Home car repairs.
Discussion
M_A_S said:
Fort Jefferson said:
How come, by law, you can't change a part in your gas boiler, but you can fix the brakes on your two ton people carrier?
By law you can change a part in your gas boiler. If you're 'competent'.xjay1337 said:
Thought you had to be gas-safe registered once you take the outer cover off??
You need to be "gas safe" to charge someone for work done. You just need to be able to prove you are competent if fixing your own boiler, not sure how you do this though if it goes a bit wrong.ARHarh said:
xjay1337 said:
Thought you had to be gas-safe registered once you take the outer cover off??
You need to be "gas safe" to charge someone for work done. You just need to be able to prove you are competent if fixing your own boiler, not sure how you do this though if it goes a bit wrong.I've fixed my own gas fire (but had the man around to check for leaks before using it afterwards).
I also change my own brakes, amongst other things on the car/bike - but check they work before heading out on the road.
I don't change bits in our oil-fired boiler, 'cause it's smelly and oily, I don't know much about how it works, and we've got a good plumber who doesn't charge us much
I don't drive a people carrier, thanks.
I also change my own brakes, amongst other things on the car/bike - but check they work before heading out on the road.
I don't change bits in our oil-fired boiler, 'cause it's smelly and oily, I don't know much about how it works, and we've got a good plumber who doesn't charge us much
I don't drive a people carrier, thanks.
Fort Jefferson said:
How come, by law, you can't change a part in your gas boiler, but you can fix the brakes on your two ton people carrier?
Houses blowing up: Bad for society as a whole.Fewer people carriers on the road: Good for society as a whole. Well, maybe not the bits of it they plough through while leaving the road, but it's an imperfect world.
Imo the biggest danger from diy boiler tinkering is carbon monoxide. But...
I guess the gas safe (rsfka corgi) is in response to a perceived or real danger to life from dodgy installs - both diy and trade I'd add.
There has obviously never been such a perception about car brakes (or other important bits).
I had the brake pads fall out of my motorbike once....the world didn't stop turning, and it was a surprisingly minor inconvenience in the scheme of things.
Mots work to eliminate the worst bodging, and I guess gas safe checks do the same for rental tenants.
One more thing: how would you prove gas competence? I would expect a reasonable person to look for,I don't know, some form of accreditation system?
Or would you go into a court room with your solder and pliers, and prove you can loosen and tighten things?
Generally I would think a judge would only be deciding on cases where stuff has gone wrong, so by definition you'd be proved not competent anyway.
Ian
I guess the gas safe (rsfka corgi) is in response to a perceived or real danger to life from dodgy installs - both diy and trade I'd add.
There has obviously never been such a perception about car brakes (or other important bits).
I had the brake pads fall out of my motorbike once....the world didn't stop turning, and it was a surprisingly minor inconvenience in the scheme of things.
Mots work to eliminate the worst bodging, and I guess gas safe checks do the same for rental tenants.
One more thing: how would you prove gas competence? I would expect a reasonable person to look for,I don't know, some form of accreditation system?
Or would you go into a court room with your solder and pliers, and prove you can loosen and tighten things?
Generally I would think a judge would only be deciding on cases where stuff has gone wrong, so by definition you'd be proved not competent anyway.
Ian
pheasant said:
I think most people would be more competent than the Gritish Bas man that once tried to stitch up my mum once for a new boiler and deliberately 'fixed' the smoke test.
Or, the British Gas man that came round mine to change a part and give it a service who then checked for leaks with his lighter as "the gas sensor is in the van and this'll work just as good"!Fort Jefferson said:
How come, by law, you can't change a part in your gas boiler, but you can fix the brakes on your two ton people carrier?
I can by law change a part in my boiler, as I am quallified.Appreciate what you are saying though, I can do brakes on a car etc but other stuff like clutch I give to someone quallified to do proper job!
M_A_S said:
ARHarh said:
xjay1337 said:
Thought you had to be gas-safe registered once you take the outer cover off??
You need to be "gas safe" to charge someone for work done. You just need to be able to prove you are competent if fixing your own boiler, not sure how you do this though if it goes a bit wrong.Fort Jefferson said:
How come, by law, you can't change a part in your gas boiler, but you can fix the brakes on your two ton people carrier?
I assume from the tone of the question that you’d like to see car repairs to be only performed by ‘trained’ personnel?I think you’d be very surprised at how little qualifications/training your average garage technician has that does the general servicing work.
No comparison.
Gas boilers can be incredibly dangerous if they go wrong or aren’t suitably maintained/inspected.
Friends of my parents were killed one night when their boiler became faulty due to lack of maintenance. Carbon monoxide. The whole family including their daughters.
Horrific.
I used to work in asset management and compliance for a massive housing association, and despite our best efforts, there were often non-lethal cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.
How dangerous can a faulty car possibly be in comparison? Things in vehicles are generally designed to be relatively fail safe. You could totally mess up changing front brakes and yet still have rear brakes when you pressed the pedal. At the first junction you would realise there was a problem.
If I had the the option of going for a drive in a badly maintained shed of a car, or spending the night sleeping in a house that had a badly maintained shed of a gas boiler, I would take the car every time.
Gas boilers can be incredibly dangerous if they go wrong or aren’t suitably maintained/inspected.
Friends of my parents were killed one night when their boiler became faulty due to lack of maintenance. Carbon monoxide. The whole family including their daughters.
Horrific.
I used to work in asset management and compliance for a massive housing association, and despite our best efforts, there were often non-lethal cases of carbon monoxide poisoning.
How dangerous can a faulty car possibly be in comparison? Things in vehicles are generally designed to be relatively fail safe. You could totally mess up changing front brakes and yet still have rear brakes when you pressed the pedal. At the first junction you would realise there was a problem.
If I had the the option of going for a drive in a badly maintained shed of a car, or spending the night sleeping in a house that had a badly maintained shed of a gas boiler, I would take the car every time.
Just fitting discs and caliper on my car, in fairness looking at what the mechanics did before (it was an ex lease car), no thread lock on the carrier bolts, or mashing the retainer screw on the disc or just plain missing. The job I have done is to a much higher standard, correct torque settings cleaned components copper grease new bolts etc etc. Mechanics don't have the time to do the niceties. As for my boiler I won't touch the gas side but have changed mixer valves and replaced the control panel when it failed. Simple DIY jobs really.
By 'fix the brake' I assume the OP means change the discs and pads, which is probably one of the simplest car maintenance jobs on a car once you progress from replacing a blown bulb.
Going by some of the more recent forum comments (last 10 years or so), the definition of car maintenance seems to be becoming more fixated on paintwork and micro scratches, than on the traditional mechanical and safety aspects.
I forget the guys name, but one guy was claiming that people weren't true car enthusiasts if they didn't use the softest possible lambs wool widget to religiously wash their car every week.
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