Is it illegal for me to replace the fan on top of my boiler?

[Pesty]

The fan Assy on top of my ideal classic has packed up(bearings)

The unit can be bought for arround £82 + Vat and is a very, very easy repair as it is an assembly.
A couple of rubber tubes, one bracket to and exhaust tube and two connectors for the motor.

I will not be anywhere near the gas supply.


so am I allowed to do this?

Thanks

[freecar]

If you don't need to touch the gas supply, who would know after it's done who did it?

[Jazoli]

freecar said:

If you don't need to touch the gas supply, who would know after it's done who did it?

This, and if you are confident in doing it why worry, I'm sure the regs state 'A Competent Person', it sounds like you are so just do it

[Flintstone]

I'm probably going to hell for replacing the circuit board in my boiler a couple of years ago. See you there.

[Puggit]

Flintstone said:

I'm probably going to hell for replacing the circuit board in my boiler a couple of years ago. See you there.

Me too! Half the price of a new unit for a refurb with warranty, no call out charge and no per hour fee!

[thinfourth2]

Pesty said:

The fan Assy on top of my ideal classic has packed up(bearings)

The unit can be bought for arround £82 + Vat and is a very, very easy repair as it is an assembly.
A couple of rubber tubes, one bracket to and exhaust tube and two connectors for the motor.

I will not be anywhere near the gas supply.


so am I allowed to do this?

Thanks

As long as you don't charge yourself anything to do it then 100% legal

[Ferg]

It's legal if you can prove competency if required. Being paid for it makes no difference at all.

Obviously you need to weigh up whether you can be sure that you will not, in doing work on any gas "fitting", put yourself in such a position whereby you need to stand in front of a court to prove competency.
If you are 100% sure that you will be able to prove your knowledge of gas combustion, flame pictures, ventilation requirements and ALL the regulations involved etc then you should be OK. Otherwise you take the chance at your own risk.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the ultimate responsibility for the gas appliances in the home falls with the HOMEOWNER.

Edited by Ferg on Sunday 17th October 16:02

[Pesty]

Ferg said:

If you are 100% sure that you will be able to prove your knowledge of gas combustion, flame pictures, ventilation requirements and ALL the regulations involved etc then you should be OK.

Now obviously I cannot do that as I am not a gas corgy registered fitter.

I do beilive I am more than capable of removeing an assemly held on with 3 screws. I will not need to do any wireing or go anywhere near any gas fittings. It is a like for like swap of an assy which is a simple fan.

Do I take it from your post that you belive I should leave it alone and get somebody in?

[Ferg]

Pesty said:

Do I take it from your post that you belive I should leave it alone and get somebody in?

No.
I just feel that it's not fair for you to decide to do it without being aware of what the BS actually says and how the H&SE feel about it.
It's all very well people on here telling you what they think, but it wouldn't come down on them if anything went wrong. Obviously it wouldn't be right for me (or anyone else) to tell you what to do.

[Pesty]

OK thanks

[normalbloke]

I did exactly this change on my boiler. It is a doddle.I suspect if you are a retarded moron it may take you more than a few minutes, but not much more.
I also have the added benefit of my boiler being in my garage and no danger of any type of gas poisoning ocurring.
Crack on.

[Pesty]

normalbloke said:

if you are a retarded moron it may take you more than a few minutes, .

I had planned to crack on so just had a second look at how to remove said fan. But now having second thoughts I am trying to guess how it is fixed. All the top conections are not a problem.

What I can see is a bracket at the back fixing it to a vent pipe that goes through wall.
I can also see one screw see below that is holding it on.
(fan is round alluminium bit on top)


Problem is there also seems to be further screws holding it in place from underneath. This is a guess because without actually trying to remove it or looking at a new unit I cannot see where it is further held in place.

Something tells me I need to get in this rectangular bit underneath it to get at further screws. I would need to remove the rods I think simple enough just a few nuts.but am reluctant to start delving into places when I have no idea what I am doing.





Actually seeing one of thiese units from underneath to see how it is fixed would help.

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 17th October 17:26

[Gingerbread Man]

Pesty said:

normalbloke said:

if you are a retarded moron it may take you more than a few minutes, .

I had planned to crack on so just had a second look at how to remove said fan. But now having second thoughts I am trying to guess how it is fixed. All the top conections are not a problem.

What I can see is a bracket at the back fixing it to a vent pipe that goes through wall.
I can also see one screw see below that is holding it on.
(fan is round alluminium bit on top)


Problem is there also seems to be further screws holding it in place from underneath. This is a guess because without actually trying to remove it or looking at a new unit I cannot see where it is further held in place.

Something tells me I need to get in this rectangular bit underneath it to get at further screws. I would need to remove the rods I think simple enough just a few nuts.but am reluctant to start delving into places when I have no idea what I am doing.





Actually seeing one of thiese units from underneath to see how it is fixed would help.

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 17th October 17:26

Decision time, are you in or are you out.....?

[Pesty]

Can I phone a freind?

depends anybody know for sure if there are further screws underneath and if so how to access them.


on first inspoection it looked really simple I assumed all screws would be easily accessable.

Edited by Pesty on Sunday 17th October 17:58

[GuinnessMK]

I'm guessing from the photos it's an Ideal Classic FXX or similar. We (may or may not have) replaced our fan last year.

Have you had a look from the top? I think there are two screws accessed from the top / back of the fan.

We didn't take anything else apart to replace the fan.

[cjs]

I just fixed the fan on my boiler, took it out, striped it down, greased the bearings and cleaned all the crud out, working well now, I am competent as I used to have some Corgi cars when I was a kid.

[It's fixable...]

I'll bet you'll find that the bottom half of the fan casing is held in by fixings inside the boiler. You'll have to break the glass rope seal to get at them.

However have you noticed that the halves of the fan casing are held together with folding tabs ?

Check how tight the two casing halves are clamped together with feeler gauges. Most have a very small gap.

You might consider prying open the tabs on your new fan and substituting the top half of the new fan on the bottom half of your old fan (which will stay in place so ne need to disturb the glass rope seal or undo the bottom fixings that you can't get at.

So long as you can clamp or seal the fan casing halves to the same or better gapping than you checked out in the first place on the original joint before you unmade it you should be OK.

Get a carbon monoxide alarm and use it to check around the fan casing the first time it runs and then leave it fixed to the wall below the boiler (carbon monoxide is heavier than air so it falls).

[Pesty]

It's fixable... said:

So long as you can clamp or seal the fan casing halves to the same or better gapping than you checked out in the first place on the original joint before you unmade it you should be OK.

Get a carbon monoxide alarm and use it to check around the fan casing the first time it runs and then leave it fixed to the wall below the boiler (carbon monoxide is heavier than air so it falls).

ingenious!

good idea thanks! will help me sleep better.

[Gareth79]

It's fixable... said:

Get a carbon monoxide alarm and use it to check around the fan casing the first time it runs and then leave it fixed to the wall below the boiler (carbon monoxide is heavier than air so it falls).

Apparently it's very slightly lighter than air, but as close as to make no difference in a room. The instructions on my detector said to place it as high as possible and within earshot of people sleeping, so I put it next to the smoke detector on the landing ceiling.

[dirkgently]

Ferg said:

It's legal if you can prove competency if required.

I think you may all fail this test from what i have read, just my 2d worth.