DIY installation of a gas central heating system

[hopalong]

Can anyone help me clarify the legalities on installing a heating system myself please?

I have just purchased a flat with no central heating and am considering installing a simple heating system (boiler, 4 radiators and a hot water cylinder). I am perfectly happy and able to do the plumbing in of water pipes etc., and would like to do this myself in order to cut costs.

Obviously I need a CORGI engineer to connect the gas supply to the boiler itself, but is that all I need him to do?

I have searched through the posts here with little success on this subject, all the posts seem to be about replacing existing systems rather than a fresh installation.

Put simply, can I do all the work apart form the gas connection myself?

Many thanks for any help,

Richard

MOD


see this

and if this thread goes into a 4 page rant i am locking it as it has all been said before

nothing personal richard

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Grooaaaaaaaannnnn, here we go, blahdy blahdy blahdy blah ad infinitum.

 

[oilman]

What's so good about having gas for 4 radiators. It's hardly worth the hassle. Electric might appear dearer to run, but the maintenance is FA compared to gas.

 

[ChrisR]

Very good point. You'd have to have a corgi for anything to do with the boiler if it's gas, which would cost a few hundred, say. Your leccy bills would be higher than gas but it would take a while to catch up. Depends how long you'd be in the flat.

 

[hopalong]

Chris R and Oilman raise a good point, the only real reason I am thinking of putting heating in is because I have had it in all the places I have rented over the last few years. I guess if I only intend to stay there 3 or 4 years (which I do) then electrickery might be a more cost effective option. I suppose the key fact here is that the flat was built in 1983 and nobody has bothered to put pukka central heating in it, so maybe it does not get that cold.

Thanks for the replies, the thread pointed to by the MOD shows I am not the only person to think about this! However, it seems that in the short term electric might be the better bet, aling with some proper insulation in the loft.

Cheers for the thoughts,

Richard

 

[oilman]

Insulation is probably the more important end of the job, esp if you haven't got much. Trouble is it's nasty to handle. Have a look here and here for stuff you can literally sleep on. More expensive than glass or mineral fibre, but far less irritating. Wish I'd seen it years ago.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

I always said the person who invented fibreglass should be stripped naked covered in treacle and then rolled in the damn stuff once a week, this sheep stuff looks the dogs *******s.

The only problem with leccy heating is you need a crystal ball to know when to switch it off 2 days before an unexpected mild spell, or you end up roasting.

 

[ChrisR]

NO not storage heaters PVM (though that's another option), we mean a "wet" electric boiler - or a few of them. They come as units which look like a stick - in powers like 7kW or 12 kW, and you add to make what you need. There's a combi version, etc.

 

[kevplumb]

this sort of thing (aztec) ?

 

[hopalong]

Now I like the idea of that! I never knew such devices existed. Being a small 1 bed flat, most of the gas boilers (ignoring combis cos I want a power shower) are about double the output I need. These seem to be ideal.

Thanks for the tips!

 

[kevplumb]

look here for info

 

[chrishutt]

Beware of electric boilers! They will cost a fortune to run. Just look at your electricity bill and see how much you pay for 1 kWh. then compare that with a gas bill. Even allowing for gas boilers not being 100% efficient, you will be paying several times as much with electricity.

 

[oilman]

That's why you have a decent size heat store, and use some economy pricing scheme, biggest one I've heard of is Economy 18.

Chrishutt, you have missed the point of the costings, gas wet systems have a significant maintenance cost compared to electric systems, so just looking up peak rate unit cost and comparing to gas unit cost less efficiency will not give a useful comparison.

For instance my electric aga costs more than a gas one to run, but servicing cost has been zero for the last 15 years, and it stays hot enough to cook on for a couple of days if the power's off.

 

[Agile]

And many of the people here seem to have forgotten what they learnt on the energy efficiency course!

Simply, burning gas at 90% efficiency causes far less ozone layer depletion that you using electricity which is only 33% efficient use of fossil fuel.

Think about the future of the planet!!!

Tony Glazier

 

[PaulAH]

For instance my electric aga...

Oh my God. From someone who's trying to save the planet?

Watch the next episode of Desperate Househusbands.