Greenstar 28i & rads over 35kbtu @60deg C + Isorad tails

[oldman2]

The AC unit isnt a "cheap one"

Fuji split 18400 btu 5.4kw cooling and 19500 btu 5.7kw heating with an input of 2kw.

I take your point about the cost of gas v electricity though.

Be nice to get a gas c/heating instal in my area for 2k! Double that and maybe some more.

 

[oldman2]

I complained about the positioning of the main gas supply pipe against the carpet and the result was..

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With sleeves through the cavity walls.

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[Agile]

Well done!

The stupidity of the installer was realised and he has now redone it properly.

I bet he will do it properly in future!

Tony

 

[oldman2]

They got me back though Tony, 4pm and they left, the time taken to redo the gas and rad means no hot water still as the gas to meter & condensate isnt finished yet. Going to another job on Monday, be back Wednesday to finish off.

The boiler is in the porch, is there a need still for suplimentry bonding of all the copper pipes into the boiler? Main gas and water are bonded at entry to house. The pipework from the boiler with exception of gas is all plastic after 2mtrs from the boiler.

 

[tonybhoy]

Ha Ha ha, I mind when I was an apprentice we were working on replacing cold storage tanks in these police houses so the owners only had a cold supply to the kitchen well anyway it was about three PM on the Friday and the plumber in charge of the job asked this owner for tea and she chased him so he left her with no water except the kitchen sink for the entire weekend.

The tanks were all fitted and ready to fill up though

 

[oldman2]

Anyone tell me please the minimum distance between a copper 22mm gas supply pipe and a surface clipped 2.5mm ring main cable.

I seem to have 50mm in my head as the minimum?

 

[Gasguru]

From BS6891:2005 section 8:

8.16.2 Separation of installation pipework from other services
Where installation pipes are not separated by electrical insulating material, they shall be spaced as follows:

a) at least 150 mm away from electricity meters and associated excess current controls, electrical
switches or sockets, distribution boards or consumer units;

b) at least 25 mm away from electricity supply and distribution cables.

Pipework can however, be insulated with pvc tape where clearances don't comply.

Post pics of the boiler flue/condensate pipework.

 

[Agile]

The boiler is in the porch, is there a need still for suplimentry bonding of all the copper pipes into the boiler? Main gas and water are bonded at entry to house. The pipework from the boiler with exception of gas is all plastic after 2mtrs from the boiler.

There is no real need to bond water supply pipes any more although if its still lead then i advise it is better bonded.

The real question is if the gas supply pipe is bonded to the electrical system earth connection?

I also think that its 50 mm from a cable but 150 mm to an electrical fitting ( Socket, distribution unit etc. ).

Tony

 

[oldman2]

Thanks for the replies.

The existing gas supply is bonded within around 40cm of the meter onto the iron pipework leading from the meter, the new copper is not yet connected but once it is I will need to reposition the bond clamp as they intend a tee within 50cm of the meter so I will need to get the clamp on before that tee.

The boiler was sited in the porch because I really didnt fancy it in the loft where all plumbers seem to want to put them and the kitchen is so small I wanted to get rid of the floor standing potterton and gain some space.

I elected to remove the original high ceiling in the porch so they could run all the pipework on the underside of the joists, the idea being to put a ceiling back lowered on timbers to give clearance to all the pipework hidden behind.
The house has so far had 2 central heating systems and each had cut slots in the joists, so much so that I really wanted to keep the joist cutting to a bare minimum for this install.
The regs on joist cutting dont seem to apply to these plumbers, I found plenty of fresh cuts in areas not in permitted zones.

I had a data cable I wanted to pass under the porch joists so tucked it as close as I could to the edge to give them lots of room for the pipework but they still managed to touch the cable which will do it no good long term.
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I had 2 off 2.5mm twin&earths that I needed to go across also so I tucked them as close as possible to the other edge of the visible joists, blow me if they didnt tuck the gas main pipe right up against them!
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Here's the flue, no condensate pipe fitted yet, and some boiler pics.

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I also found some of the wiring had been compromised by the heating pipe install, 2 lighting cables had the heating pipe resting on them in mid joist space, I managed to re route them out of the way but this 2.5mm cable is part of the upstairs ring main and I think they ought to build a noggin bridge to keep thie pipes off it as thats just plain wrong like that.
View media item 3740
Take no notice of the 1.5mm cable above the pipes, thats one I moved and it just needs clipping tomorrow, ran out of time tonight.

 

[oldman2]

I posted the wrong pic of the boiler top, no gas fitted in that one so here's a later version.

