plumbing????

[ktguk]

how far do you go with this?? anyone also do gas

just a thought the amount of times i get asked about plumbing/gas i could prob double my workload or more

 

[tom1]

i do it, i think a lot of sparks do. showers, sinks appliances and if was not busy i would fit a bathroom. if you can do it and make it pay then why not

however i do not and would not do gas. i do not have the test equipment nor gas safe reg.

 

[codamol]

I do my own plumbing (not gas) as i could never get anyone round for a quote/estimate let alone get someone to do the work.Only done a couple of really small jobs for pay, as i havent got any extra insurance for it but I am considering it as I have had some people asking for other trades.

I believe gas fitting/plumbing is hard trade to get into as you have a logbook that needs signing off by a qualified person before you get qualified yourself, not sure if the logbook continues after qualifying. I could be wrong in this belief, but if you have a friendly gasman who will help you go for it. Regularly see the one man band vans that say they do all, leccy/gas/plumb etcetc, bet there are a few missing their quals and insurance.

 

[ktguk]

only ever done showers and pumps really werent sure if i could make stuff like bathroom fittting pay because it would take so long compared to a plumber, i never touch gas either was wondering if it was worth gettin reg'd to do boiler a boiler service with pir's

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 14:07 ---------- Previous post was made at 14:03 ----------

I do my own plumbing (not gas) as i could never get anyone round for a quote/estimate let alone get someone to do the work.Only done a couple of really small jobs for pay, as i havent got any extra insurance for it but I am considering it as I have had some people asking for other trades.I believe gas fitting/plumbing is hard trade to get into as you have a logbook that needs signing off by a qualified person before you get qualified yourself, not sure if the logbook continues after qualifying. I could be wrong in this belief, but if you have a friendly gasman who will help you go for it. Regularly see the one man band vans that say they do all, leccy/gas/plumb etcetc, bet there are a few missing their quals and insurance.

yea thats it, i can do it but not sure i could charge for it

 

[tom1]

depends on how much hassle and cost to be able to service boilers compaired to how much money you get out of it.

for instance i know a qualified plumber who could do lpg and oil but only does natural gas as there is not enough work for him to spend time and money on courses and registration. he has plenty of work on and rarely gets asked to do lpg or oil, so why bother.

 

[revjames]

Its only watertight conduit. How hard can it be? especially push fit connections and plastic pipe?

 

[Sidewinder]

I do cold & hot, sinks type waste and some ancillary bits often and have the plumbing cover incl hot work on my insurance.

Mind I also have a "pet" plumber, who I try to get to do these things.

The biggest workload in this area is for one customer who have just swapped their spec from soldered copper to push fit PE-X (XLPE to us!) & solvent weld ABS or PVCu, with solvent weld waste staying.

So I may not be using the plumber so much, I use him for these jobs as I HATE soldering pipes.

Haven't done any oil work for 20+ years and now the regs have changed.

Last time I did gas CORGI was not compulsory in our situation.

Mind how many Corgi registered plumbers could work on an automatic natural gas carburettor with 6" bsp ports!

We used to test for leaks on the carburetted gas lines with a flame torch, much quicker.

Now a test, think about it.

This is your starter for 10.

Which is most dangerous, testing for leaks on a pressurised pure gas pipe line or a pressurised carburetted gas pipe line with a naked flame and why?...

 

[Andy™]

i do my own plumbing

 

[NozSpark]

As you need 3 things (fuel, oxygen & ignition source) to have a flame I'd say the carburetted gas

 

[Manator]

I do not do any plumbing now I prefer to get my " pet " plumber to do this. Years ago I did install the air and steam pipes, which did have to be tested but the regulations changed and it was more efficient to sub this out to those who had the qualifications. So unless its 10mm and under I do not touch it.

 

[Evans Electric]

I plumb showers in if it looks straightforward. Won't touch gas. Often have problems with stop valves passing water and trying to get water out of the pipes for soldering , not really happy doing plumbing TBH .

 

[NozSpark]

I will do a bit of plumbing, but only if it's directly related to what I'm doing.... Showers, hand washes, water heaters

I seem to be pulling away from doing immersion heaters now after I had one that I just couldn't get to stop weeping

 

[Evans Electric]

I agree with the Immersion heaters . Always the danger of splitting the tanks with those really tight ones .

 

[steptoe]

I do cold & hot, sinks type waste and some ancillary bits often and have the plumbing cover incl hot work on my insurance.Mind I also have a "pet" plumber, who I try to get to do these things.

