Can gas pipe develop crack on its own?

[Agile]

There is a further point which might have escaped your attention.

The engineer was there as a post vacating gas check and thats the HS's requirement and they will be paying for that.

You can try to get a copy of the firm's bill and then catch them if they have tried to foist all the cost on you without accepting that they are responsible for the basic visit.

I am somewhat impressed by the fairly responsive reply that they have goven you though. Obviously they are not gas trained and merely passing on info provided by the gas firm.

In spite of what has been written above, I am of the view that there are many firms that like to give bigger invoices.

Tony

 

[lilystyle]

A question we still have is if we didn't smell any gas when we went back to the unventilated property 24 hours after removing the electric cooker, what could have caused a leak that registered as 4 millibar over 32 seconds in the joints that may or may not have been properly fixed to the wall? Could the Gas Safe engineer, who claims to have a video of this reading, be making it up?

 

[Agile]

What you say you smelt or did not smell is irrelevant. Its just your own statement and thats totally onesided.

Of course you would say that in your evidence. But what you need is a factual argument which does not rely on your biased opinions.

Lets call it 16 mb in two minutes. Thats quite a leak and most people would smell that easily in a medium sized room. But I would not as I have a low sensivity to gas smell. Some people can smell the minutest amount of gas.

I went to a Chinese girl who had a leak nearly as big from a hob fitted by her father. She lived there for two years until a friend pointed it out to her!

 

[gaswizzard]

Lets call it 16 mb in two minutes. Thats quite a leak.

Will all depend on meter type and IV.

 

[baxiengineer]

The point here is that the council say that the fittings and installation were as per regulations but do not mention fixings so it may well be that the installation was illegal in terms of gas safety regulations. Report it to gas safe and tell the council that you are contacting the HSE. If the installation was illegal, then they will sort it out and you will know for sure, I know that it is regulated stringently and this was a serious gas leak that could have killed someone.That should get the council on the back foot.i can not stress enough that the fitting must be fit for the purpose it is intended and it appears that it was not as it seems it was not screwed to the wall

 

[Agile]

Thats a little too late now the alleged defect has been repaired.

Thats the problem in these cases, the original evidence has been destroyed.

In an ideal world the tenant should have been advised when the leak was discovered and given the opportunity to have their own expert inspect the alleged damage if they were to be charged for the work.

The fact that they were not advised and all the evidence of damage has been destroyed makes a powerful argument that they should not now be charged.

Tony

 

[baxiengineer]

The evidence is in the reply, they say an end feed fitting with a half inch female iron connector.There is no mention of a back plate elbo which is the legal fitting.So in effect they have stated that the incorrect fitting was used.

Therefore the installation was legally at risk unless they can prove that a back plate elbo was fitted and screwed to the wall securely and of course if it was, then the alleged damage would have been physically impossible to effect without using a crow bar to wrench it away from the wall.

So they have stated that the wrong fitting was used and in this case that indemnify the tenant from any responsibility.

It would be worth going back to the landlord and asking for the exact type of fitting used in the termination of the gas pipe downstream of the bayonet connection and if they still just come back with EF then ask them how it was secured.As I said earlier, there is no grey area here, the correct fitting must be used.

 

[baxiengineer]

Plus, the story does not stack up, they say the 10mm connection for the wall heater came from the cooker connection point? Very odd considering that there is no fitting on the market that would connect a cooker and have a 10mm connection point for soft copper pipe. Me thinks its porkies

 

[FiremanT]

There was NO COOKER fitted! Therefore the regs (ckr installation) wouldn't apply here.

 

[baxiengineer]

The regulations cover All gas pipes and fittings period.you can not exempt part of the gas installation just because there is no appliance fitted. Phone gas safe if you need confirmation

 

[FiremanT]

The regulations cover All gas pipes and fittings period.you can not exempt part of the gas installation just because there is no appliance fitted. Phone gas safe if you need confirmation

Of course they do, and I badly phrased it, but if there is no cooker attached, it is just a pipe AVAILABLE for a cooker point.

EDIT: having reread the post, it may be that a strapback was fitted. If so, I aplogise. Ihad read it as a stub of pipe.

 

[baxiengineer]

No worries, just hope this person does not have to pay for it

Best wishes.

P.S. Ime not a baxiengineer just a plain old heating engineer who got stuffed by Baxi many moons ago, but I wont go in to that suffice to say, i aint been back

 

[Agile]

What regulation REQUIRES a 1/2" female iron fitting to be actually SCREWED to the wall ( in case its going to receive a bayonet fitting ) ?

 

[lilystyle]

All this is greatly appreciated guys, though we're now a little lost Can someone please clarify: was there a legal requirement that the installation should have had a backplate elbo securely fitted to the wall?

Incidentally, the house in question is used for emergency, temporary accommodation and as such, has a high turn over of licensee's (we didn't have proper tenants' rights) and gas cookers are frequently installed. There is a strict mandate that all cookers must be correctly fiited and removed by qualified enginners. Does this clarify anything?

 

[Agile]

I am waiting to hear if anyone can refer to a particular regulation requiring a screwed backplate. That was only for my information!

Certainly the fitting needs to be secure!

Furthermore, in this case it was capped off and so not in use for a gas cooker anyway.

Any responsibility for the safety of a cooker installation rests with the engineer installing the cooker.

There was no cooker installed in your case and therefore this is irrelevant and so a red herring.

Tony