Plumbing issues - which one is right?

FrankGrimes

I’ve been having a guy I kind of know do the re-plumbing on my house. It’s a total re-plumb replacing the previous gas system with a newer gas system and moving the old boiler from the back bedroom upstairs to the utility room at the back of the house downstairs (actually using a new gas boiler).

Basically the guy has let me down this week – I needed it all done this week as I wanted to move into the house tomorrow, but he didn’t show and so we can’t move in, so I’m not too happy with him.

I got onto another fella I know and he has just had a look at it. He said he thought the job the other guy did was a disgrace. Some things he mentioned:

-there is no sign that the gas feed has been re-directed to the utility room where the boiler will be. I’ve just re-slabbed nearly all walls and ceilings so this is a problem. The gas pipe must have been running to the back bedroom and luckily I haven’t slabbed the ceiling below it yet so should be able to re-direct the pipe through the joists into the adjacent utility room – but I’ll then have to leave it exposed in the utility room due to this mistake. How big a deal should I make with the original guy about this (its actually two of them brothers working together – one qualified, the other not and I think he has done most of the work)? They’ve made a big deal about ‘only charging me time’ for the job, but that’s €300 each per day so its not for nothing.

-the new guy (who will qualify in 6 months) said they have piped all appliances for the kitchen and utility and the downstairs toilet directly off the mains and not from the cold water tank. He says this is very bad practice, illegal in fact as it could possibly mean my house could contaminate the public supply. How big a deal is this – is the original guy really that wrong or is the new guy just making a big deal of it (though it does sound like poor practice to me)?

- new guy said original guys’ work is just messy, and another example is he was going to put the shower pump (a Stuart Turner 55) above the cistern in the hot press, whereas the new guy said it should go on the floor – though to be honest I’m not sure it could fit on the floor. He also has the pipes feeding into where the boiler will be right beside the feeds for the sink in the utility room. He was also going to run the wastes for the sink and bath into a separate hopper and downpipe into a separate drain, whereas new guy says best thing to do is strap them directly into the 4 inch waste from toilet and have it all sealed.

I’m just looking to try get an accurate picture of which one is right and which one is in the wrong, thanks.

rooferPete

Hi Frank,

That's a long list, first how can water flowing out from a tap or connection contaminate the water supply ?

Tell Junior it's not so long ago that the building bye laws insisted on the cistern being fed direct from the mains supply.

Many plumbers will take a link off the mains to supply kitchen appliances because the water used by say the dish washer is going to be clean for the rinse cycle.

Tapping into the 4" supply does work.......sometimes, has junior never heard that the traps on baths and sinks can and do syphon off when the toilets are flushed ?

You paid good money to your plumbers so far, I do have questions on their work from what you describe, maybe it's time I opened up a new business as a self build consultant.

.

davelerave

i remember a plumber saying that an outside tap shouldn't come off the mains .i think the logic was that if you had a garden hose connected to it with the nozzle on the end closed ,then if the outside tap is turned on contaminants within the hose can get back to the drinking water at the sink.tradesmen (worse an apprentice ) condemning other peoples work is commonplace anyway

pipers

What do you expect?
Why didnt you get junior to do the job in the first place?