Found a comment on a service sheet where the boiler has been ticked as “not to current standard” with a hand written note saying “gas/elec/con pipe”.

It’s for a house we’re looking to buy. Just wondering if this is something to look at further or is it just them trying to upsell? Is “con” the only useful word in there or is there something that needs doing to that boiler?

Hi,

I’m not a British Gas engineer just a newly qualified trainee, not to current standards means exactly what it says, I.e doesn’t meet current standards, the gas/elec/con bit probably stands for, gas = gas pipe currently coming into the boiler is probably 15mm current standard is 22mm, elec= the pipework doesn’t have earth continuity bonding? Con = condensate pipe not fitted properly or not in the right place.

Cheers. Boiler is only 4 years old and being serviced by the installer. Have standards really changed that much in such a short time?

Not sure really as I’ve just qualified recently, but from my limited experience a lot of installers cut corners to finish the job early so just don’t care about current standards, as long as they don’t leave anything dangerous and everything works they sometimes skip them.

Standards change all the time and are not applied retrospectively, so having a gas or electrical installation not up to current regs is more common than not and nothing at all to worry about. The 22mm gas pipe isn’t a standard, you are supposed to have less than 1mb pressure drop at full load, which normally needs a 22mm pipe, buy 15mm might be fine and in some cases you’d need more than 22mm.

I had my boiler in my first house serviced by British Gas. Every year they sent a different engineer and every year they found something new that was not right and needed changing or was not up to standard.

I gave up with them and then used a respected local plumber, ex British Gas who I stuck with for 6 years and he just serviced it rather than claimed it needed work after work doing to it.

every service I had on the boiler in the old house had a “not to current standard” because the flue was to close to the bathroom waste pipe. It was never a problem….

Cheers guys. Just getting a bit fed up that nothing seems to be simple or straightforward.

So tempted to sack it all of and go live under a bridge in a cardboard box.

Because a standard changes, it doesn’t make something dangerous. It would just be done differently if fitted now. Just ignore it 🙂

ps. Cardboard boxes are not all they’re cracked up to be 😉

our newly qualified engineers need to have a rethink..not installing a condensate correctly can be more serious than ncs.. people have served prison sentances for incorrect installation.. although many are safe and can be easily classed as ncs ( eg terminating in a drain pipe. gas pipe sizing as footflaps hilighted isnt ncs it either right or wrong inappropriate sizing may lead to incomplete combustion which will lead to co production which will lead to more co production never ncs.. alot of installers cut corners to get jobs done early and dont follow the standards? as long as they are safe.. if you dont follow the standard at any single stage you are leaving an installation potentially unsafe whether you think so or not is immaterial how your gas safe inspector and your local council view your work is what counts as safe or not.

So tempted to sack it all of and go live under a bridge in a cardboard box.

Welcome to the house buying process in this country!! Hang in there….

Thanks totalshell, that’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of. The thing that set alarm bells ringing is that the boiler we left behind was 9 years old and never had any comments like this.

Yep sorry I meant OP’s boiler maybe needing 22mm instead of 15mm pipe and 15mm doesn’t necessarily mean NCS, and just to be clear I was saying as a newly qualified engineer I’m coming across and correcting other engineers/fitters work who’ve cut corners and haven’t followed current standards, I.e they make sure the potentially dangerous aspects of the job are done properly but don’t really care about the other bits, in the last three weeks we’ve fixed/secured three condensate pipes and calculated and replaced inadequate copper runs on new installation where the fitters have whacked on bigger boilers on existing smaller pipework.

Having read all that, my concern is that as the same company installed it and do the annual service. It could be that it was fitted with corners cut, never fully to standard but they’re now looking to get those corner corrected at the customers expense.

If it was dangerous it would be marked as such, and they will disable it until repaired.

Not to current standard doesn’t mean it didn’t meet the standard when it was installed.

Our old boiler that wasn’t room sealed was peppered with non-standard comments, such as a bend in the flue too close to boiler, not enough cm2 ventilation on a plate to the floor void (easily fixed) and floor vent not ducted directly to air brick. But still perfectly safe to use.

Wouldn’t the flip side of that be, if it wasn’t potentially dangerous, why would they update the regs.

My concern is that I don’t think the regs have changed since install, but now it’s ncs. So, does that mean it was a scrappy install from the off?

Not necessarily, the regs change/get updated every so often so when the original installation was done maybe the regs were not as stringent, for example I bought the official gas safety book earlier this year which was the 6th edition but when I got tested by gas safe my observer informed me the 7th addition just came out with amendments, for example he said they now recommend enlarging the condensate pipe to 32 just before it goes through the wall if terminating outside as there is a problem with the smaller pipes freezing in the winter.

Right, I’ve found out some more about this boiler. It’s a valliant ecotec plus 837 installed 28/02/2011. It’s in an integral garage on an external wall. About 750mm away from the internal door to the kitchen and the other side of that door is an external door from the kitchen to the outside wall on which the boiler is mounted.

So, which regs have changed in the last 4 years that relate to the comment “gas/elec/con pipe”.

Mentioned above is the move to a larger diameter con pipe, so that might be that one but when did it change?

Has the spec for the electrical connect changed though? It’s been an isolatable fused spur and earth bonding for more than 4 years hasn’t it?

As for gas, that’s a bit of a vague comment I’d imagine. It’s that what a lot of the regs would be about?

By those dates, it was installed to 6tg edition, second amendment and the most recent service was to 7th edition if Google is right.

Gas/elec/con is not specific enough. The NCS should also specify remedial work required to bring up to current regs. In any case it does not constitute a safety hazard and you are under no obligation to rectify.

I appreciate that but it’s the vagueness that bothers me. Like you say “gas/elec/con pipe” isn’t good enough.

Get a local independent RGI to assess it,job done.Without a complete pictorial of the system,how are we to diagnose?Not having a go.

Onzadog – Member
Having read all that, my concern is that as the same company installed it and do the annual service. It could be that it was fitted with corners cut, never fully to standard but they’re now looking to get those corner corrected at the customers expense.

Do as per what Tjnr did, get your solicitor to add in a clause for seller to come good if there are any issues. He got a new(oil)boiler out of it. As an industrial boiler eng he was a bit suspicious about certain aspects of the install which proved to be correct.

id they now recommend enlarging the condensate pipe to 32 just before it goes through the wall if terminating outside as there is a problem with the smaller pipes freezing in the winter.

It does, sure a few people on here had that problem a few years ago. My daughter certainly did on more than one occasion 🙄