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Friday 2 November 2012

Vertical Flued Installation

Here's a roof flue on a boiler change job we completed yesterday. It always brings back many happy memories when I get my lead dressing tools out as a large part of my apprenticeship involved working with lead. Note the two hidden lead straps which are fixed to a roof batten and fold over the bottom of the flashing to hold it in place. This is good practice in exposed areas. Once dressed to the contours of the roof tiles the lead is treated with patination oil. We get to see some shocking examples of poor workmanship by heating engineers when trying to fit these type of terminals. Only last month we were called to a boiler that was reported as leaking. It wasn't the boiler it was rainwater running down the incorrectly fixed vertical flue terminal. Here's how it should be done so it's aesthetically pleasing and most importantly weather tight.
 
 

 In the not so distanct past we'd have done this job using a cat ladder hooked over the ridge of the roof. Happily those days are gone and we now work from safe platforms and don't have to worry about lead dressers and other tools sliding down the roof.

 
Here's the access tower. John is on the lower platform terminating the pressure relief outlet pipe.
 
 
 
Here's the business end of the job; a Worcester 'Greenstar' 30Si, high efficiency combination boiler. It's fitted in the former airing cupboard so is hidden but easily accessable for servicing. An old Plumber who did some small jobs for a housing trust we work for once said to me "I can always tell when boilers have been fitted by you".
"How's that" I asked him?
Your pipes are always neat, straight and clipped" he replied.
"Well it's only how they are supposed to be" I told him!
I guess it's about having pride in your work. I insist on neatly routed pipework. Strangely a great friend of mine who I served my apprenticeship alongside and now plies his trade in the USA suffers from the same insistance on perfection. It has stemmed from our training at ICI which I still rate as the very best.
If you'd like to know more about my neat workmanship, high efficiency boilers, energy saving controls and how to keep warm whilst paying the very least possible for your gas then please do give me a call.