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OIle boiler commisioning |
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| message from G&M on 11 May 2004 |
Well I've installed the oil tank, boiler and large central heating system.
Many thanks to all who gave really useful advice on aspects of it.
It appears to run well. It's a Grant BoilerHouse 90 non-condensing as the
existing septic tank is near a stream feeding a reservoir for a local
village so any failure of the septic tank action due to the condensate could
quite literally have been fatal so I'll live with the higher fuel costs.
Should I commision it myself by hiring the appropriate gear or get an OFTEC
registered person to do so ?
If I do it myself, how awkward or probing is the BCO likely to be ?
If an OFTEC person, how long should it take/much should it cost ?
Many thanks
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| John replied to G&M on 11 May 2004 |
If you commission it yourself you will have to get the work inspected by
your local BCO who, depending on your area may simply tell you the easiest
way round it is to have the boiler commissioned by an OFTEC registered
technician.
Well the commissioning technician will have to be certain ALL the new
installation, oil tank, pipework, firestopping, location, ventilation,
wiring, bonding, controls, interlocks, etc. complies with current regs so it
very much depends on the actual site as to how long he or she will be
engaged in checking and testing. The boiler firing commissioning is only
part of the job. You are probably looking at between half a day and a full
day plus use of test equipment so think in terms of eighty to one-fifty
pounds. South Eastern urban areas may cost more appropriately
HTH
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| Grunff replied to John on 11 May 2004 |
Really? The engineer who commissioned ours spent maybe an hour here. He
commissions oil boilers all the time.
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| G&M replied to Grunff on 12 May 2004 |
Conversely if I got a guy for a whole day for 150 quid I wouldn't object.
The quotes I got for installing the tank and boiler worked out at about 450
per day at the time it took me to do the job, and I presume they would be
faster at it.
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| John replied to Grunff on 12 May 2004 |
He might commission the burner and trust the rest of the job is done
correctly but anyone who takes the responsibility for an unknown
installation done by an unknown ability installer and certifies it to be
correct under building regs with their attendant basis in criminal law is
either lucky or a fool. Its entirely possible to set up a burner in minutes
but regarding the rest...............................
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| G&M replied to John on 12 May 2004 |
Which brings be back full circle - I presume I could set the burner up
myself but should (or now even can ?) I get somebody to certify the system
or should I ask the BCO to inspect it, in which case does he have the skills
anyway ?
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| Hugo Nebula replied to G&M on 16 May 2004 |
As mentioned elsewhere, the BCO is only concerned with making sure the
boiler is operating at peak efficiency. The requirement is given in
AD 'L1', "Where the person giving the certificate has a recognised
qualification, the certificate may be accepted by the building control
body as evidence that the relevant requirements in Part L1 b) and d)
have been complied with. If there is no relevant qualification, or if
a suitably qualified certifier is not available, the person
responsible for carrying out the work should nevertheless
provide or obtain a written declaration of successful commissioning
and make it available to the client and the building control body.
1.50 A suitable commissioning certificate would be the one published
as part of the Benchmark30 Code of Practice for the Installation,
Commissioning and Servicing of Central Heating Systems, a blank copy
of which may be included with the boiler manufacturer’s installation
instructions".
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| G&M replied to Hugo Nebula on 16 May 2004 |
Don't suppose you'd fancy being around next time he visits to explain this
limitation in his (presumed) powers.
How does this square with the statement that a BCO can bring in third
parties to do testing of things ?
And far more importantly, what is going to happen when part P eventually
arrives ? I wouldn't trust my BCO to wire a 13A plug, let alone pass
comment on my work.
It is - I've filled a photocopy in and would like somebody to sign it off -
hence the post.
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| John replied to G&M on 19 May 2004 |
SNIP
I suppose some councils may have BCOs qualified to commission an oil boiler
but ours doesn't. I have done a few commission only jobs this year, a couple
were by self installers who then asked OFTEC for names of local registered
installers to commission for them. In both these cases various "other works"
were required. The last one was for an installer who hasn't gone down the
OFTEC Registration road although he was CORGI registered hence had a good
grounding for systems as such. He did have the good sense to ask me before
he started for the requirements to comply with the oil regs and no other
works were needed.
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| G&M replied to John on 19 May 2004 |
Where are you based ? I'd pay well for this to be commissioned and signed
off. The work, to the best of my knowledge (with a lot of reading of
references provided by this group), meets all regulations but it's the
legals that are causing the problem.
What is really annoying is I thought this might happen and asked five
companies to quote for a full install but understandably none of them wanted
to touch it because we are on a farm, the boiler had to go in an outbuilding
with an asbestos roof, there were long runs to both the house one way and
the oil tank in the other, plus numerous other annoyances which made it a
very atypical job with a risk of overrun.
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| Grunff replied to G&M on 11 May 2004 |
When I installed ours (a Grant Euroflame) commissioning was done for
free by a local Grant engineer. All part of the purchase price I was
told. This was about 2.5 years ago.
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| G&M replied to Grunff on 11 May 2004 |
Hmm. Mine's a Euroflame as well but no mention of an engineer. I'll phone
them and ask.
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