Gas Safe- Electrical Connections

[LankyWill]

I follow a few plumbers on youtube throughout their daily job tasks etc etc, just watched a video and the bloke claimed you had to be gas safe to remove a boiler cover.

I never knew this and i have connected and carried out PCB fault finding on a fair few, i must be a rule breaker.

 

[Risteard]

I follow a few plumbers on youtube throughout their daily job tasks etc etc, just watched a video and the bloke claimed you had to be gas safe to remove a boiler cover.

I never knew this and i have connected and carried out PCB fault finding on a fair few, i must be a rule breaker.

As long as you don't post it on the internet you'll probably get away with it.

In all seriousness, however, electrical connections made by plumbers don't inspire me with confidence.

 

[Leesparkykent]

Every big installer like BG, Help-link, swale heating, glow-green, impra gas etc send electricians around to jobs to wire heating systems. Most are done after the plumber has been and left. I wonder how they get away with it...I've also been told the same as you've just heard.

 

[Andy78]

I think it's something to do with some boilers having integral gas parts built into the cover. Bells are ringing about a similar thread in the last 12 months.
Every one I have ever been into has not been of this design though.

 

[LankyWill]

I get the internals are obviously gas related but the cover is usually just a piece of pressed steel with screws underneath. I know it forms a seal but its hardly rocket science, ive been to some jobs where the plumber has connected everything and its death trap. Un-sleeved earths, poor terminations, about an inch of copper showing in every terminal plus they fail to grasp how it works.

 

[plugsandsparks]

I am gas safe so can tell you its to do with the seal that is around the cover. Most modern domestic boilers are "room sealed" i.e. the air for combustion and the flue gases all come from outside. This is often achieved by the boiler cover as the air intake for the boiler is behind the cover so there are seals around the edges. When the cover is removed these seals can be dislodged or fall apart. Its common to carry spare rolls of seal to replace them. Without this seal the design is compromised as if there is a fault in the burner area flue gases can come back into the air intake and out into the room if the seal is damaged, thats it really.

 

[littlespark]

Maybe the manufacturers need to split the cover so only electricians can access the connections, and only gassafe engineers can remove the part with the air seal.
Doesn't help with faultfinding though.

 

[mattg4321]

I am gas safe so can tell you its to do with the seal that is around the cover. Most modern domestic boilers are "room sealed" i.e. the air for combustion and the flue gases all come from outside. This is often achieved by the boiler cover as the air intake for the boiler is behind the cover so there are seals around the edges. When the cover is removed these seals can be dislodged or fall apart. Its common to carry spare rolls of seal to replace them. Without this seal the design is compromised as if there is a fault in the burner area flue gases can come back into the air intake and out into the room if the seal is damaged, thats it really.

Sounds like poor design to me

 

[solarsavings]

No one is supposed to remove the boiler combustion cover unless an rgi or................homeowner.

There is no need to remove the combustion cover to make in electrical connections that power up or fire the boiler.

 

[PEG]

Trying to remember,but i am fairly certain,all of the models i have fiddled with,have not required a gas-seal cover,to be removed in order to supply a power,or timer,etc.

Bearing in mind,what an environment behind one of these covers could contain,and the issues a poorly made supply connection could cause,it makes sense.

Some of the conductors,which enter such areas,are gas-tight,and designed to resist migration,etc.

A standard twin and earth cable,is not designed for this.

 

[Last plumber]

As long as you don't post it on the internet you'll probably get away with it.

In all seriousness, however, electrical connections made by plumbers don't inspire me with confidence.

Don't tar us all with the same brush. I can say same for the sparks I've followed where Heating systems are concerned.

 

[Last plumber]

Maybe the manufacturers need to split the cover so only electricians can access the connections, and only gassafe engineers can remove the part with the air seal.
Doesn't help with faultfinding though.

Best bet is to get a Heating Engineer in who is qualified, experienced and insured to work on both!
That's where a lot of customers go wrong. They get a spark who is clueless about Heating/Plumbing and the controls or a Plumber who is clueless about the Electrical side.

 

[Intoelectrics]

No one is supposed to remove the boiler combustion cover unless an rgi or................homeowner.

There is no need to remove the combustion cover to make in electrical connections that power up or fire the boiler.

This was my thought also.

On modern boilers the external cover is just a mechanical shield and does not impair on any part of the integrity of the combustion chamber. I don't see how removing this cover is considered working on "gas" though I can see how "red tape" mentality would deem this so. - Since a gas fired boiler is a gas appliance then interpreting the rules one could state that even just removing the external cover is considered "working on" the appliance.

I'm not gas safe and would never consider working on the gas part of any appliance. But I'm a fully qualified experienced electrician and more than competent to electrically connect up the appliance and have done so on hundreds of occasions.

The world has gone mad, where has the common sense gone?

 

[johnduffell]

if the seal is damaged such that it's not able to form a good seal it's At Risk as a minimum, you would need to be able to identify that and act accordingly. Also you are supposed to do certain checks including flue and gas rate after doing any "work on a gas appliance", which includes removing the combustion cover.

The trend on modern boilers is actually to combine the chamber and outer casing as that reduces cost, weight, size and complexity. They are assuming all people working on gas or electrical sides are competent to both, so wouldn't separate the two covers on a cost sensistive domestic boiler.

 

[LankyWill]

Isn’t a ‘heating engineer’ a Part P plumber? As we all know these plastic electricians can’t be classed as competent electricians.