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Wiring on gas boiler

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  • 06-08-2020 12:12pm
    #1
    mack456
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭


    I recently had a gas boiler installed and the plumber said the wiring had been done wrong on the previous boiler. The timer has a separate hot water and heating for rads but now when I switch it on it only heats both at the same time. The plumber recommended I speak with his friend who is an electrician about this. He said not all electricians can do such work and his friend has experience with gas boilers. The fact is it had previously heated the hot water without the rads coming on, what the electrician is apparently going to make it do again for a price, but perhaps the wiring was done in a way that was quite messy or doesn't join up to the new boiler. Does this sound normal or should I be questioning it? Thanks


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    #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    mack456 wrote: »
    I recently had a gas boiler installed and the plumber said the wiring had been done wrong on the previous boiler. The timer has a separate hot water and heating for rads but now when I switch it on it only heats both at the same time. The plumber recommended I speak with his friend who is an electrician about this. He said not all electricians can do such work and his friend has experience with gas boilers. The fact is it had previously heated the hot water without the rads coming on, what the electrician is apparently going to make it do again for a price, but perhaps the wiring was done in a way that was quite messy or doesn't join up to the new boiler. Does this sound normal or should I be questioning it? Thanks

    Very common, heating system wiring is not taught and has to be learnt the hard way by each individual electrician (although it should be the RGI who does the work but that’s another story)

    Gas boiler wiring is easy because the boiler comes with instructions with colour pictures for those who don’t like to read, the wiring for your boiler will be covered by the MI so if you can find a sparks who’s happy to read the book you’ll be fine.


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    #3
    stickman1019
    Registered Users Posts: 165 ✭✭stickman1019


    Plumber is giving you the run around here heating is split on the wiring for 2 or 3 zones as follows:

    Hot Water
    Upstairs rad
    downstairs rads

    Unless the plumber has been pulling cabling out of the wall then the wiring from the first to the second boiler hasn't changed and he has just f##ked it up.


    I would recommend an registered electrician sort it and invoice the plumber for the inconvenience.

    Plumber sounds like a bit of a cowboy 🀠


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    #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    stickman1019 wrote: »
    Plumber is giving you the run around here heating is split on the wiring for 2 or 3 zones as follows:

    Hot Water
    Upstairs rad
    downstairs rads

    Unless the plumber has been pulling cabling out of the wall then the wiring from the first to the second boiler hasn't changed and he has just f##ked it up.


    I would recommend an registered electrician sort it and invoice the plumber for the inconvenience.

    Plumber sounds like a bit of a cowboy ��

    Wow you’ve decided he’s a cowboy without seeing the job, you’ve got skills, there are so many ways for heating systems to be wired wrong I’ll give the RGI the benefit of the doubt, it’s the sparks who puts it right that should be deciding if the RGI rides a horse or not.

    The only thing the installer is guilty of at the moment is assuming the wiring was correct before installing the boiler.


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    #5
    mack456
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭mack456


    gary71 wrote: »
    Wow you’ve decided he’s a cowboy without seeing the job, you’ve got skills, there are so many ways for heating systems to be wired wrong I’ll give the RGI the benefit of the doubt, it’s the sparks who puts it right that should be deciding if the RGI rides a horse or not.

    The only thing the installer is guilty of at the moment is assuming the wiring was correct before installing the boiler.


    Thanks to you all for your replies. I think its actually a combination of the wiring and the motorised valves in the hot press, however it was working before the boiler was installed, but I think it could have been that the wires weren't originally done in the most straightforward fashion so maybe the installer didn't want to risk putting it back wrong. I have contacted an electrician anyway because will probably have to replace the motorised valves. Thanks for the advice.


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    #6
    Cerco
    Registered Users Posts: 2,034 ✭✭✭Cerco


    gary71 wrote: »
    The only thing the installer is guilty of at the moment is assuming the wiring was correct before installing the boiler.

    I think it’s a bit more than that. He assumed the wiring was wrong on the previous working system. He altered it and when that did not work he suggested getting. an electrician.
    IMHO I would have expected him to look back at how it was originally wired. Anybody can make a mistake but if he is not sure then he should get and pay the electrician. He will learn a bit and the customer will be happy. As it is now the customer is not happy, not good for business.


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    #7
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Cerco wrote: »
    I think it’s a bit more than that. He assumed the wiring was wrong on the previous working system. He altered it and when that did not work he suggested getting. an electrician.
    IMHO I would have expected him to look back at how it was originally wired. Anybody can make a mistake but if he is not sure then he should get and pay the electrician. He will learn a bit and the customer will be happy. As it is now the customer is not happy, not good for business.

    It’s not unusual to find a existing installation that is not wired to the correct and simple gas wiring standard, then adapt the existing wiring without altering anything to leave things working as best as possible then advising the customer that the wiring needs to be updated, the only thing I would of done differently is advised before I did the work.

    Without looking at the job myself and taking in to account the lack of real training of gas electric wiring for both RGIs and Sparks I’m happy not to hang a fella until I know more.


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    #8
    Beltby
    Closed Accounts Posts: 253 ✭✭Beltby


    A central heating engineer is what you want. They are trained on the electrical side of putting in boilers. Any plumber can fit a boiler but must get an electrician to wire it, whereas an engineer can complete the whole job.


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    #9
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Beltby wrote: »
    A central heating engineer is what you want. They are trained on the electrical side of putting in boilers. Any plumber can fit a boiler but must get an electrician to wire it, whereas an engineer can complete the whole job.

    There is nowhere to train and qualify as a gas heating engineer, your describing a trades person usually a plumber who’s happy to put the work in to learn wiring themselves, which is a hard thing to do..


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    #10
    Beltby
    Closed Accounts Posts: 253 ✭✭Beltby


    gary71 wrote: »
    There is nowhere to train and qualify as a gas heating engineer, your describing a trades person usually a plumber who’s happy to put the work in to learn wiring themselves, which is a hard thing to do..

    My brother is a trained central heating engineer. He started as a plumber putting full installs of central heating systems in. He wasn't qualified to electrically connect the boilers though. So he got further training and qualifications to allow him to do this.


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    #11
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Beltby wrote: »
    My brother is a trained central heating engineer. He started as a plumber putting full installs of central heating systems in. He wasn't qualified to electrically connect the boilers though. So he got further training and qualifications to allow him to do this.

    I am a qualified gas heating engineer, my trade is not a recognised trade in Ireland there is no course here to do what I do unless you go to the UK to train, there are very good capable engineers like your brother but they’ve had to work much harder than me to get there because of the lack of training available, it’s because of the lack of training that electricians are doing gas work so the sooner there are more engineers like your brother the better for my gas boilers which keep getting fried by those who don’t read the manual.


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