Dangerous Plumber

D1stant · 24-03-2014 12:29am #1

I employed a guy (Plumber A - on recommendation of my builder) to install a new Gas heating system for a house + new extension. He is not Bord Gais registered

Long story short he has been a nightmare in terms of trying to get him to show up to site & get things done. Furthermore harassing us for money & telling untruths to other contractors.

Anyway Ive had enough and I asked another plumber (B) to go over his work to date. He valued his work at 2 - 2.5k. Plumber A is asking for 7k!!!

Also the gas inlet pipe is out of spec according to plumber B in that the run is > 30 feet and is less than an inch diameter - plumber B says this will result in blowing the gas boiler every 2-3 years as it wont be able to suck in enough gas on startup.

In addition, the inlet is < 20cm deep and has no conduit in places. It also is in 2 parts and joined together by tape!. Its clearly dangerous. Is there any complaints procedure for this? I'm lucky in a sense that this was picked up on before concrete was poured on it. Someone else may not be and the conclusion could be tragic.

Advice appreciated

esox28 · 24-03-2014 12:51am

http://www.rgii.ie/help/report-an-illegal-gas-worker.2681.html

in the intrest of public safety report him.

having work done in your own home is stressful enough without the hassle of some untrained chancer charging exorbitant sums for potentialy dangerous installations, and it seems your only on the first fix!

shane 007 · 24-03-2014 12:53am

That's a tough predicament.

1/2" gas pipe to a HE gas boiler is an absolute no no. It won't damage the boiler but it will be over aired & will not run correctly. The working gas pressure of the boiler will be too low & likely be shut down on its first service. It may provide nuisance lock outs depending on how low the WP is. It certainly will not operate as intended by the manufacturer.

Internally, the cover of concrete on a gas pipe only needs to be 25mm. Compression joints are not allowed, so only soldered joints. Pipe must be protected or sleeved.

Your best option is to contact RGII and request an inspection of the RGI's work & on no account pay him until the works is carried out to current regulation standards.

D1stant · 24-03-2014 1:32am

Thanks for the replies. I will certainly complain him, but I will wait until I get the whole job tested by plumber B.

What is the impact of complaining him via the RGII?

Here is a picture of the "join" on the gas supply entering the house

scudo2 · 24-03-2014 2:03am

D1stant wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I will certainly complain him, but I will wait until I get the whole job tested by plumber B.

What is the impact of complaining him via the RGII?

Here is a picture of the "join" on the gas supply entering the house

you might save somebody's life.
Call RGII immediately.

pablo128 · 24-03-2014 2:15am

My brother is a RGI registered gas installer and engineer. We had a problem with our boiler about a year ago. As it's a council place, we had to go through them to have it fixed. 2 morons came out a number of times, even saying they had never worked on one of these systems before. It's a common Baxi boiler. Each time there seemed to be a new problem after they left.
Exasperated, I asked my brother to take a look. He came up, and promptly shut down the gas supply. It was leaking gas into our apartment. He issued us with a official notice of cutting off the supply, and told us to report the council subcontractors to RGI which we did. There was a big hullabaloo with head men from Baxi and the council out looking at it.
The reason my brother couldn't fix it is because if the council found out they would have laughed at us and said it was our problem now.
A head engineer from Baxi actually fixed it while they were out. Something about a seal on the cover not sitting right.

Slutmonkey57b · 24-03-2014 2:21am

I'd have questions of your builder why he's recommending an unregistered gas installer.

If he thinks cutting corners on gas installations is ok, what else does he consider unimportant?

corkgsxr · 24-03-2014 10:37am

Any better picts of the joins? Cant make out anything in it

D1stant · 24-03-2014 12:42pm

corkgsxr wrote: »

Any better picts of the joins? Cant make out anything in it

Hopefully this one is better

corkgsxr · 24-03-2014 12:48pm

Whats under the ductape

splanagan22 · 24-03-2014 2:22pm

Why would you have hired an non RGI plumber to install the system?

Surely you checked with RGI to see if the plumber was registered before letting him start the job.

shane 007 · 24-03-2014 2:49pm

Firstly, you say he is not Bord Gais registered. There is no such thing. Do you mean RGII registered? If he is not RGII registered, then he has committed a criminal offence & must be reported.
Secondly, that work is disgraceful & most certainly does not meet any regulation past or present.
The minimum depth cover is 375mm externally but that's the least of your worries. Do not pay a penny for that work. Get rid of him & employ a proper RGI to carry out the works. Scrap all previous works & start again, especially on anything gas related side of things, but I can only imagine what else is done on the wet side.
If he is RGII registered, as previously said, report & get an RGII inspection. I would also be having words with your builder.

esox28 · 24-03-2014 2:51pm

Duct tape... A million and one uses....not to be confused with duct pipeline.

Xantia · 24-03-2014 5:46pm

MacGyver would have been proud of the tape but shocked at the work

jameser123 · 24-03-2014 11:34pm

Have u got his number , might come in handy!!!

26-03-2014 9:06pm

should the customer who employes a person who not rgii reg to do a job be just as responsible as person doing job,what do you think about this would you cert job you didnt do work on

DGOBS · 26-03-2014 9:12pm

Under the current law, I don't see how the customer could be deemed responsible, maybe complicit?

No you can't certify someone else's work under RGI or not (unless it's a registered trainee that you are supervising)
Even if you need to pick up work where another RGI left off (let's say on a site dispute) you have to have the RGI inspector out
to fill in a necessary paperwork, incase there is a future dispute about works (such as say an already buried section of gas pipe)
that weren't possible to inspect when you took over.

26-03-2014 9:20pm

yes this is true but i get calls to cert gas job i didnt do from customers house owners who got gas cookers ect fitted with no certs should i give rgi customers phone number as i dont know who did work and dont know customers i just say no just cert own work

DGOBS · 26-03-2014 9:24pm

For sure, and just explain the process or direct them to RGII to ask!

Dangerous Plumber

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