D
DIY
Plumbers
Hi there,
As my username DIY implies, I’m a complete amateur at plumbing. Back in 1979 my wife and I moved into a very old farmhouse. (It has a staircase of a type that went out of fashion about 400 years ago.) We made a lot of changes. The ones that involved plumbing were moving a gas-fired Rayburn stove from the front of the house to a new kitchen at the back, and shifting the hot-water cylinder to a position above the Rayburn so that the circulation between the cylinder and the stove was as efficient as possible. Moving the Rayburn involved taking the gas supply from the meter at the front of the house through to the back. We contacted the local gas board and a nice, practical man came to assess the job. He kept making those little intakes of breath that send the £££ indicator in your head into overdrive. After a while, he said “Who did your water plumbing?” I told him I had. “Well, don’t tell anyone I said this, but do the gas plumbing yourself, and we’ll test it and connect if it’s safe.” So that’s what I did, and tested it for leaks by connecting it to the water main. It passed the gas board’s test with flying colours.
Those were the days! Today, that sort of DIY probably contravenes a whole bunch of laws. It may horrify some of you professionals, too?
Hi there,
As my username DIY implies, I’m a complete amateur at plumbing. Back in 1979 my wife and I moved into a very old farmhouse. (It has a staircase of a type that went out of fashion about 400 years ago.) We made a lot of changes. The ones that involved plumbing were moving a gas-fired Rayburn stove from the front of the house to a new kitchen at the back, and shifting the hot-water cylinder to a position above the Rayburn so that the circulation between the cylinder and the stove was as efficient as possible. Moving the Rayburn involved taking the gas supply from the meter at the front of the house through to the back. We contacted the local gas board and a nice, practical man came to assess the job. He kept making those little intakes of breath that send the £££ indicator in your head into overdrive. After a while, he said “Who did your water plumbing?” I told him I had. “Well, don’t tell anyone I said this, but do the gas plumbing yourself, and we’ll test it and connect if it’s safe.” So that’s what I did, and tested it for leaks by connecting it to the water main. It passed the gas board’s test with flying colours.
Those were the days! Today, that sort of DIY probably contravenes a whole bunch of laws. It may horrify some of you professionals, too?
