On 22/10/2013 00:25, Rick Hughes wrote:
On 21/10/2013 16:06, John Rumm wrote:
On 21/10/2013 12:40, Rick Hughes wrote:
On 21/10/2013 09:40, John Rumm wrote:
On 20/10/2013 21:58, Rick Hughes wrote:
On 20/10/2013 19:42, Jon Parker wrote:
Hello folks,

How much (if any) buggering about is one allowed to do to one's own
gas boiler?

None unless rated as competent ... which currently means GasSafe
registered

That does not appear to be the case. If you read the wording you will
note that "class of persons approved for the time being by the Health
and Safety Executive" and competent are used quite separately.


Who is going to rate your competence? .... yourself.

Its a separate but valid question. One would hope that Gas Safe do
actually check the qualifications of professional fitters wishing to
join. However one can hold the relevant exam passes, and not be a member
of Gas Safe.

As to demonstration, how about pointing at the relevant C&G or ACS
installer certificates?

How about directing someone to the Gas Safe registered individual under
who's supervision you worked?

How about pointing to a long history of competent work carried out etc?

Ultimately, when doing work for yourself, the person that you need to
convince of competence is yourself - and you need to do that in a
informed way[1]. The price you pay for being wrong is potentially far
higher than for a professional who gets to leave and go home when his
work is done.


[1] i.e. avoiding the "ill informed and unaware" trap of not knowing
what you don't know.

So as a baseline, tracking down and reading and understanding the
relevant British Standard docs pertaining to what you want to do (e.g.
BS6891, 5440-2, then 6798 for boilers, 6172 for hobs, 5871 for fires
etc) would be a start.

Grabbing a copy of Tolly's books etc.

Add to that enough practical experience to know without doubt that you
can make decent work of pipework.


My concern would be that would become irrelevant if it went wrong, they
would say you were not certified to do the work ... and professional
body certification is the accepted way of proving competence.

Perhaps. Although if it done correctly, going wrong is not really a
concern. I accept the point that if something unrelated and beyond your
control goes wrong, then you will invite more scrutiny if you have also
had your fingers in the box so to speak.

The obvious answer is that for anyone not comfortable doing the work, or
with what they see as the potential problems, then don't do it.

Also disagree with logic "Ultimately, when doing work for yourself, the
person that you need to convince of competence is yourself " at some
point someone else may own that house and therefore your work is then no
longer for yourself.

The point I was making was that I care less about blowing up a future
owner of the house than I do the current owner and his family (no
disrespect to any future owner - but it is personal!). Hence any work I
DIY must be to an acceptable standard. If I can't satisfy myself that I
can do a job properly then I would rather not do it.

Your standards don't count .... it's what is the accepted standards ...
eg GasSafe & Corgi registrtaion.

I don't think you can make a blanket statement that just because the guy
has a trade body membership card, his work will automatically be to an
acceptable standard. Don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting that all
registered fitters are not up to scratch - I have seen many who turn out
first class quality work, and are diligent in the process. However I
have also seen some who are according to the paperwork they carry, safe
to do the work, but in reality are clueless, slapdash and a liability.

--
Cheers,

John.

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