Gas mains - I think you know whats coming :d

[Stuarty]

Yesterday, while we were digging holes for a fence, we came across a gas main. Typical, it ran right up the line of where we were gonna put our posts, so we consulted with the client and moved the line accordingly. So, this morning, after losing valuble unloading / loading time in the yard, due to the boss sleeping in, then loading up my van with 60 odd slabs, then being informed by the lovely jewson sales staff that the material i handballed in was reserved for another customer, but nobody told that to the yard staff :/ so, off it goes then we have to hunt around the jewsons yard for the other breed of paving then eventually getting to the job i find 3 gas board vans outside the property. I knew what was coming heh. It appears hit the pipe and put a small nick in it, 10 inches from where we dug a hole for the fence. Id love to know how i managed that though.

Anyway, to make a bad day worse. We forgot to lift the drums of water from the yard for making up mixes, as theres no water on the job. We hijacked a wheelie bin and sent the labourer down to the garage, an hour later he returns, after being thrown out of the first garage he went to. So i started laying the slabs at 10 to 3, the other two lads upped sticks at half 3 while i was stuck on my lonesome to do as much of the paving as possible. And im working tomorrow, great fun.

Could my day have got anyworse ?

[Dave_L]

OMG - that's terrible.

A gas pipe is the worst one to damage in terms of £££'s

I always carry a roll of Denso tape for such 'eventualities' ~ wonderful stuff.

We've all done it, overslept, forgotten various *important* bits of kit and damaged services - don't worry!

Tommorrow will be a better day, I'm sure!

[lutonlagerlout]

the only consolation is that gas is at such low pressure its rarely dangerous hitting a pipe.my old man kangoed straight through a 1200 volt 3 phase cable at bedford post office 25 yr ago. he was told the cable was dead.
anyway he was blown out of the trench and every hair on his body was burnt off by the flash,the kango welded to the main,you get the picture
so his boss gentleman that he was gave him half a day off paid!!!
thank god for the HSE these days
regards LLL

[Dave_L]

I was shocked when transco turned up on one of our jobs when we discovered a very rusty & leaking steel gas pipe - they proceeded to cut a section out of the pipe with a hacksaw, on a live service!

Surely a small spark from said blade could have had disasterous consequences!?

[Stuarty]

Nah, gas needs 20% oxygen and a bit of compression to combust. I was working on a job and we assumed this steel pipe was dead, and my foreman grabbed the TS400 and chopped on through it. Steel pipe wasnt dead at all heh

[dig dug dan]

Interesting that this thread started
I was going to post a question about gas pipes

Dropped my crusher of to a landscaper who was digging up a concrete drive. He had hit, and cut through, the electric mains to the house. I said to him, "not as expensive as gas". He reckoned that you can repair gas pipes(yellow plastic) yourself, using water pipe push fittings, and he had done just that about 8 years ago on a job, and it was still ok.
has anyone else heard of this, or at least done it?

I always carry a roll of Denso tape for such 'eventualities' ~ wonderful stuff.

Does that work? how permanent is it?

[lutonlagerlout]

err he is liable for a 5k fine for that dan,you cant touch gas unless you are corgi registered full stop
but when they fixed the main in my road ,they just taped some gooey tape around it,which apparently is how they do it.
the plumber i use has told me that compression fittings (plastic push ones) are banned on gas,although if it has held it should be ok
tough one really
regards LLL

[andpartington]

I was led to believe by the drips on the scewfix forum that u can work on gas if u are a “competent person� but the idea of speed fits on gas sounds a bit dodgy to me what this Denso tape u talk of

andy

[Stuarty]

I was sure you had to be corgi registered also. Isnt denso tape a bit like duck tape.

[andpartington]

just to explain a bit more if u are diying and was an ex British gas man for instance u would be ok I think as long as u know what u are doing

andy

[Dave_L]

I was led to believe by the drips on the scewfix forum that u can work on gas if u are a “competent person� but the idea of speed fits on gas sounds a bit dodgy to me what this Denso tape u talk of

andy

I'm certain that any meddling with the gas main PRIOR to the meter is the Gas Boards resposibility ONLY and anything thereafter is only to be touched by a CORGI installer.

Same goes for BT, up to the NTE5 box in your house.

[Dave_L]

Isnt denso tape a bit like duck tape.

Yes, but much more 'dense' and sticky.

[danensis]

Just to clarify the CORGI issue (and this after a meeting at the HSE).

1. You can work on your own gas installation if you are competent. (Rules out a lot of "qualified" people methinks!)

2. You can't tell anyone else how to repair their own installation unless you are qualified.

3. You can't work on someone else's installation unless you are CORGI registered.

CORGI were trying to make it that you couldn't even buy gas fittings unless you were registered. I pointed out to the HSE that this would make matters more dangerous, as if people couldn't get the right fittings, they would bodge it, rather than call in an expensive CORGI. The HSE concurred.

[lutonlagerlout]

the problem being danesis that water and gas both run on 15 and 22mm pipe making it extremely easy for bodgers to buy water pipe then use it for gas
i have done bits and pieces of plumbing(for myself only i may add) and enjoy the extra challenge,but wouldnt touch gas with a shi**y stick
same with leccy really,who needs fatalities as a consequence of their cock-ups???
not me
regards LLL