CORGI - the law

[garethf]

I am in dispute with a builder who fitted a new gas central heating system as part of an extension project. He is not personally CORGI registered, but he assured me the final connection was made by a CORGI registered installer. Please could anyone advise me on the following:

1. Is it a legal requirement to be CORGI registered to 'hang' the boiler and install the flue?
2. Ditto to install some of the gas pipework excluding final connection?
3. Bearing in mind that ALL gas pipework from the point the supply enters the house was carried out by this builder, would it be a legal requirement for him to have earth bonded his gas pipework?

He has not filled out the necessary 'Benchmark' documentation and won't give me the details of the CORGI installer who made the final connection. I have since had to have a significant amount of work carried out by another CORGI engineer to bring the installation upto current standard.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[oilman]

I am not CORGI registered so those parts of your query are left to those who are.

The whole of the central heating works come under the building regulations, so the person who installed must have some sort of competency certificate to allow them to self-certify their work. If they haven't you should have approval for the installing to take place from the building control department.

The benchmark document is a legal requirement, and so should be provided unless the building control department does the inspection for which you should have submitted a building approval application.

I do not know if your relationship with the builder was a problem for any other reason, but you could ask the building control department for their opinion, and if they think it has not been installed leaglly, they might proscecute the builder.

 

[weargas]

garethf,
Unless Corgi registered a person shouldn't carry out work on any pipe, appliances or fittings intended for the use of gas (natural or LPG). It is NOT ok for a builder to install the boiler, flue and gas pipework and then leave the final connection to a Corgi fitter. The equipotential bonding of gas pipes comes under electrical regulations. Someone else can fill you in on that but I can tell you the gas regs guidelines involving x-bonding. It is the gas installers responsibility to make the customer aware of the x-bonding situation and advise that the work be carried out by competent person (NICEIC registered). If the installer does not intend to have the x-bonding work carried out as part of the installation this should be pointed out to the customer (unfortunately this could be after the installation is completed)


What additional work have you had done? If the installation was left in a dangerous condition you have grounds to approach the Health and Safety Executive. Any claim for compensation you make against the builder would be a civil one so a HSE report could speed up a lenghty court battle.
If you report the builder to CORGI they'll only slap his hands and tell him never to carry out gas work again unless he falsely claimed himself to be CORGI registered.

 

[garethf]

Thanks Oilman & Weargas

The building regs approval was signed off months ago - they didn't bother checking the gas installation, they were more interested in trickle vents and K glass in my windows! It was a fairly substantial extension project and on the final inspection, the only comment the guy made was that some of the plug sockets were not level.

My relationship with the builder is 'less than amicable'. It will probably end in a court case with 50 other complaints - dangerous wiring, plaster & tiles falling off walls, copper pipework being buried in concrete... that sort of thing.

I am confident now that the gas installation is safe, as it has been fixed by a CORGI fitter. Would CORGI, HSE, Building Control etc. still be interested, given that it has now been rectified? I'll probably still report him, as it will cause him some hassle.

Nothing about the installation was immediately dangerous. The main safety issue was that he had positioned the flue immediately adjacent to an extractor vent, and the earth bonding had not been carried out. The rest was just annoying – not properly balanced/flushed/inhibited/commisioned, radiators out of level, finger tight compression fittings, flux left all over pipework, manual vents instead of AAVs, reducing gas pipe to 15mm and then feeding boiler & cooker from this single reduced supply, not taping gas pipe...

I really wanted to know about the legal aspect of fitting the boiler and running the gas pipe. He is claiming that you only need to be CORGI registered to make the final connection. I suspect that the court will take a very dim view of this illegal practice and also his refusal to complete the Benchmark document. Thanks again for your comments.

 

[drbagiva]

I suggest the best people to talk to about your Corgi questions are Corgi themselves.