualified to build a car?

so called weekend work people would not be corgi as it only covers them for the work they do for there company, and the boiler now has to be registered with corgi/building control once installed.i carry out work in surry and corgi registered.and money wise look at what other trades charge

quote:

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Originally posted by Ferg
Aaaaaaaagghhhh!!!

When notching joists it should ALWAYS be in the second 10% of the joists supported span on the top surface and not within 100mm of any bolt securing joists together.

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quote:

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Originally posted by froggy
thats my point its all tested and cert,d by the plumber nothing is hidden so why shouldnt i have done it?

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ok il put my hands up to that ,i think its just me, im a bloke who cant stand not knowing how to do things, luckily i service my plumbers vans so he let me do most of the work myself but i still worked out from the prices i did get for plumbing the two houses i built that the guys were looking at 200quid per day for labour, im just glad its over now and i can start building the garage

ferg, lighten up mate. Im not implying gas fitters are on the lash. Im a tradesman myself and fully expect an excellent wage for the quality work i do. If i regard £100+ per day as acceptable when i need almost no qualification or registration (besides electrics) then 200 is just fine for someone who has wasted so much time and money with corgi.

My point regarding central heating installation is that only 10% of the job is skilled labour - but the installer can charge the entire job as skilled labour, and pay a team of monkeys to do the pipe work and radiator hanging. Hence the amount of money left over for the boss. A bloke i was speaking to last week said he charged £1000 for the labour of installing a full system, and with 3 lads would get knocked off in a single day. Obviously they would be paid maybe 100 each, hence this chap was on a tidy living. There would be significantly less money for him if all the pipework was done by someone else. Nowt wrong with earning a good living

Does anyone know if there are any regulations regarding how close central heating pipes can go to electrical wiring? For example, it is hard to stop pipes coming close to wires under the floor.

Remember you'll need Scottish advice here - we have different regs for Building Control up here.

Have a look here

i suspect that the onus is on the electrician, not the plumber! the on site guide gives tables to work out how much less current you can allow for if the wires get hot. If you avoid heat, insulation, clustering wires and cartridge fuses you can use some really simple guidelines. However, i doubt that they matter to the plumber.