DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Business Owners’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008

It’s the time of year when boilers get switched on after a long break. It’s good practice to get your boiler serviced sometime before it needs to be switched on to make sure it’s safe. What is safe? Safe can mean a few things more than just the boiler itself. It relates to the room the boiler lives in, the air vents if required that allow the boiler to burn and dispose of the products of combustion properly and many other factors that you the end user may not fully understand. Here’s a good example of what could happen when you don’t service or inspect your boiler regularly.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Building Works and Electrics’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 522.8.4, 522.6.1, 522.2.1, 528.3.1, 522.6.8, 522.8.14

This weeks winner was uncovered while on site to undertake an unrelated and simple plumbing job. Upon arrival at the property I noticed two flues (one boiler for hot water and another boiler for central heating)  emerging from the brickwork. This quick look while walking up the drive uncovered several safety  sissues that need to be resolved. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Central Heating Engineers

This story started when I was called to look at a job which required replacing an electric double oven with a gas double oven. The home owner wanted a price to complete the job and I couldn’t give them a quote over the phone so I said I’d pop over. The idea was to take a quick look, give them an estimate and then  book a time to do the work if they wanted to go ahead. Fate was however about to make us all more miserable than a rainy day in Oldham. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Heating Installers

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While installing a new boiler in a group of flats I was surprised to see that with the exception of two boilers in the whole group of first floor flats 80% were installed incorrectly. I’m always surprised when installers go install a flue straight through an air brick but when the outside the air brick lines up with another vent inside the flats like most of these pictured below I am stunned! I’ve written about this practice before in A Room With A Flue, Improper Flue Termination, Another Danger Of The Week Winner and my all time favorite 30 Illegal Flues. The flues pictured here  break most of the regulations that exist.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Builders

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The original call was to look at a leaking boiler. We couldn’t find a leak in the boiler so started looking around the property to see if the water was coming from somewhere else. The obvious choice would have been the room above the wall hung boiler but after poking around for a while we could see no signs of a leak inside the property.  I finally asked to see outside so I could view the flue thinking that the water might be getting in that way.

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DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Builders

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We were surprised to find this little gem when called to do a gas safety for a client we’ve known for a few years.

Since our last visit they had decided to add some ventilation so called out a builder with a saw and let him loose. Unfortunately for everyone the builder didn’t have a clue about gas safety so cut a vent hole too close to this balanced flue.

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Date: Sept 2008

Description: Back again to keep this multi point water heater up and running for one of the food vendors at the ManUTD Stadium. This boiler was undergoing a yearly safety check and a service. No problems found with this hard working water heater. continue