Product category:
Heating Systems, Controls and Management
News Release from: Sentinel Performance Solutions | Subject: Chemical water treatment manufacturer
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 18 October 2007
Part L requirements are being ignored
say Sentinel
'Swoop squad' needed to stop Building Regulations Part L requirements being ignored says sentinel - and 'replace rather than repair' is scuppering Government targets for carbon reduction.
Leading chemical water treatment manufacturer Sentinel says Building Regulations Part L requirements are being ignored by many - in part due to the lack of policing They say self certification is fine in principle but like any self discipline regime, will only be taken seriously by those who are competent and capable and who take their work seriously
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 22 Sep 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company is suggesting that a national 'swoop squad' be formed to undertake checks on heating installations, to check that Part L regulations are being adhered to.
"The Building Regulations were responsible for a major switch to condensing boiler technology in England and Wales and since in Scotland, but what was feared might happen at the time seems to be happening now," said Sentinel's European Marketing Director Mark Walker.
"There's been an overall flattening in demand in the market for boiler sales reflected in the sales of associated products such as pumps, radiators, controls and water treatment products, suggesting that rather than having an energy efficient new boiler installed, increasing numbers of consumers are making the decision - or having it made for them by their installer - to live with their elderly, energy guzzling boilers - under a growing 'repair rather than replace' policy - that sees their boilers lives extended and higher levels of carbon emissions - not lower as planned - emitted as a result.
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Government was looking for a significant drop in carbon emissions from the domestic heating sector to help it meet its carbon reduction targets - but without more incentives - perhaps reduced VAT on all products and services related to high efficiency boiler installations - those targets will be missed, possibly by miles".
Sentinel accepts that the self certification approach to work carried out on domestic heating systems is the only practical one in the circumstances due to the combination of the volume of work being carried out and the fact that Building Control Officers don't have the time or in many cases the expertise to police the process.
But equally they feel that a failure to have any significant policing of the requirements of the new Building Regulations Part L is asking for trouble.
Mark Walker again: "It isn't rocket science to see that once it's apparent that there is no policing, the unqualified installers and plumbers will simply go back to their old ways and ignore the requirements that the competent installers are happy to work to.
Whilst these less able guys can purchase boilers and all the components they need, knowing that they will almost certainly not be caught flouting the rules, they will continue to make a decent living in the 'black' heating marketplace.
This can mean dodgy workmanship, a failure to commission boilers properly, a failure to utilise the required heating controls and a failure to use the required and stipulated chemical water treatment products.
"We believe that some of the increase in the popularity of jetflushing can be put down to this 'repair rather than replace' attitude, where good quality installers see jetflushing an elderly system and boiler as one way to extend the life of an existing system for a few years more, particularly on one hand perhaps for customers who will struggle to afford a new boiler, and on the other, on a larger scale, for a social housing provider looking to make the existing heating systems last until they can fund replacements, a few years down the line.
On the other side of the coin however, there are clearly many unqualified installers who are not are bothered about jetflushing - or flushing and inhibiting the systems at all.
They will continue to get in and out of a customer's home as quickly as possible and make a fast buck from what they do - usually as little as possible.
"We would like to see some form of policing being introduced even if its along the lines of athlete drug testing - no warning, expert assessment of work undertaken, with checks that the work undertaken meets Building Regulations Part L stipulations," says Mark Walker.
"It will need careful implementation and it will have a cost attaching to it.
But we need to take what we do seriously - and there are plenty of people out there currently who don't".
Support for these views comes from Worcester Bosch Director of Marketing and Technical Support, Martyn Bridges: "It would seem that across the board, boiler sales have flattened out somewhat and with that there will be an inevitable flattening out of sales of associated products.
Sadly it's not surprising that given the latitude to ignore the Building Regulations stipulations, those who ignored them before April 2005 may feel happy to ignore them now and the warning given by the HHIC pre-April 2005 that we supported then, suggesting the dangers of a 'repair rather than replace' policy sneaking in, is most probably being reflected in sales figures across the country now.
"Building Control Officers are not, in the main, experts in domestic heating issues - they are more at home with the planning and construction aspects of Building Regulations, and it would seem unfair on them and unlikely for them to take on the responsibility for 'spot checking' new installations to ensure they comply with Building Regulations Part L.
But Sentinel's call for a 'swoop squad' to check new installations without warning has some merit and might be a way of making these unqualified installers think twice about ignoring the need for proper installation and the use of the required components to make the installations legal, energy efficient and environmentally friendly.".
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