Gas Meter Removal

[Paul Barker]

Thank you gentlemen for your replies.
The question that was asked was - If you were going to add a tee into an existing gas pipe for a cooker connection, what precautions and checks would
you make at the meter.
I think to play safe i am going to go with -
Remove meter and cap/plug 3 ends.
and two continuity bonds.

It depends who your teacher is and for us who your corgi inspector is. My teacher taught me to take meter off and put it outside turned upside down. My inspector had no problem with this, but he said that what he used to do was just leave it right way up with flux tins sat on the outlets.............

But if you reply with what you posted you have definately nailed it.

Whereas in reality as stated many fitters just shut the ecv and get to work.

The temporary continuity bond along the supply pipe is actually mainly to prevent a spark from ignighting any gas hanging around, but when the meter is removed it is more significant as it maintains the integrity of the equipotential zone. The incoming gas supply introduces a possible different potential into the equipotential zone (the house) which must be brought to the same potential as the other extraneous sources of earth potential. This is much more important than temporarily bonding the gas pipe downstreamn of the main earth bonding, which is actually as far as bs7671 conscerned not required unles the work is taking place in a special location.

It's a typical case of rules for corgi registered installer going above and beyond what is sensibly required of people considered intelligent enough to make their own minds up. (electricians)

 

[Gas2Air]

Do as corgi require. Cap meter, cap outlet, bonds. If no tightness test has been done and the MCV is letting by would you want a blow torch on it?

 

[doitall]

remove meter,cap open ends of pipework and cap meter inlets aswell-then place meter in safe place away from where you are working-thats way i was told to do it in acs exams

You don't cap open ends on a gas pipe when your working on it or you have a vacumn full of gas which could just give you a fright. and in any case heve you tried to solder a cap on an air tight pipe, it can and does blow back off

At least one end should always be open.

 

[namsag]

And considering in the vast majority of instalations the gas pipe to the house is plastic and an awful lot dont have earth bonding., what is the point of continuity bond.. But its written down as it must be done on every job... Pile of SH#TE with no allowance for common sense

 

[cjb1971]

remove meter,cap open ends of pipework and cap meter inlets aswell-then place meter in safe place away from where you are working-thats way i was told to do it in acs exams

You don't cap open ends on a gas pipe when your working on it or you have a vacumn full of gas which could just give you a fright. and in any case heve you tried to solder a cap on an air tight pipe, it can and does blow back off

At least one end should always be open.

erm.........one end will be open-after pipe is cut into-was refering to the open ends of the pipe at the inlet and outlet of meter.

 

[Paul Barker]

And considering in the vast majority of instalations the gas pipe to the house is plastic and an awful lot dont have earth bonding., what is the point of continuity bond.. But its written down as it must be done on every job... Pile of SH#TE with no allowance for common sense

Yes, it's just metal servises from outside the equipotential zone (the walls of the house) that have to be Main Equipotentially Bonded to the Main Earth Terminal within .6m of the consumer side of the incoming control device.

The whole point of it is that a different potential does not get introduced from outside. Plastic has no way of bringing a different potential from outside the zone so it does not have to be bonded.

Gas pipe that is found in a bathroom or other special location other than a kitchen does have to be suplementarily bonded.

As I said the only reason to temporarily bond a gas pipe cut into for working on it is to prevent sparks. However the use of a blow torch in the visinity demonstartes what a farce this is also. There is no need specified in bs7671 nor implied nor in any guidance notes to temporarily bond gas pipe broken into for work, except were the work to take place in a special location.

Corgi have steped way over their remit into a field they have demonstrated they are complete nincompoops. The integrity of the EEBADS (earthed equipotential bonding and automatic disconnection of supply) safety system employed in domestic dwellings to preserve life is clearly laid out in bs7671, and this should be the only point of reference. Further more this tomb of knowledge should be wielded by those competent to do so.

Now when I have studied to academic level other subjects (nursing, economics) one would be aplauded for criticising in this way, corgi however don't require this level of intelligence. They prefer automatons.

 

[Paul Barker]

Of course bs7671 is not law, you do not have to abide by it, but if something happens to someone because you deviated from bs7671 it will be used against you in law. In law, you are guilty until you can prove your innocense on matters regarding electrical safety in the UK. From your jail cell you must compose a pretty good reason for your deviation.

I am entirely confident that all of the advise I have given here on electrical safety conforms to bs7671 and I am entirely sure that I could stand in front of any judge in the land and defend my actions.

This is fun.

The worst thing the governement could have done was to start gas fitters and corgi part way down the elctrical qualification route. It would have been far better if they had kept demarcation. The corgi mindset does not fit in with the intent and methodology of bs7671. When I was gas trained the teacher said you just put a sticker on the gas meter if it isn't bonded and suggest they get an electrician. It is not your expertise to know when opr how it should be done' just to point out as far as yuou know it is remis.

How right he was.

What we have now is a situation where up and down the land copper is being wasted wholesale by gas fitters bonding everything to everything. It's bad enough that all the old electricians working from blue books are still bonding kitchens. One of the reasons the bonding requirements changed when the brown books came out was because excessive bonding can cause more problems than it solves.

Still having loads of fun but sadly have to go to work (rewiring a kitchen!!)