Monumental EDF F**K Up. Gas Advice please

[Cabrony]

No point going straight to the ombudsman. EDF should have opened a complaint for you at the first hint of you showing any dissatisfaction. They then have 40 days to resolve it before you are free to go to the ombudsman. As per the CEAR act 2007.

They should also be able to book you a same day emergency appointment which would ordinarily mean an engineer attends within 4 to 6 hours of it being arranged.

[dickymint]

matty g said:

Where is your boiler.

Just trying to calm you a little. But We have a 3 storey house but our boiler is on the ground floor so we don't have any "gas" pipes on any other floors.

They should also be able to disconnect the meter and test "your" side for leaks

No need to disconnect the meter. You prove the meter with a "let by" test and "tightness" test. What is unclear to me is whether the pressure drop is with all appliances isolated in which case their should be 0 drop?

The 4mb permissible drop is with appliances not isolated.

Caveat: It's been a while and no doubt things have changed as has my memory

As an aside and an ex Calibration Engineer there's not a measuring instrument in use that can claim +/- 0mb

[Busterbulldog]

This leak should have been picked up during your annual appliance checks.
Although it is inconvenient you should be grateful that the fitted did the right thing and didn't ignore it. Get an independent gas fitted in, it shouldn't be too hard to identify the problem area....it could be a minor thing or it could be a dangerous thing in the making...eg corroded pipe behind a fire that would only get worse.Better safe than sorry with gas

[ollie plymsoles]

But the fitter did the wrong thing? !!
You see a small drop, you ask the customer if they have ever smelt gas, they say no, then you turn the gas back on if the drop is within the limit.

Simple.
Ollie P. ( gas safe regd)

[dickymint]

ollie plymsoles said:

But the fitter did the wrong thing? !!
You see a small drop, you ask the customer if they have ever smelt gas, they say no, then you turn the gas back on if the drop is within the limit.

Simple.
Ollie P. ( gas safe regd)

From memory (as I stated earlier, it's been a while) could it be the case that the guy that changed the meter only has the "ticket" to change meters and can't carry out remedial work?

Edit: of course he would need CCN1 but not boilers, cookers etc.

Edited by dickymint on Saturday 18th March 12:29

[andySC]

dickymint said:

From memory (as I stated earlier, it's been a while) could it be the case that the guy that changed the meter only has the "ticket" to change meters and can't carry out remedial work?

He shouldn't need to do any remedial work. Leak is within tolerances & no SOG reported. Should've left installation connected & appliances working.

[Busterbulldog]

I too am a gas fitter.. .a leak is a leak ..how can you consider it safe if you don't know what's leaking ? It's not a meter maids job to find it Just ensure its left safe...safe equals off in my book.

[Simpo Two]

Busterbulldog said:

I too am a gas fitter.. .a leak is a leak ..how can you consider it safe if you don't know what's leaking ? It's not a meter maids job to find it Just ensure its left safe...safe equals off in my book.

So what about the '4 millibar drop during a 3 minute test with no smell of gas is permitted' bit? You can't both be right...

And does it matter what is leaking? You said is a leak is a leak. Does knowing which bit is leaking make it any safer?

Under all the bks must be some facts.

[anonymous-user]

Cabrony said:

They then have 40 days to resolve it before you are free to go to the ombudsmall.

How @&#%×*# useful is that
8weeks/2months on a 5 day working week scenario. That is very poor at best. Whilst the OP and family could be freezing their knackers off with no hot water it's not acceptable.

[dickymint]

Simpo Two said:

Busterbulldog said:

I too am a gas fitter.. .a leak is a leak ..how can you consider it safe if you don't know what's leaking ? It's not a meter maids job to find it Just ensure its left safe...safe equals off in my book.

So what about the '4 millibar drop during a 3 minute test with no smell of gas is permitted' bit? You can't both be right...

And does it matter what is leaking? You said is a leak is a leak. Does knowing which bit is leaking make it any safer?

Under all the bks must be some facts.

A drop in pressure (think calibration and accuracy) doesn't necessarily mean a leak.

[andySC]

Simpo Two said:

So what about the '4 millibar drop during a 3 minute test with no smell of gas is permitted' bit? You can't both be right...

And does it matter what is leaking? You said is a leak is a leak. Does knowing which bit is leaking make it any safer?

Under all the bks must be some facts.

4 mbar drop in a 2min tightness test (test is actually 4 mins but you'd be recording pressure loss in the last 2) is OK providing you are testing an existing installation with appliances connected. There can be no smell of gas reported.

Yes, it does matter what's leaking. No loss allowed on pipework only, new installations or where there is a reported smell of gas.

These are the regulations I've adhered to since I started in the industry in over 25 years ago.

[R11ysf]

UPDATE: The British Gas guy came on Saturday and re-connected my. He also brought some spares and replaced a couple of things in the boiler and found one of them had a very small leak which was venting straight out the flue and would never have been smelt.
The pipework once this was isolated had Zero drop so the EDF guy must not have isolated the boiler before turning the gas off.

Anyway, thank god it's back on.

[g7jtk]

I was going to say the appliances should be turned off or capped off to prove that the pipe is tight first before any repiping started only to find the leak is on an appliance.
Obviously the EDF mad did not test first or he would have found a leak first.