The good, the bad and the ugly

Thegoodthebad+theugly

We want your pictures

Registered Gas Engineer wants to see your pictures – whether you’ve come across some horrors or instances of really good work. And there’s a prize for the best one: so go on, get writing and email your stories and pictures to editorial@registeredgasengineer.co.uk or via Twitter @RGEMag

The chimney to this boiler, fitted three years previously, had never been installed correctly because the hole was too high Richard Roberts made the installation safe.

A DIY plume kit had been made by Ryan Grosvenor’s customer using waste/ downpipe with a plastic covering (clearly showing heat damage). Ryan made safe and installed a new plume kit specific to the boiler manufacturer. The chimney terminal had been ‘modified’ using plumbing fittings to remove the products of combustion after the customer had some building alterations. Steve Poole made safe and the installation has been rectified.

This severely corroded gas supply to the gas fire was causing a smell of gas, says Ben Somerwill. Not only had the pipework not been adequately protected using the correct material, but the fire surround had been stuck to the wall using expanding foam. Ben made safe.

Paul Farr was asked about the reason for a roaring noise from the boiler. He soon found out why.

This month’s winner

Leigh Brown found a meter installation where someone had encased part of the meter in concrete screed. The meter has been refitted.

Nathaniel Smith attended a breakdown, where a second-hand boiler had been installed by a ‘friend’. Nathaniel identified seven water leaks, an incorrect chimney, and incorrectly installed condensate pipe termination. When he carried out a tightness test, he got a straight drop-out on his U-gauge.

Chris Jones stumbled across (or over) a boiler chimney pushed through an old balanced-flue chimney terminal. The chimney had been installed too close to the pavement, with no guard. Someone had cut through a whole section of the joist to accommodate a vertical chimney rather than routing around it, not to mention the minimum distance required from combustible material and adequate support to the chimney.

Adam Tamea

made safe.

We may share some of your pictures on social media, so remember to include your contact details so we can tag you (or let us know if you’d rather we didn’t).

Thegoodthebad+theugly

Rob from CombiCare found this old balanced-flue boiler terminal with an invading tomato plant. It’s anyone’s guess how some of those beauties will be harvested. The vegetation was cut away and a flue guard has been installed. Tony Thomas got a shock when he saw that the electrical supply to the boiler had been cable-tied to the gas supply. The electrical supply has now been re-routed.

Holy bat breakdown! Adam Tamea found why his customer’s boiler wasn’t working: a bat had travelled along the chimney to the fan compartment. The obstruction was removed.

Gregory Smith’s customer had no hot water (unsurprisingly) – Gregory made safe.

There’s a prize for the best photos sent in (in our opinion). Please remember to take pictures at high resolution and email them to Photo prize Win

editorial@registeredgasengineer.co.uk

This month, Anton is giving away its APM 155 2bar differential pressure meter, complete with tilt boot, and magnet and hook, worth more than £238.

The APM 155 can save logs and print test results to an infrared printer with your company name and number, or wireless transfer to Anton’s free Sprint Mobile app (iOS or Android) to create professional PDF customer reports.

It’s suitable for medium-pressure testing and strength testing up to 2bar (2000mbar), and has high-pressure spigot connections for tube size 6mm OD/4mm ID.

Using the APM 155, you can test, log and share data, as well as carrying out gas rating and creating and PDF reports, when used in conjunction with Sprint Mobile app. This month’s winner is Leigh Brown from Mickleover, Derby. Congratulations!