Confusion

[midlands based]

Hello all, ive had an enquiry from a customer to move a radiator approximately 2 metres to the next wall in a council property. The customer has followed the correct route and informed the council of his intentions but has been told that whoever does the work must issue a gas certificate. The council are saying that for the work to be done, the conventional boiler needs to be drained which apparently is classed as decommisioned ? Then re commisioned when work is complete. They have advised also that if it is done without a gas cert they will sue the company who does the work. Ive spoke to my gas engineer who says this is crap basically and that because there is no interruption to gas line or anything related, gas safe are in no way involved. My thinking is that i could even freeze the pipes and do the work without even draining. So does anyone know what the council could be talking about here or are they confused ? Going to ring them in the morning to ask so just want to get opinions before i do.

 

[snowhead]

It's the Council's property, they can specify what they like unfortunately.
Freezing would be a good option as by their words it wouldn't be decommissioned.

 

[TBServices]

Or you could drain down and pretend you froze the pipes lol. Councils are so ridiculous.

 

[lame plumber]

just talk to the idiot in the council that issued this edict, explain about freezing and go from there, not worth having them ruin your reputation for no good reason.

 

[midlands based]

Thats what i was thinking. What my gas man has also said is that if he does issue some certificate to keep them happy then he could effectively be saying he has done work that hasnt even been touched so could open a can of worms. Im not bothered about the job to be honest for the size of it but will give them a call anyway to see what they want.

 

[midlands based]

Is a boiler classed as decommisioned if the central heating is drained ?

 

[lame plumber]

depends who is defining decommisioning!

 

[midlands based]

I feel a bit sorry for the bloke to be honest. He only wants a simple job doing so he can carry on work on his family home. He thought he was doing the right thing by telling them.

 

[AWheating]

it would need a recommission as regards the system may need some balancing up. This will not be work upon the gas train of the appliance and will not require a gas cert.

to satisfy the council why not do a gas cert, with visual risk assessment only for each appliance and state what work was done and that the gas side of any appliance was not worked upon.

it sounds like the person from the council does not understand the work involved and probably part of the course of there main contracted plumbing company work is to issue a gas cert on every visit.

 

[markfxy]

what could the council sue for? no laws have been broken as long as the systems balanced and has inhibitor what could they do. I'd be tempted to do the job just to wind the council up!

 

[midlands based]

what could the council sue for? no laws have been broken as long as the systems balanced and has inhibitor what could they do. I'd be tempted to do the job just to wind the council up!

I was thinking exactly the same. Ive spoke to the council today and apparantly this has come from there gas department, if that actually exists. What they want is for the customer or myself to also employ a gas engineer to supervise me and issue a certificate to say that the gas boiler has not been affected by my work. So i can only presume they would want the same doing if we was to change a set of taps ???? Stupid.

 

[CXR100]

our tax money is going to pay these idiots that sit in an ofice thinking up these crazy rules all day! ..... unfortunatley i am employed as a plumber by them 😛

 

[lame plumber]

the council has to suffer idiots doing diy all the time, hence why they have to try and control whats going on in their, ultimately our properties. All that is required is a phone call to the council to let them know your qualified and competant and give them some sort of completion certificate, so they can kick ypur bum in the future if there is a problem.

 

[Keefy]

the council has to suffer idiots doing diy all the time, hence why they have to try and control whats going on in their, ultimately our properties. All that is required is a phone call to the council to let them know your qualified and competant and give them some sort of completion certificate, so they can kick ypur bum in the future if there is a problem.

I was moving a few rads in a HA property the other day while it was getting a full rewire. The sparks said the HA had told them to just tear up the laminate floor in the bedrooms because it wasn't allowed. The tenant was having none of it so ended up with loads of holes in the ceilings where the sparks had to run their wires.

Apparently they don't like flooring down in bedrooms in case there's a leak.

 

[Reg Man]

The council would have difficulty throwing the gas safety regulations at you for this work as everyone else has said, it does not constitute gas work. If they wish to have control over who is doing the work then they should be asking that the work is carried out by a qualified person and if they are that concerned may be they should inspect the work on completion, if they have anyone qualified enough to know what they are looking at.

 

[Crinkmeister]

I was thinking exactly the same. Ive spoke to the council today and apparantly this has come from there gas department, if that actually exists. What they want is for the customer or myself to also employ a gas engineer to supervise me and issue a certificate to say that the gas boiler has not been affected by my work. So i can only presume they would want the same doing if we was to change a set of taps ???? Stupid.

I think you should also employ a qualified telephone sanitizer to make sure the telephone does not get contaminated :yes: