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[Andy B]

As I understand it this is a rented property?

If so, it's not yours to mess with first off. Any alterations must be approved by the land lord. The landlord should get it disconnected by an approved professional in accordance with the landlords safety certification covering the property, if the landlord approves.

It is both yours and the landlords responsibility to understand the terms of any tenancy. Otherwise things can get very expensive. Not to mention life threatening. Carbon dioxide poisoning, ventilation, boiler servicing, gas installations are ALL covered under landlords safety certificate.

There MUST be a current certificate, and its terms adhered to.

Therefor there is no allowance for unqualified persons to tamper with gas installations.

Good thinking  

apart from the carbon MONoxide 

[Toledodude1973]

Totally right chris, gas regs treated very seriously now,i work on high pressure gas and used to do lots of private jobs, not possible now

[Kate]

Yes it's rented off the council. I'm obviously going to ask permission and get a qualified person to install the new gas fire.  (If I did it I would blow myself up. )

I just want to take out the old gas fire myself so that I can take out the old brick fireplace and install a wooden fire surround. I don't want to get charged for the manual labour part of the job.

Would it be safe for me to disconnect it or should I get a qualified person for that too?

Thanks for all the advice.

[tigers_gonads]

If its a council house, you must use a gas safe qualified engineer Kate.
You will also find that you should inform the council.
It will be in your tenancy agreement somewhere 

Or you can just disconnect it yourself by lighting the fire then turning the gas off at the mains and burning off most of the gas in the pipe.
Disconnect it and screw in a blanking cap with a dap of boss white on the thread. Then just bullshit them if they pick it up on the next safety inspection 
Not that I would ever do a thing like that of course when I removed mine last year 

[chrisgixer]

Yes it's rented off the council. I'm obviously going to ask permission and get a qualified person to install the new gas fire.  (If I did it I would blow myself up. )

I just want to take out the old gas fire myself so that I can take out the old brick fireplace and install a wooden fire surround. I don't want to get charged for the manual labour part of the job.

Would it be safe for me to disconnect it or should I get a qualified person for that too?

Thanks for all the advice.

Kate, the pic clearly shows that's a live gas installation.

You seem to accept that a qualified person is required to work on a gas installation. ...then in the same breath, ask if you can uninstall.

There is no distinction between a new or old install. You can't touch it. Other than normal operation of course.


...and any landlord, council or otherwise, would insist on permission, before ANY modification to the property. Unless stated otherwise in your tenancy contract.

What does your contract say?

[kevinp58]

DO-NOT touch it as if there is a problem you will be liable.  If you are in rented property then the land lord should get somebody to do it, if you are in your own property then you really must get a gas safe engineer to do it. You can go to prison. 

Really? Even if no money changes hands .......... 

money or not if things go wrong and there is an explosion you WILL go to prison.   
  So for peace of mind get a gas safe engineer in 

[Andy B]

.....
money or not if things go wrong and there is an explosion you WILL go to prison.   
  So for peace of mind get a gas safe engineer in 

Agreed on the first bit, but surely that could also happen if I worked on your car's brakes & you died after crashing at the bottom of the road because I'd bu66ered it up

[Kevin Wood]

.....
money or not if things go wrong and there is an explosion you WILL go to prison.   
  So for peace of mind get a gas safe engineer in 

Agreed on the first bit, but surely that could also happen if I worked on your car's brakes & you died after crashing at the bottom of the road because I'd bu66ered it up

Exactly. Let's face it, you wouldn't go to a "registered mechanic" to get your brake pads changed. The fact is, if you don't do the job for reward, there's no reason why you can't do it yourself. If you don't do a competent job and there's a problem, then you'll be in trouble, of course, but that's true of pretty much anything past getting out of bed in the morning.

Of course, if you have to ask how to do a competent job on the internet, and it's not a house you own, it would be best not to, IMHO.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Chris is on the money with this in my opinion.   

Kate, you should get the councils property manager/maintenance man round to explain what you want to do and follow their advice. Then your back is covered.  They might not even be happy with you ripping out the brick fireplace to be honest. 

[chrisgixer]

It's not really a question of opinion though ladies and gents. Its a question of what the regulations are. Building regs have changed massively in the last 10(?) years.

I'm familiar with these (landlord related)regs to an extent, by chance. But the op needs to find out what the regs are for her as a tenant in her particular situation. Hear say on a forum has nothing to do with the facts.


While this place is full of some of the most competent individuals around, and would likely put most qualified individuals to shame, that fact is non of us are qualified to work on every aspect in any field we choose to take up.

Further, ballsing up your mates brake system is a world apart from blowing up a row of houses. There is no regulation, that I'm aware of, that means we MUST have a qualified individual work on our cars.

However, with gas, there most certainly is! Damn right too.

[chrisgixer]

For instance, we had a new gas hob fitted.

I can connect the electrics. But I'm not allowed to connect the gas on the new one. However simple a single brazed joint might be. I'm not qualified. I'm also automatically not allowed to touch the gas connection of the old hob.

....Although I can remove the electrical connection. Ironic really, given me and electrics

[powerslinky]

Kate ,

that looks like quite an old gas fire ,

 also that brick fireplace does not look like a standard local authority installed /original item. You could check with a couple of neighbours to see if they have the same fitted  ,if not

Why don't you ask the council to remove it ?  They can only say no . To which you then argue but this is not a standard

council fitted item .

I work on local authority housing here in Southend & it is standard practice to get any unstandard items removed while the property is "void" before the next tennant takes over . Not sure if that applies to where you are though.

Lastly , just a point  . . . theres not a back boiler behind that fire is there ? Do you know where your boiler is ?

[kevinp58]

It's not really a question of opinion though ladies and gents. Its a question of what the regulations are. Building regs have changed massively in the last 10(?) years.

I'm familiar with these (landlord related)regs to an extent, by chance. But the op needs to find out what the regs are for her as a tenant in her particular situation. Hear say on a forum has nothing to do with the facts.


While this place is full of some of the most competent individuals around, and would likely put most qualified individuals to shame, that fact is non of us are qualified to work on every aspect in any field we choose to take up.

Further, ballsing up your mates brake system is a world apart from blowing up a row of houses. There is no regulation, that I'm aware of, that means we MUST have a qualified individual work on our cars.

However, with gas, there most certainly is! Damn right too.

 I think you will find that a tenant will be prosecuted if they mess with the gas at all, as it is NOT their property,  and yes brakes are a very different story but I bet if the car did plough into a group of people then the constabulary would be knocking on your door.

[chrisgixer]

It's not really a question of opinion though ladies and gents. Its a question of what the regulations are. Building regs have changed massively in the last 10(?) years.

I'm familiar with these (landlord related)regs to an extent, by chance. But the op needs to find out what the regs are for her as a tenant in her particular situation. Hear say on a forum has nothing to do with the facts.


While this place is full of some of the most competent individuals around, and would likely put most qualified individuals to shame, that fact is non of us are qualified to work on every aspect in any field we choose to take up.

Further, ballsing up your mates brake system is a world apart from blowing up a row of houses. There is no regulation, that I'm aware of, that means we MUST have a qualified individual work on our cars.

However, with gas, there most certainly is! Damn right too.

 I think you will find that a tenant will be prosecuted if they mess with the gas at all, as it is NOT their property,  and yes brakes are a very different story but I bet if the car did plough into a group of people then the constabulary would be knocking on your door.

Agree entirely. And if a row of houses, or even a single house, gets blown up as a result the medling mini won't be getting out for some considerable time.

[Kate]

Thanks for all the advice.

Nearly got it sorted now.