Working with hot water cylinders but haven’t yet notified your Local Authority Building Control? You could face an unlimited fine and your customers could be open to fines of up to £5,000.
Here we take a look at everything you need to do and who you need to notify when it comes to installing hot water cylinders.
Unvented Hot Water Cylinder Course
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What You Need to Do
- Under Building Regulations, it is necessary to notify Local Authority Building Control (LABC) of the installation of both unvented and vented hot water cylinders.
- This must either be done following an inspection by the LABC or is the responsibility of an installer registered on an appropriate Competent Persons Scheme (CPS) and therefore eligible to self-certify their work.
- Contact Gas Safe Register to confirm you have a Hot Water qualification. The certification body does not inform GSR for you.
Not a Member of a Competent Persons Scheme (CPS)?
If you’re a member of a CPS, such as the Gas Safe Register, HETAS or OFTEC, you can notify the local authority after installation. If you’re not, you need to contact the LABC before and after installation – they may want to visit a site and view how work is being carried out, as well as checking that you’re competent. Notifying via LABC could cost hundreds of pounds per install, so you might as well join a CPS for a year instead.List of HWS CPS's
Self-Certification
Using the Gas Safe Register as an example, you can report the installation of hot water cylinders and gas appliances through its online notification system.What are the Rules for Notifying the Installation of a HW Cylinder?
We have received lots of questions about clarification on the rules around notifying the installation of a HW cylinder through GSR. We’ve clarified with GSR, and here’s what they’ve said:- If the installer has fitted a cylinder only in a house to an existing gas heat producing appliance that they did NOT fit, then they can notify the installation of the cylinder via GSR so long as they are registered to do so.
- If the installer has fitted a cylinder only in a house where the heat producing appliance is supplied by a different fuel (electric, oil, biomass etc), then they cannot notify the installation of the cylinder via GSR even if they are registered with GSR. This would need to be notified directly to the LABC or through a different Competent Person Scheme.
- If the installer has fitted a cylinder and a gas heat producing appliance, then they can notify the both the installation of the cylinder and the gas appliance via GSR so long as they are registered to do so.