Shallow gas pipe

[cookiewales]

Are you claiming off your insurance or will they not pay out?

i did not claim keeping my costs down :p

[Dave L]

Gas board when cutting back a steel pipe to joint it will do the cut with a hacksaw on a live supply.

I was stunned when I saw this!! Perfectly safe so they say!

[Bob_A]

OK chaps talking of joining pipes...........
I know no one can give definite answers but guessing from experience do you think they would replace all the pipe on my property are just the exposed 1 metre bit in the pictures.
I've got about 8 metres from the street to the front of the house and 3.5 metres internally to the gas meter.

Sorry for asking so many hypothetical questions but when the gas board turn up I don't want to be turned over.

[msh paving]

They will cut the iron pipe and thread a 20mm mdpe from the meter to the top tee in the road, purge and reconnect you

[Bob_A]

Wow quick answer.
Cheers!

[Mikey_C]

My gas pipe when I uncovered it during the process of doing my drive way was level with the dpc (as the drive was above this), transco's website says the pipe should be 300mm+ down so I called them to come out and have a look the a piece of the yellow mdpe pipe had bodged on to the end of the rusty iron pipe the iron pipe is also went through a brick built inspection chamber. the bloke who came round to asses it said the fact it was go through the IC was a health and safety issue so they would replace at no charge if had been it wouldn't a chargeable replacement. it wasn't just his decision so I wouldn't have been able to slip him a bullseye.

they do just cut the pipe with a hacksaw by the edge of the property shove a narrow pipe inside the old one to the road and route the new pipe possibly with a mole to the meter.

they did it through a contractor mcnicolas (spelling?)

so as they had gone I replaced the IC as planned

[Hawk]

??? went through a very shallow gas pipe a few years back,
it was one of the new yellow plastic ones, didn`t even think I was going to get charged the pipe was so shallow (infact we went through it with a shovel), couple of weeks later an invoice arrives for the cost of the repair, I argued that the pipe was not at the recommended depth, they said the recommended depth was not statuary on private property,
and continued to press for payment from me, at the following rates £ 45 per hour for the engineer who first came out to access things, £ 42 per hour for the service layer to repair the pipe, £ 18 per hour for the general operative (dont like the term labourer) and they even charged me for the time what was left of the day, because they claimed it was not cost effective for them to start another job,
I argued with them over the time they were claiming it took to carry out the repair, and they sent the timesheets to me,
which in my opinion were incorrect, I told them the repair was complete when I left the site, and that time was recorded on the Tachograph in my wagon, and if they wanted to argue with the evidence of a calibrated tacho in a court of law then go ahead and do so, in the end they agrred to half the bill

[Bob_A]

..............I argued that the pipe was not at the recommended depth, they said the recommended depth was not statuary on private property.................

That's bad innit.
That means they can lay their pipes at any depth they want without any concern for safety.
Did they use a warning tape?

...........and route the new pipe possibly with a mole to the meter..................

What's a mole and what does it look like.

Please no pics of little furry animals or flesh spots


Found this by the way
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pipelines/faqs.htm#howdeep

[msh paving]

If its moled in there is no tape,i have a pic of a water service i moled in a few weeks ago

transco,national grid ,gas alliance, or what ever they what to call themselfs like to think they can do as they like

1 case had , service 150mm below ground,stupid girl in legal dpt at british gas asked me if homeowner had reduced garden leval, my reply was in the very negative,
next one i got accused off braking a fusion welded top tee off a main with a steel pin........i went to the gas yard and met the guy and asked him to show me how that could be done.....he declined my offer case dropped but they said you can pay if you feel you should the last word to the legal dpt was ...off

never pay till you a forced they try everything they can to get money MSH

[michaelthegardener]

I hit the gas and water pipes at my sisters place about a foot down no warning tape no nothing was putting in a gate post wasnt happy at all and the dam post wobbles cos its only in a foot

[msh paving]

pic show mole and pipe emerging, pipe it threaded over air line to mole 75mm mole MSH

THIS POSTING HAVE PROBLEM WITH PHOTOBUCKET AT MOMENT
NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME TOMMROW........



Edited By msh paving on 1281302928

[mickg]

one of these Bob

[GB_Groundworks]

We keep or get the private numbers of the emergency repair teams for gas electric fiber optic etc and they'll more than often work for pound notes, about 200 for live repair on 3 phase vs 1500 through the company.

Just done a trench for new gas connection did it at 500mm even though spec says min 375mm

Few years ago we put gas onto our hillside, we were about a mile from the nearest main. Gas boarded wanted over £75k to connect us. We did it ourselves but still had to pay £10k to have 2 guys supervise us and for the pipe and all the welds etc, all our beighbors below us got it for free not one of them contributed haha

[lutonlagerlout]

talking to the digger driver today and he hit one like cookies in radletr
edf were looking for £1400, he said it took 2 blokes 2 hours and £38 worth of bits.
they were trying to charge him for digging,backfill,extra hours etc etc
it sounds like grand larceny to me

i reckon rogue traders should do an expose on it

LLL

[pcdoc]

WHY ARE YOU PAYING THEM??

We hit a plastic gas pipe at 100mm and they tried to charge around £250 for repair.

The guidelines say 375mm- they can lay shallower, but only if certain conditions are met. Here is my SUCCESSFUL appeal letter. Its a bit long, but has everything you need!! Enjoy it (i did



Glynis,
I am disputing the invoice (RIP0001) on the grounds that the pipe was improperly installed in a manner which left is unreasonably predisposed to accidental damage.

I am aware there is no legal absolute minimum depth to bury gas pipe, but guidelines clearly state a minimum of 375mm depth on residential property. The guidelines are also very clear that where this is not possible, the pipe should be protected and certainly should be marked with warning tape.

The gas line was buried just 100mm below the surface for a distance of around 15 meters. At no point was the pipe protected (eg. concrete plinth or sleeved duct) and no warning tape was present.

According to the guidelines, proposals for shallow laid pipes (100mm is obviously shallow) should be validated by transco and should also be reported to the Utility Infrastructure Provider. I am sure Transco would not validate a proposal to run the pipe at 100mm on my property for no reason. If this is not the case, I would like to see the relevant paperwork that shows TRANSCO approval.

The flexibility in the depth guidelines exists for situations where 375mm cannot be achieved. On my property, there was nothing preventing the pipe being buried to the correct depth.

In summary, the initial installation was not in compliance with guidlines and was laid in a way that was almost certain to be damaged sooner or later. It would be unreasonable to expect the customer to pay for damage that would not have happened if the installation had been properly done.

Unless I see paperwork showing TRANSCO pre-approved the 100mm depth, I cannot volunteer payment.

For easy reference, I have included a attached a pdf of the guidlines (from your company).
The relevent paragraph section 3.7 on page 4 is shown below.

"3.7 Shallow Depth Services
The service pipe should normally be laid at a minimum depth of 375mm in private ground and 450mm in
public highway. Should a situation where the service pipe is not at the required depth or proposed to be laid
shallower1, then consideration should be given to either additional protection2 or replacement to minimise 3rd
party damage.
Notes:
1 Proposals for shallow depth services will need to be validated by Transco and recorded by UIP on completion of the work.
2Examples of additional protection against interference would include the provision of a sleeved duct, concrete plinth, steel
plate with a suitable caution / warning tape applied."

Thanks in advance for your time.