Gas man/plumber recomendations

[Dave Payne]

Hi all,

 

Replacing the kitchen on Vidar, moving it to the rear of the boat, i need to find someone who can do the following for me,

 

Install new gas connection, pipe in place just needs connecting to cooker.

Drain central heating system.

Remove one rad and sort pipe.

fill system back up adding antifreeze.

Fit new johnson pump for hot water from boiler.

 

Based in the atherstone flight.

 

Anyone recommend a good contact?

 

Thanks

[Athy]

Give nearby Springwood Haven Marina a call. They have a very good fitter on site - I assume he is gas-qualified (but you could ask).

[Dave Payne]

Yeah tried them, they don't have a gas safe man.

 

They did give me a local chaps number though so will try him.

[MtB]

There is no legal obligation to use a Gas Safe bod unless you are a a liveaboard.

 

For hobby boats, anyone can legally carry out gas work on a commercial basis.

[nicknorman]

There is no legal obligation to use a Gas Safe bod unless you are a a liveaboard.

 

For hobby boats, anyone can legally carry out gas work on a commercial basis.

However, bearing in mind the number of cowboys out there who call themselves "plumbers" and "engineers", if I were paying for it I think I would rather have someone with qualifications! Not necessarily any more expensive either.

 

Alternatively you could make the connection yourself and then get a boat gas-qualified BSS man to check it out. Doing the leakage tests is perhaps not quite as easy as it might at first sound, with thermal effects, the relaxation of flexible hoses etc all adding to the confusion.

 

That is for the gas bit of course - for the plumbing bit, any old reasonably competent plumber should be OK and the worse case scenario is just a water leak!

Edited September 22, 2015 by nicknorman

[Dave Payne]

Yup liveaboard now, plus i do think i would want someone who had at least had some training to do the gas work, although that is not a dead on cert, but makes me feel better.

[nicknorman]

OK being liveaboard doesn't preclude you doing the work yourself if you think you are competent, but as I said I would definitely get it checked out by someone suitably qualified. Anyway, there is something to be said for using different people for the installation vs the testing.

Edited September 22, 2015 by nicknorman

[MtB]

However, bearing in mind the number of cowboys out there who call themselves "plumbers" and "engineers", if I were paying for it I think I would rather have someone with qualifications! Not necessarily any more expensive either.

 

Alternatively you could make the connection yourself and then get a boat gas-qualified BSS man to check it out. Doing the leakage tests is perhaps not quite as easy as it might at first sound, with thermal effects, the relaxation of flexible hoses etc all adding to the confusion.

 

That is for the gas bit of course - for the plumbing bit, any old reasonably competent plumber should be OK and the worse case scenario is just a water leak!

 

 

Focusing on making the joints gas tight is failing to see the bigger picture in 'gas safety' terms. Common in the unqualified.

 

Pipe sizing, flueing, ventilation and correct operation of the appliance should all come into play. They will probably be fine by accident, but a competent gas safe bod will be making sure.

[Dave Payne]

I could more than likely do most of it myself, bar the gas, i never touch gas, never will!

 

Just thinking it might be quicker and easier to get all done in one day by one chap who i am sure can do it a lot faster than me, and swear less when it goes wonky!

[alan_fincher]

Focusing on making the joints gas tight is failing to see the bigger picture in 'gas safety' terms. Common in the unqualified.

 

Pipe sizing, flueing, ventilation and correct operation of the appliance should all come into play. They will probably be fine by accident, but a competent gas safe bod will be making sure.

 

And for the sake of balance, though, lets not forget past tales of fully registered people with all the right "tickets" who have installed gas systems on boats that have been an instant BSS fail, and needed a complete gas refit.

 

Hopefully a rarity, but it has clearly happened, so its an area where an established track record of good work is probably at least as important as the certification itself.

 

For clarity, though, although a lot of people do it on a DIY basis, I would still be cautious of advice that anybody who is a generally "OK DIY-er" should necessarily attempt it. As MTB says, you may well be able to get all the joints fully gas tight, (the pressures involved after the regulator are pretty low, so its not that hard to get that bit right), but even so you could easily make other major howlers.

 

What the OP has asked for makes a lot of sense - a genuine recommendation, rather than just someone with right qualification, but no actual examples available of a job well done.

[MtB]

 

And for the sake of balance, though, lets not forget past tales of fully registered people with all the right "tickets" who have installed gas systems on boats that have been an instant BSS fail, and needed a complete gas refit.

 

Hopefully a rarity, but it has clearly happened, so its an area where an established track record of good work is probably at least as important as the certification itself.

 

For clarity, though, although a lot of people do it on a DIY basis, I would still be cautious of advice that anybody who is a generally "OK DIY-er" should necessarily attempt it. As MTB says, you may well be able to get all the joints fully gas tight, (the pressures involved after the regulator are pretty low, so its not that hard to get that bit right), but even so you could easily make other major howlers.

 

What the OP has asked for makes a lot of sense - a genuine recommendation, rather than just someone with right qualification, but no actual examples available of a job well done.

 

 

Yes I agree with most of this, but I've not heard of complete installations by correctly qualified bods needing ripping out and starting again.

 

I once posted about a boat at T&K marina where I was asked to 'rubber stamp' the installation done by a GSR bod who did not hold the boats ticket. Absolutely nothing was done right, an arrogant and ignorant domestic gas fitter working 'out of scope' as GSR like to call it. Maybe this is what you are recalling...

 

Even so, I'm sure there must be arrogant and ignorant (an unpleasant mix) boat-qualified gas bods out there too.

[GUMPY]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zyeMFSzPgGc

[nicknorman]

Focusing on making the joints gas tight is failing to see the bigger picture in 'gas safety' terms. Common in the unqualified.

 

Pipe sizing, flueing, ventilation and correct operation of the appliance should all come into play. They will probably be fine by accident, but a competent gas safe bod will be making sure.

Fair point but in my defence I didn't say that the gas tightness / leak by check was the only one to do, I was trying to say that it is in practice the trickiest. In the OPs case there is no flue (it's a cooker), the ventilation requirements are easy to work out, and hopefully he will have selected the correct sized gas pipe (it's already installed). Anyway it is easily checked visually just by lighting all the burners and anything else that shares the supply.

 

But having watched the chap do our last (and only) BSS it struck me that a fair bit of interpretation was required with the tightness checks due to the external effects I mentioned.

Edited September 22, 2015 by nicknorman

[alan_fincher]

Yes I agree with most of this, but I've not heard of complete installations by correctly qualified bods needing ripping out and starting again.

 

You have actually, but may have forgotten.

 

This post was directed at you, I think!

[jddevel]

May I suggest that whether you have a professional or as a DIYer complete your new work or service your old. Get a bubble tester

fitted that way any time you turn the bottles on you`ll see if you have a leak.

[Meer]

How do you fit a bubble tester any pictures of work please

Edited October 5, 2015 by Meer