Gas Fitter Wannabe
January 21st, 2008 | by admin |
Sunday I had a discussion with a long time friend who has decided to become a Domestic Energy Assessor. As we were discussing the ins and outs of his new trade he mentioned something that made me cringe. He said that as an Assessor he would, as part of his job, have to determine what type of boiler a client had in his home. His instructor said to look for the G.C. Number which is the Gas Council number and is unique for every boiler. The instructor then told his students that they may have to take the case off the boiler to find the G.C. Number. I warned him that if you aren’t CORGI Registered and you remove a boiler cover and don’t know how to check the seals when you put it back together the you would be liable and fully responsible if someone gets hurt, or worse! Now I know there are those out there who think that opening a boiler will cause no problems but based on the amount of boilers I come across with cases that are not properly sealed or are missing a few screws or the seal material is broken and cracked I would say that some folks don’t know what they are doing.
So listen up! If you’re not CORGI registered and you are an Energy Assessor DO NOT OPEN UP ANY BOILER TO LOOK FOR ANYTHING! Make a deal with a qualified gas fitter to help you out when you come across the odd boiler with missing number. Or better still, just mark it down as the lowest efficiency in its category and leave well enough alone. And as for my friend leave well enough alone!
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2 Responses to “Gas Fitter Wannabe”
By James
on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
As an experienced energy assessor, I would advise your friend that you do not need to open up the boiler to obtain the GC code for recording purposes. If you can easily gain the GC code through paper work or an open view, great, take it. If not do not worry as long as you determine the type of boiler and or makers name and model type and the software will assess its capability.
He has probably misinterpretted the instruction and may have been told to take off or open the standard boiler user opening which does not allow access to working components, only to boiler functions ie temp, pressure gauge, pilot view (if any) etc.
By admin
on Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for your thoughts on this subject James. I agree that for the most part one would never have to open a boiler to get a G.C. but I have seen some poor designs which are exceptions to the rule.
I am interested in gas safety and the reason for my original post was to point out the possible problems with cracking open a boiler without understanding the possible outcomes. As my friend had not thought beyond the outcome of opening up a boiler there may well be others.
Thanks.