On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 11:43:57 +0000 (UTC), "Jonathan Webb"
wrote:

Any Experience of dealing with Part L Building Regs/Building Control &
how to not fall foul of the system would be welcomed

Particularly:
1. What things MUST be done by a "competent"/qualified person (eg
connect up the boiler) - can I physically install it (bolt it to wall
etc & connect it to the primary circuit)? NB I need a sealed CH system
and new HW cyl. (Not been convinced about Combis, esp flow rate - my
bath HW flows @16 litres/min. & I don't want to get into the Great Combi
Debate, at least not in this thread ;-) )

There are muliple parts to this.

1) Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations, 1998,
there is a general requirement that gas fitting be done by "competent"
person. The Statutory Instrument does not define "competent" in the
general sense. However it does require that people and businesses
doing gas fitting for reward are "members of a class of persons"
defined by the HSE for the purpose. Separately, the HSE defines
"class of persons" as meaning a requirement to be a member of CORGI
and with appropriate training and certification for type of appliance.

There is nothing that specifically states that DIY gas fitting is
illegal, despite what CORGI may suggest. The question mark would be
what a judge might say if something were to go wrong. That is also
unclear, and there does not appear to be any case law to give a
precedent either way.

A typical way of working for DIY purposes has been for the boiler to
be fitted to the wall, flues installed, wired and wet plumbed; and
then to involve a registered fitter to connect the gas supply and
commission operation including the necessary safety checks.
It is also possible to get a safety check done by virtue of a
Landlord's Certificate.

2) Part J and Part L of the Building Regulations. Under Part L,
new boilers are required to have a SEDBUK efficiency rating of at
least 78%. There is very little left on the market if anything that
doesn't. Under Part J you are required to submit a Building Notice
before fitting a fuel burning appliance such as a boiler. However,
there is an exemption to that if you have the work done professionally
by a "member of a class of persons" under the terms of the Gas Safety
(Installation and Use) Regulations (as above - i.e. CORGI member).
The fitter can self certify the work without any requirement to
contact the local authority. There are similar arrangements to
CORGI if the fuel is oil or solid fuel.

3) If you want to have a pressurised hot water cylinder installed,
again a Building Notice is required unless the installation is by a
BBA or Institute of Plumbing trained and approved fitter.
To be clear though, this requirement only applies where the volume of
pressurised and heated water exceeds 45 litres. This means where the
bulk DHW cylinder contents are fed from the mains water. If you just
want to have the heating circuit sealed, the water volume of the
expansion vessel(s) (unless you have a mansion) will be no more than
10-20 litres. If you have this, and the contents of the DHW cylinder
are fed from a roof tank and open vented, then the rule here doesn't
apply. It doesn't apply either if you have an open vented thermal
store or heat bank, where the bulk of the water in the cylinder is
part of the primary circuit and all of that is open vented, with the
DHW bening heated via a coil inside the cylinder or heat exchanger
outside.






2. It seems that the fee must be based on a written estimate from a
plumber - which is unethical to get one round to quote when I have not
the wherewithal to get them to do the job, esp as they must know that it
costs £4-5k for most CH- is this just my local Council, or how they are
required to operate?

I don't know where this comes from. If the local authority told you
then it sounds like the bureaucrats are making up the rules as they go
along. I presume this is the scale of fees involved if a building
notice is required and is linked to the value of the work.

However, you can see in this case that the intent is that for most
people who have heating work done professionally there would not be a
need for a building notice anyway. It's a typical story of
introducing legislation for the purposes of being able to claim great
things with regard to energy conservation for the next Kyoto summit
while having the public pick up the tab.

Did I hear the words "stealth tax"?








Ta
Jonathan

..andy

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