Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms certification and expertise

Hi as a retired marine engineer who for last 20yrs on land as a boiler engineer mainly commercial boilers I do get a bit annoyed at people complaining about certified gas/oil boiler engineers who every five years have to take time off from earning money (2weeks)and pay approx 3 to 5k to get tickets as well as buying and yearly calibration of analyzers and other testing equipment .yet never complain about. say solicitors who charge you a fortune for work that is usually done by a clerk in the office then signed off by solicitor.As for uncertified work carried out on gas thank God it is now a criminal offense to do ,as I could give you hundreds of examples of of death and destruction caused by unqualified experts.just saying.

In Germany, when we lived there in the 1990s, if you had a central heating boiler, gas or oil and a fireplace or wood burning stove it was a legal requirement to have the chimney swept and the boiler gas emissions checked..by the Sweep.
I agree that this should be mandatory.

The sweep was required to dress in top hat and tails... !!

Pickles ... totally agree with you regarding gas installations ..... though I would guess plenty of competent non-professionals could handle many jobs in safety and the 'death and destruction' would have been down to the knuckle-draggers who shouldn't be trusted with boiling a kettle but won't be told ... however the mayhem they cause, and the fact we can't easily differentiate means 'no amateur gas work' gets my vote.

I think what worries me (and plenty more) is that we seem to be ratcheting to a place where DIY is seen as some horrible risk ..... how long before you can't work on your own car or motorbike? ..... can't climb a ladder or use power tools? Because a bunch of do-gooders who never learnt how anything works think only 'professionals' are capable of rational thought and concientious work.

As someone who uses chainsaws, fixes roofs, mends my own vehicles and built my house from scratch with my own hands I'm not keen to see that taken away so I can pay lots of money to someone to do the same (or often less competent) job as I can.

K

Hi Image only defending a trade that I have experience of ,but totally agree with you about employing tradesman I use the word lightly as lately it's becoming harder to find people you can trust and recommend as the target now seems to be get away home as quick as possible for as much as you can make and I try to turn my hand to most things but know my limits so agree it's frustrating to watch when you know you would have completed a better result it you had the strength or time.Cheers.

Absolutely. Look for example at the hassle farmers are having with modern John Deere kit.

Right to Repair is a basic human right I reckon

I’m a retired marine engineer too. I won’t touch gas pipes and their connections but anything to do with water and oil I will definitely do, also all small conductor electricity jobs if I have the time, but I don’t possess the tools for the larger stuff.

I once had a BG “boiler engineer” tell me my boiler had to be repositioned due to the proximity of a window to the flue. I checked the regs and he was wrong, I’m convinced that BG fitters were incentivised to find (create) work at one time.

Another retired Marine Engineer here, we seem well represented on the forum.

I wonder what your BG engineer would make of a ships boiler.

Ships engine rooms and the simple but beautiful Morgan cars must resonate with our inner engineer..

They would be trying to work out if they could get a hive heating controller onto it in order to hit their bonus

So that's where the BG engineers were! I wish they would come and fit my Smart Meter. On the third (or maybe fourth) attempt yesterday we came the closest yet to actually having it fitted, only to be thwarted yet again when BG cancelled at the last minute.