Gas Meter connection

[martygturner]

Hi any help or pointers to reference materials greatly appreciated.

Background.
We were left a piece of land by my wife's farther, got planning permission for 3 Holiday cabins. Tendered the job and with no interest credible interest from UK companies German outfit did a turnkey solution. Job went fine spec included gas heating from combi boiler and they fitted worcester 24's as parts would be easily available in the future.The site has mains gas and three meter points were installed by Transgas. German gas fitter, with Gas Safe registration, and I did check with Gas Safe because I thought it was a uk only scheme, turns out eu directive allows eu memebers to register. Building control happy all signed off , gas cert issued and letting commenced in 2014. With the build came an year one inspection and snagging, boiler serviced and another cert issued by same German engineer.

December 2015, written to by council asking if I would like to convert Holiday Let to full occupation to help them meet social housing target. Said yes duly converted planning permission and council wants to supply tennants. Great. As its a new tenancy thought better to get certs done now rather than 4 months in. Electrical fine, gas, well all I can say is I think I would have been spoken to better if I had just run a group of nuns over with steam roller.

The gas person basically said I had employed a criminal to install the boiler and that I was thoroughly bad . (version without the swearing) Condemned boilers on the spot said installation was dangerous and that foreigners were not allowed to work on uk gas. The german chap had duly filled in some forms with his registration number.....was told that this was a lie and should have checked. I said I had checked...incensed him more. He said boilers needed re plumbed for gas and fitted properly and I needed to pay him 3k for the privilege. Used own choice language to say no.

In the entire exchange I could not get a reason why the installation was sub standard or dangerous. This leads me at last to my question.

The Meter is fitted on the outside wall, the pipework, a one piece solid metal pipe that is pre-formed with a 90 degree bend and is covered by yellow plastic sheathing goes from the meter through the back of the meter housing through a plastic sleeve into the Cabin. Inside is a short ( 3') stub of pipe with a thread and attached to that is a connector pipe made of what looks stainless steel ribbed pipe. This connects to the boiler some 300mm from the pipe coming out the wall. The pipe size is about 24mm od but with the ribs it could be anything from 22 to 26mm. The pipe looks exactly the same as the one on the meter that takes the gas from the ground to the regulator. The bends to the boiler are all less that 90 degrees, sort of a flowing s shape. The pipe is held to the wall by two clamps.

Sooooo what is wrong with this...Have spoken to Germans they said that its fine it , just a standard installation pointed to photos , lots of them on the heating section of their website all look the same as mine. Tried Worcester, won't speak to me as I am not an installer.

All I need to know is what I need to ask for, if its wrong...and what price should I pay for 600mm of re piping. I know its gas but its not atomic zombie gas.. Given the gas chaps reaction I am a bit wary of approaching others without knowing what I am dealing with.

Area is wiltshire.

Any help or direction greatly appreciated.

 

[Agile]

There is a strong possibility that that RGI guy was just intent on ripping you off. £3000 would cover installing three boilers.

My recommendation that you employ another RGI.

Your description means nothing and we would need photos if you want us to make any comments on it.

Any remedial work should be less than £200 per boiler, probably a lot less.

But the moral of the story is to use British installers. Whilst some methods used in Germany may work there, we have our own ways of doing things here.

 

[martygturner]

Thanks for the prompt reply will go down and photo it.

However is there some secret code out there that stops RGI's telling mere mortals what the spec is for connecting a single gas supply from a meter to a a boiler is ? Should'nt the poor sod who pays for it know what is required and why....

On the moral of the story side I would take issue, the moral is Uk builders need to understand why work is flowing away from them. Tried 16 uk companies + 3 independants for a complete job ie end to end. I am not a building project manager, or a surveyor. I have built a couple of extensions and vowed never again. Guess what from the brits, either could'nt be bothered to quote, quoted but asked the price of a new build 3 bed house for each 30 x 10 cabin. 3 wanted a profit share.... a f**** profit share. 2 would only do a bit. Start and end dates were something that happened in a different reality. Absolutely nobody was willing to give a full guarantee, just bits, the sub contractor would certify the bit they did..... Germans fixed price, delivered on time, end to end with two guarantees, one company and one insurance backed in uk, plus service calls....Germans managed to get to site in foreign country within 5 days to quote, local building company took four attempts over 4 weeks to turn up, they are less than 1 mile from site, you would have thought......

On the gas front I have tried to move the work to a uk installer but again another moral first chap out tries a blatant rip off.....good advert for the british installer is it not. Frankly I am beginning to believe that what we have is a group of cowboys out for personal greed hiding behind some trade front. If the gas safe is not about providing a a safe qualified installer what's the point of it, if the installer is ripping off his custermors then frankly he is a thief and why would you let a thief work with something as dangerous as gas .....

Sorry rant over but he has really left a sour taste.

 

[bernardgreen]

Whilst some methods used in Germany may work there, we have our own ways of doing things here.

I am English but sadly I have to admit that the German construction industry does seem to be far more efficient when it comes to house building and installation of services. And individual tradespeople in German are ( in my experience ) on average far more reliable and customer friendly than tradespeople in the UK.

It is a sad reflection on the UK construction industry when it is overall cheaper to buy a Huff House from Germany than it is to employ British builders. ( www.huf-haus.com/en.html )

Overall include the costs of delays, interest on extended periods on loans and all the other expenses of a prolonged build project.

 

[shambolic]

Sounds like Trac pipe coming straight through back of meter box which isn't allowed.
Some photos would help of pipe going through meter etc.

 

[martygturner]

Will photo just over an hour away so will go down over weekend.

Had a look at trac pipe - definitely not that, stuff that goes through the wall is solid the end with threads showing is solid steel pipe, end that fits on meter is also black steel, it looks like its been covered with thick yellow heat shrink plastic. On the invoice it's says 350mm s/s r/a gas pipe, another nice german touch invoice details all external supplied parts and their costs.

 

[gas112]

Cabin so timber framed so the pipe entering building should be a flexible stainless steel coated pipe that then it goes to copper its to allow for expansion /movement etc

 

[martygturner]

Sorry should I have said its concrete filled insulated blocks with rendered facing , I suppose cabin is misleading, small bungalow with two foot thick green roof ie soil and grass. Walls are essentially reinforced concrete with no cavity. Exceptionally thermal efficiency. The company builds these for alpine conditions and to basically last, for ever really.

Again its really a case of what should be there, if the requirement is for copper to the meter then that's fine, I am not arguing about the work being needed if its wrong its just I want to know why and what...If its a matter of debate again fine, again fine I just want an easy life.

I suppose I just cannot get my head around why a boiler supplied and fitted in accordance with the manufactures spec in Germany is somehow a death trap in the UK....Why do we bother with EU registrations for GAS Safe , are the Germans any less safety orientated than us?

 

[sooey]

Until you put some decent pics up people on here can only speculate.

 

[muggles]

It's not about being more or less safe necessarily, but they might have different regulations and a different way of doing things in Germany. If he's installed to a German spec and involuntarily broken UK regs it's more likely to be technically incorrect than unsafe. Pics should confirm though

 

[Agile]

So much discussion which a single picture would crystalise!

Tony