aj
head of marketing and bargains 
Posts: 541 
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Post by aj on Feb 5, 2019 20:14:13 GMT
Hi all. Can a diyer fit a central heating combi system.How hard is it? i want to give it a go.
I am going to get a gas safe registered plumber to do all the gas bits.
I have swapped radiators for myself in the past. i was thinking of running all the pipework in copper. From the boiler to all rads can i run 15mm copper pipe? or do you run 22 mm under floorboards and do the tails in 15mm pipe
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Post by wingnut on Feb 5, 2019 20:24:55 GMT
Hi all. Can a diyer fit a central heating combi system.How hard is it? i want to give it a go. I am going to get a gas safe registered plumber to do all the gas bits. I have swapped radiators for myself in the past. i was thinking of running all the pipework in copper. From the boiler to all rads can i run 15mm copper pipe? or do you run 22 mm under floorboards and do the tails in 15mm pipe Hi aj there will be more learned peeps along soon no doubt but here’s my ten Penneth for what it’s worth 28mm gas connection to boiler (22mm at least) 22mm flow and return Branch tees 15mm and either 10mm or 15mm tails With regards to your boiler if you’ve already got one it might be worth finding out what boilers are a straight swap (same jig) it’ll make your life a whole lot easier, also flush system before new boiler goes on (I think you have to to keep inline with current building regs) Like I say that’s my ten penneth and there is far more experienced plumbers/GS engineers on this site that’ll be able to give advice 👍 |
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Post by dickpuller on Feb 5, 2019 20:42:50 GMT
Start at the start; a Combi boiler is sized on Hot Water production, so you need to establish what you need, number of people in your home etc.
As for installation, strictly speaking, a Gas Safe Plumber should hang the boiler, fit the flue, run/connect/test the gas pipes, commission the boiler & complete the Benchmark. There’s plenty guys willing to do that.
But in my view, let a GS Plumber completely fit the boiler & all details as above. They’ll do it quickly & correctly for safety & boiler Warranty👍👍👍
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Post by DIYDafty on Feb 5, 2019 23:04:03 GMT
I'd love to install my own boiler when the time comes but the biggest obstacle would be it wouldn't be warranted and would cause problems when we come to sell the house.
As for whether a "gassafe" engineer would do a good job surely depends 100% on who you get and whether they give a fk. I'm sure if you had some of the plumbers from this board you'd do pretty well - they obviously care about what they do. But there are a lot of cowboys out there and its hard to spot the difference until the job is done (and even then a lot of folk would have no idea whether a plumbing job was a quality job or not so long as the heating is back on....)
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Post by tomplum on Feb 5, 2019 23:35:25 GMT
good points by dafty there, he's not as daft as he sounds that lad, 1. yes a combi can be done legally by the house holder as its not a business thing, 2. is it easy,,,it is to me but i can't answer that to anyone i don't know, 3. Dafty says, you might have trouble with the warrantee, Actually anyone can buy a boiler from the shop, it comes with 12 months warrantee and 99.9% of boilers do not give trouble if they are fitted correctly, and I don't know how you can fit a combi incorrectly, It has a fully explained manual included, you might not understand the gas requirements, so go large on the gas pipe and make sure the flue is sealed, apart from that, if the flue is fitted wrong, the boiler won't work and that means you've not read the manual right, so make sure you read the manual and any problem understanding it,, ask here for no bullshit non scaremongery advice and take pics as you go, bring them here and we'll put you right,  |
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Post by crowsfoot on Feb 6, 2019 7:03:30 GMT
Hi all. Can a diyer fit a central heating combi system.How hard is it? i want to give it a go. I am going to get a gas safe registered plumber to do all the gas bits. I have swapped radiators for myself in the past. i was thinking of running all the pipework in copper. From the boiler to all rads can i run 15mm copper pipe? or do you run 22 mm under floorboards and do the tails in 15mm pipe Do a two pipe system aj with TRVs on all radiators except the one in the room with the room thermostat. 22mm up to the first rad (upstairs and down) is the norm, then in 15mm for the rest. It's a good plan aj, however a gas safe guy will charge you big money for doing his bit he hasn't paid his £££s so he can do jobs on the cheap! |
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Post by woodbine66 on Feb 6, 2019 15:04:15 GMT
Advice I would give to AJ is if you're not too experienced/confident with soldering, don't go down the plastic Speedfit route. Get yourself some Yorkshire solder ring fittings, will save you lots of time and grief compared to end feed fittings. Just clean pipe, on with the flux and heat up each opening until you see the silver 'ring of confidence' around the opening. Plenty of excellent vids, inc Tom's, on Youtube.
Also try to use as many pulled bends with a bender on pipes rather than 90 degree elbow fittings. Reduces flow resistance in system which will make it run quieter. Also hair felt between pipes and joists etc to stop annoying expansion noises when system heats up and cools down. |
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Post by glowbug on Feb 6, 2019 17:39:18 GMT
Advice I would give to AJ is if you're not too experienced/confident with soldering, don't go down the plastic Speedfit route. Get yourself some Yorkshire solder ring fittings, will save you lots of time and grief compared to end feed fittings. Just clean pipe, on with the flux and heat up each opening until you see the silver 'ring of confidence' around the opening. Plenty of excellent vids, inc Tom's, on Youtube.