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A bit close to the boards on the tee nearest bottom of the pic, cant get the board back without it pushing the tee down some.

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Main gas supply comes from the attached garage, low level just above (well now it does!) the skirting through the lounge.

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Into the porch low behind the door.

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Rises up to clip along under the joists.

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And down to the boiler, right next to the fused switch

I did think originally that all the pipework was supposed to run down the backplane of the boiler but that looks tricky.

View media item 3739

 

[Gasguru]

Sling that filling loop in the bin and get a proper one with TWO valves.

Then fit the double check valve (the part with the test point in the middle) ON THE COLD MAINS side to comply with the water regulations (reg. R24).

Then remove the flexible link after filling and screw on the blanking caps to seal the pipe ends.

If you over pressurise that Worcester, it may cost a fortune to sort out...the safety valve is stuck up the back of the boiler so don't leave the loop connected (where it can be tampered with) or allow the posibility of the valves letting by.

 

[oldman2]

The saga continues, the boss called in today with 1 plumbers mate who he was to leave on site doing what he was allowed as the plumber is sick.

They left site friday and I expected them back yesterday but they called in sick.

Today they agreed to move the plastic pipes away from my data cable and to move the gas feed up some under the boiler so it was further from the switch, plus they are going to insulate the main gas run where its too close to my 2.5mm cables.

The mate had some 15mm plastics to tee into the 22mm plastic on the ch pipework so I left him to it. When I returned to a flooded porch I find he had cut through the 15mm cold main plastic by mistake and didnt know where the stopcock was so had to grab a coupler and fix it live.

Last week they had managed to get water coming out of my light fittings, so this is nothing new now. Showed him again where the stopcock was under the sink.

After lunch he set about coupling up the thermostatic mixer in the upstairs bathroom, I came into the kitchen an hr later to find water coming through the ceiling and light fitting. Went upstairs to find him on his knees mopping up, I asked him to leave and not to come back unless the plumber was with him.
His parting comment was " oh btw your main stop cocks broken, it wont shut off"
Great news, I checked and he had forced it off so hard it had stripped the thread at the off point so it bounced over the end of the thread.
So out in the road I go with my waterboard stop cock tool and shut off the main to my home, stripped out the old kitchen main stopcock and replaced it, then went up to the bathroom and removed the pressure reducing valve on the cold main which had stuck closed for some reason, he said he had a bad solder joint on a pipe and that caused the leak through my ceiling, now I wonder what hourly rate I should charge them?
Will they fix my ceiling...

Will the CH system leak like a sieve when they liven that up? Whats the odds.

 

[oldman2]

I'm sure some must be reading this and having a chuckle, but I could do with some feedback to help me get the best I can out of this mess.

They (corgi plumber and mate) came today to finish off. The connection to the gas meter was done.

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I have to assume that they will be sealing (mastic?) around the gas copper to plastic where it goes through the walls in my lounge.

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I supplied them with a double pole switched fused (3amp) spur with a length of .75 flex terminated for connection to the boiler which that have done, when asked if they were intending shortening the flex they seemed suprised!

View media item 3827
Note the condensate pipe has also now ben fitted.

The boiler was supplied with a mechanical timer, I elected to supply an RF programmer kit, so far they have fitted neither, the boiler is running with cleaner in the system and they are due back in a couple of hrs to drain that and fit inhibitor.
When asked if they intended fitting the boiler programmer below the answer was " well I can but I dont know how they work"

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Here is the pipework repositioned away from my data cable above the boiler. There will be a suspended ceiling covering the work allowing access for future.

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I wonder what sort of paperwork I should expect at end of the job? Do they send the paperwork off to somewhere and later I get a certificate of compliance to regs?

 

[Gasguru]

I'm sure some must be reading this and having a chuckle, but I could do

No just despair at the incompetence of this industry Still your installation and the problems you have are fairly typical.

You should have the benchmark logbook filled out (although most are fraudulantly filled out or quickly removed from the box never to be seen again). You should receive a building control notice from CORGI indicating the installation is fully compliant.

If you are determined to keep that carp filling loop then remove the black valve handle to prevent accidental filling. Is there a 3 amp fuse is the fused outlet?

 

[oldman2]

There is a 3amp fuse as I put it there

The carp filling loop will be coming off just as soon as they have gone, I asked them for 2 sealing washered caps to put there instead. The ugly bit can go in a cupboard.

The benchmark logbook is the big instruction manual filled in around the last pages is it? If so thats there and filled in already.

They are filling with inhibitor right now.

I'm waiting for the fitting of the RF controller boiler module