Repairs: plumbing and heating

Most of the information on gas heating systems you are likely to need can be found in the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

The Regulations are comprehensive and even include comparatively minor gas fitting operations such as connecting a gas hob into the gas tap, as well as more complex operations such as fitting and commissioning gas fires and boilers.

• The Institution of Electrical Engineers/IET/Building Regulations and British Standards apply to some electrical operations for plumbing in heating systems and vice versa.

• It is now a legal requirement that anyone installing or repairing gas fittings or appliances must be a registered technician.

Because there is a national shortage of qualified plumbing and heating engineers in Britain, some contractors may be tempted to consider wholesale replacement rather than a carefully detailed repair.

When specifying plumbing works it is worth going to the extra cost of including service valves/inline stop valves on the pipework (for example, under tap tails so that taps can be properly isolated and new fittings installed if need be).

Frequently bath taps and sometimes kitchen sink taps are pre-fitted to the sanitary ware before it is mounted in place. Consequently, if repairs are needed later it is almost impossible to properly access all of the tap fittings to carry out the repair.

The presence of thoughtfully-located stop valves means that repairs can be effected at leisure rather than necessitating a wholesale replacement of the tap, sink, bath and so on. It also reduces the need to chemically freeze-isolate sections of pipework (always an act of necessity rather than choice).

• Always remember to check for leaks.
• Ensure that copper, galvanised steel and any other pipes are isolated from each other to prevent any preferential electrical charge building up that could erode the metal fittings.

If you have a supervisory role, tour of the site before and after the building works. Use a proprietary listening stick to listen for the hissing/ringing sound of any water that might be escaping so that any new joints – or old plumbing – can be assessed for continuity.

Note: when leaks are repaired, there may be increased pressure on other weak pipes or joints, which fail soon afterwards. Warn your client; sometimes complete replacement of old pipes is cheaper than a piecemeal repair in the long run.

The basics should serve as a useful aide memoire to plumbing and gas when you are out on a site inspection.