The biggest workload in this area is for one customer who have just swapped their spec from soldered copper to push fit PE-X (XLPE to us!) & solvent weld ABS or PVCu, with solvent weld waste staying.

So I may not be using the plumber so much, I use him for these jobs as I HATE soldering pipes.

Haven't done any oil work for 20+ years and now the regs have changed.

Last time I did gas CORGI was not compulsory in our situation.

Mind how many Corgi registered plumbers could work on an automatic natural gas carburettor with 6" bsp ports!

We used to test for leaks on the carburetted gas lines with a flame torch, much quicker.

Now a test, think about it.

This is your starter for 10.

Which is most dangerous, testing for leaks on a pressurised pure gas pipe line or a pressurised carburetted gas pipe line with a naked flame and why?...

carb'd is more dangerous as its not always under a positive pressure, so a danger of the flame chasing the gas down the pipe. IMO.

BTW, I have often searched for a leak with a flame,

years ago when it was permitted under the rules.

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 22:18 ---------- Previous post was made at 22:16 ----------

EDIT, Ive just read the pure bit,

and that really depends on what you mean by pure?

straight out of the ground pure, or watered down pure?

 

[sparky b]

I agree with the Immersion heaters . Always the danger of splitting the tanks with those really tight ones .

I know what you mean Mr Evans, I had a 6ft6" polish tenant push me out the way once and take a very long scaffold tube to my box spanner and split the tank......he then tried to blame us for the damage!!!!! Independent plumber came out and the chap came out boasting 'if it wasn't for me it would still be in the tank!" I now use a disclaimer before removing them....

 

[ProDave]

I certainly do my own plumbing including GAS. It certainly used to be the case that to DIY gas in your own house you only had to be competent, not corgi registered, that is only needed if practising a trade. However if I need to do any more DIY gas work, I would have to first check if it is still legal to DIY it, now we have the Gas Safe thing that replaced corgi.

I once plumbed a whole barn conversion for someone not long after I first started self employed (I was wiring it, and they couldn't find a plumber and virtually begged me to do it) Everything worked well, except I couldn't get the drains to seal for the pressure test. I don't know how they ever got that passed by building control. The problem was, I didn't lay the drains, and the drains were in and floor down before I got involved. They had to rely on memory where the drains were and cut holes in the floor boarding to find them. My suspicion was there was another drain branch we didn't know about somewhere under the floor.

That episode taught me plumbing was more hassle that it was worth as a trade, so now I confine plumbing for customers to simple things like the cold feed for a new electric shower.

I'm sure glad I'm not the plumber on the big house I'm wiring at the moment. All the upstairs floor boards are already in, and glued down. Not too much problem for me as I can drill the joists from below, but I'm dying to see how the plumber copes with that to run all his pipes.

 

[Sidewinder]

Dave,

I spoke to GasSafe directly myself since they have taken over the control of gas regitrations on behalf of the HSE, it was for a different reason, however, I tagged this question on at the end and it was confirmed that the only requirement for undertaking gas work at your own premises is competence.

Obviously it has to conform to the regulations, and IF there is a problem with your work you would have to prove your competence, the major way of doing this would be by your being in posession of GasSafe registration, however there are other more difficult ways I guess.

 

[ian932]

I'm sure glad I'm not the plumber on the big house I'm wiring at the moment. All the upstairs floor boards are already in, and glued down. Not too much problem for me as I can drill the joists from below, but I'm dying to see how the plumber copes with that to run all his pipes.

They will just put a 3" notch in the joist from below in the same way the Tos**rs would have done if working above. X( headbang

 

[ktguk]

I will do a bit of plumbing, but only if it's directly related to what I'm doing.... Showers, hand washes, water heatersI seem to be pulling away from doing immersion heaters now after I had one that I just couldn't get to stop weeping

a plumber i know that only uses this when doing immersions on the thread and then wipe it around the cylinder and immersion

JET BLUE PLUS JOINTING COMPOUND 500G Jointing Products Plumbing Consumables PLUMBING

 

[ian932]

a plumber i know that only uses this when doing immersions on the thread and then wipe it around the cylinder and immersion JET BLUE PLUS JOINTING COMPOUND 500G Jointing Products Plumbing Consumables PLUMBING

I can vouch for that stuff there is a tub in the van and has been for years, just did an immersion last week, not any weeps since I found this stuff. Keep a