The good, the bad and the ugly

Thegoodthebad+theugly

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Registered Gas Engineer wants to see your pictures – whether you’ve come across some horrors or instances of really good work. Please email your stories and pictures to editorial@registeredgasengineer.co.uk or via Twitter to @RGEMag

Rich Fletcher found a plastic water fitting on the incoming gas supply pipe when he visited a care home. The plastic water fitting was removed, and an appropriate compression cap was fitted and made safe. Alan Foster found this chimney/flue installation on a boiler when he was asked to price for a replacement. It’s a fine example of why chimney/flue routes should be visually inspected throughout their length.

The combustion settings on the boiler that David Rawding was servicing were just fine – but a chimney/flue integrity test found CO levels rising to over 900ppm. The reason was a missing chimney/flue terminal, which meant that the products of combustion were being sucked back down the air intake. A new chimney/flue terminal has been fitted.

This chimney/flue terminal had been installed in 2011 and serviced regularly, apparently.

Tony Tomkins

removed it, installed it the right way up and tested it.

Steve Collins

attended a faulty boiler whose chimney/flue was in a void and could not be seen. He investigated and found this. The boiler was replaced and a vertical flue fitted to allow correct future access.

Thegoodthebad+theugly

Nick Daly was carrying out a gas safety check when he discovered this chimney/ flue installation. The paint on the flue was bubbling so he poked it, revealing a small hole. After he pulled it out to replace it, it disintegrated in his hands. The chimney/flue has now been replaced.

Joe Kelly saw that there was no fall on the chimney/flue, which resulted in the metal cage below corroding. The homeowner then fitted a hopper head to protect the cage. Joe has now installed the chimney/flue correctly. Tom Hindle was testing a newly fitted boiler and found the low readings were normal but during high fire the CO readings were extremely high within seconds. He found the inner chimney/flue seal was missing and had been replaced using PTFE tape. Tom made it safe and the original installers were called back to rectify the work.

Timothy Raine

attended a boiler with explosive ignition and found the ignition probe was badly corroded. He fitted new probe then carried out FGA tests which resulted in very high CO readings. There was a large hole in the flue manifold and a small one in sump. He replaced both.

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