Also try to use as many pulled bends with a bender on pipes rather than 90 degree elbow fittings. Reduces flow resistance in system which will make it run quieter. Also hair felt between pipes and joists etc to stop annoying expansion noises when system heats up and cools down. I had same problem when I first set out using plastic pipe ,leaks everywhere, I dont think they made plastic tough enough to take map gas👻or I used wrong flux😂joking aside. Someone doing a job in there own house ,will probabely do a neater job than a paid outsider. You care more and have more time and attention to detail. I once got a joiner friend in to do some skirtings. He was a site joiner, he used Pink!!Gripfill and it splurged all over wallpaper WTF👹apparantly his nickname was gripfill onsite. |
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Post by battle1066 on Feb 6, 2019 17:43:22 GMT
AJ if time is on your side and you don't have to rush then I would say these are the other factors I would compare to getting in any trades person which you may not of considered.
1 X what will be the tooling cost for the equipment you need
2 X have I got access to the extra help I could need to mount the boiler etc
3 X will It worry / stress you "always thinking will my work fail"
4 X have I given enough thought for any other work I might not the capablity of doing eg tiling, electrics or pointing/ brickwork depending on the boiler being replaced etc
5 X Can I match a third party's price compared to what the materials cost you compared to him
6 X is your better half born with laser level so sight - as the nagging about the instal standard may not be worth the financial saving
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Post by cylinderfella on Feb 6, 2019 23:07:06 GMT
"is your better half born with laser level so sight - as the nagging about the instal standard may not be worth the financial saving"  So true!! I always say " You mark the X" for the picture/fitting etc and when I drill the hole, if it's the wrong place, height, distance from whatever, well.......... you marked it  |
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Post by woodbine66 on Feb 9, 2019 9:24:10 GMT
Advice I would give to AJ is if you're not too experienced/confident with soldering, don't go down the plastic Speedfit route. Get yourself some Yorkshire solder ring fittings, will save you lots of time and grief compared to end feed fittings. Just clean pipe, on with the flux and heat up each opening until you see the silver 'ring of confidence' around the opening. Plenty of excellent vids, inc Tom's, on Youtube.
Also try to use as many pulled bends with a bender on pipes rather than 90 degree elbow fittings. Reduces flow resistance in system which will make it run quieter. Also hair felt between pipes and joists etc to stop annoying expansion noises when system heats up and cools down. I had same problem when I first set out using plastic pipe ,leaks everywhere, I dont think they made plastic tough enough to take map gas👻or I used wrong flux😂joking aside. Someone doing a job in there own house ,will probabely do a neater job than a paid outsider. You care more and have more time and attention to detail. I once got a joiner friend in to do some skirtings. He was a site joiner, he used Pink!!Gripfill and it splurged all over wallpaper WTF👹apparantly his nickname was gripfill onsite.
I used to find compression joints hard to join. Now it's plenty of flux and solder - no more problems. 
Agree about getting people in to do work for myself. Have to be very careful. Some 'tradesmen' seem to have a basic level of skill, which today's tools and materials have helped give them. Take away these, and they'd be screwed. There used to be some very skilled people, who only relied on very basic tools.
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Post by tomplum on Feb 9, 2019 9:39:54 GMT
thats very true Woodie, When I first started a plumber carried a Bass, Which is basically a canvas bag with 2 handles in it was, a pair of footies,ball pein hammer, rawl tool, cold chisel, adjusable spanner, a lead dresser,a tampin, pipe clamps, a flat screwdriver, a pair shaped mallet,a bent pin, moleskin cloth, He would thread the ball pein hammer through the handles and sling it over his shoulder, No van there would be a couple of carts in the yard for anything heavy , He would dress in shirt and tie with bib n' braces overalls and a flat cap, How time as moved on,,  |
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Post by dickpuller on Feb 9, 2019 16:54:13 GMT
Yup a very basic toolkit in your Bass.
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Post by DIYDafty on Feb 9, 2019 17:20:04 GMT
thats very true Woodie, When I first started a plumber carried a Bass, Which is basically a canvas bag with 2 handles in it was, a pair of footies,ball pein hammer, rawl tool, cold chisel, adjusable spanner, a lead dresser,a tampin, pipe clamps, a flat screwdriver, a pair shaped mallet,a bent pin, moleskin cloth, He would thread the ball pein hammer through the handles and sling it over his shoulder, No van there would be a couple of carts in the yard for anything heavy , He would dress in shirt and tie with bib n' braces overalls and a flat cap, How time as moved on,,  You should have got him to pose for a pic - you'd have made 15 million quid ! www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09688/lot.42.html |
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Post by battle1066 on Feb 9, 2019 17:25:23 GMT
thats very true Woodie, When I first started a plumber carried a Bass, Which is basically a canvas bag with 2 handles in it was, a pair of footies,ball pein hammer, rawl tool, cold chisel, adjusable spanner, a lead dresser,a tampin, pipe clamps, a flat screwdriver, a pair shaped mallet,a bent pin, moleskin cloth, He would thread the ball pein hammer through the handles and sling it over his shoulder, No van there would be a couple of carts in the yard for anything heavy , He would dress in shirt and tie with bib n' braces overalls and a flat cap, How time as moved on,, You should have got him to pose for a pic - you'd have made 15 million quid ! www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/american-art-n09688/lot.42.htmlIf only they could come back to see what the image value made compared to their hardwork. |
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