Electricians and Boilers ??

[jtsplumbing]

Call'd out to a fault with a Potterton boiler , (Insurance job) customer had reported what she thought was a fault with power supply, sparks told her the fault was with the PCB and wrong fuse's in board, so insurance will not pay for repair ! so she asked me to have a look, turns out to be a duff fan, Now being has the sparks had been messing around inside the boiler and we are telling people on here that you have to be GS to remove the case !! how does this stand with Electricians ?? I would have thought he could-not go past the spur, and he should have asked for a gas engineer to check out the boiler I will be asking GS tomorrow about this, Can a electrician remove the boiler case ?? any feed back would be welcome.

 

[Resolute]

An electrician can only remove the case if they are GSR.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

sparkies are not qualified to work on boilers and should be prosecuted accordingly IMHO

 

[jtsplumbing]

That was my thought, but seems to be a bit of a gray area!

 

[neily01]

Wouldnt say its grey at all they are not qualified and what about if they dont seal the appliance correctly? They wouldnt know what a positive pressure casing was if it smacked them in the snout!!

 

[AWheating]

some boilers can be wired without breaking into the combustion chain, worcester new boiler has been designed to allow sparks to be able to access the electrics without the whole case off. And also one reason why worcester put a flying lead on there range.

Most sparks ive known dont think twice about taking cases off, and ive seen it plenty of times where they have lost a case screw and just let it missing. I always check if i know a sparks been near it.

 

[stevetheplumber]

we had a sparks wire up 16 vaillants he took out the rubber grommets and chucked them away

 

[ambrosia]

if you cant allow a plumber to theres no way a sparky should be allowed to

 

[kozak1968]

Our electrician wires them up but wont turn on unless GSR engineer is present.

 

[TBServices]

Usually a spark will only be there prior to commissioning, and alongside a GSR. So provided there's no gas to the appliance and it hasn't yet been commissioned I don't really see the problem? Unless I'm just naive lol

 

[AlexGas]

Found this on the GS website.

http://www.User PlumbersForums.net Instead - Copy the content, don't link to it.co.uk/pdf/Who%20can%20legally%20work%20on%20a%20gas%20appliance.pdf

 

[TBServices]

So in the case of many boilers, as long as the combustion chamber isn't opened, it's legal for them to work. Though so.

 

[dancinplumba]

with most modern boilers the outer case is part of the air supply to the combustion chamber, by removing this, they will be interfering with the air supply and only removed by a gsr

 

[AlexGas]

Looks like it, but! If you read this:


Safety in the installation and use of gas systems and appliances
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
Approved Code of Practice and guidance

From Regulation 2(1)
“gas fittings” means gas pipework, valves (other than emergency controls), regulators and meters, and fittings, apparatus and appliances designed for use by consumers of gas for heating, lighting, cooking or other purposes for which gas can be used.

From Regulation 2
“work” in relation to a gas fitting includes any of the following activities carried out by any person, whether an employee or not, that is to say -

(b) maintaining, servicing, permanently adjusting, disconnecting, repairing, altering or renewing the fitting or purging it of air or gas;

From Regulation 3
(1) No person shall carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or gas storage vessel unless he is competent to do so.

 

[AlexGas]

No person shall carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or gas storage vessel unless he is competent to do so.

That is clear!

 

[Rob Sale]

It's to do with were are the combustion seals, if they break the combustion seals then they have broke legislation. Personally i'd phone these guys and give them what for

 

[arran197]

Vaillants are the worst, I see so many that have had the rubber gromit removed completely. IMO, an electrician should be allowed to work on them providing they are either with a GSR who can check what is being done and give guidance or only work on boilers that don't have the chamber and electrical connections together.

 

[AWheating]

Our electrician wires them up but wont turn on unless GSR engineer is present.

he should not be able to turn on anyway as an uncommissioned appliance can not be left with a gas supply. So let him turn on and try and figure out why it wont fire with the disc in the meter.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Well spoke to GS about this, tell me that a sparks can wire into main connections or replace time clock and thats about it, he CAN-NOT touch anything else ! the one i delt with took out fuse,s from PCB this is a no no, told customer it was faulty PCB causeing fault, not the problem at all fault was the fan, fit new fan boiler now working OK,

 

[hammers4spanner]

I remember watching on watchdog a few years ago where they had dodgy gas engineers and on that programme the local gsr inspector stated only gsr engineers are allowed to take covers off etc etc