"Private Enquirer" wrote in message
...
I was a little concerned about the gas pressure at my cooker hob so
decided
to test exactly what was happening before deciding whether to call a
CORGI
engineer or Transco/British Gas as I do not want to get fobbed off
by either
as I like to understand what is happening first.

We had a new condensing boiler fitted about 4 years ago by British
Gas - a
large one badged by BG but probably a
Worcester Bosch 40 HE Plus with a slightly higher heat output spec.
They
upgraded the gas supply pipes to 28mm from the meter to allow for
pressure
drops while running. Our gas cooker T's off this somewhere in 15mm
I
believe. All working fine!

Two years ago we had a new gas meter and regulator/governor fitted
as part
of the gas mains upgrade in our road in plastic.

Last week during very cold weather I measured 22mBar static pressure
using a
conventional water gauge at the gas meter test point. When
the boiler fires up the working pressure drops to anything between
16mBar
and 18mBar still at the gas meter depending on how large a flame is
being
demanded
by the central heating system. I therefore detect about 5mb drop
just at
the meter.

I called British gas this week when the temperature was very much
warmer and
they came
within the hour. He showed me his water gauge readings (all at the
gas
meter as before)
and they were totally different from mine last week. The static
pressure
was 24mb and the
working pressure was 19mb when the boiler was running full.
He got the same sought of drop in pressure I had found (i.e about
5mb drop)
but from a much
higher static pressure.

He seemed a bit officious and said mine was his third similar visit
that day
and he blamed CORGI engineers for taking wrong readings. He thought
my
governor was the best brand new type available and should be
correct. He
said if the working pressure was below 19mb he could adjust the
governor (I
thought they were not supposed to do that).

After he had gone I re-tested it myself and got very similar
readings. I
found the static pressure was even up to 25mb today and I confirmed
his
19mb working pressure.

I think we were both right on the different days as I had measured
it low
last week when the only thing that had changed was the ambient
temperature
which was much colder then. Does the gas pressure change much with
weather temperature and overall demand in the street?

I cannot get them to do anything today so am stuck with what I have
got
for the time being. Everything seems to be working OK.

What do others think.



I had a similar problem just before Christmas two years ago. Pavement
works dragged out my steel gas main. Transco insisted on pulling a
plastic pipe up the old one then wouldn't reconnect my appliances as
the pressure drop was too high. They went through three cycles of
pulling a bigger plastic pipe though before concluding I needed a
bigger meter (BGas had checked the boiler every year for ten years
with no issues!!) Wanted me to pay for a bigger meter. Eventually
resolved when I dragged the Transco big cheese out of a meeting in
Paris to give him a bollocking (hehe). However I'm personally
convinced that the problem was relatively low pressure in the street
main due to high demand and there was no problem with either the pipe
of meter.

AWEM