As I've mentioned in another post, I'm fitting Jen's new kitchen.

It turns out that the previous kitchen was cunningly designed to 5/6 scale, to make everything fit. This means that the new units are bigger.

In the corner of the kitchen is a floor-standing gas boiler, which we're going to hide under the worktop. Obviously, we need to leave access to it. This is accomplished by leaving a gap between two of the units (at right angles to each other).

My question: is there a legal (or recommended) gap that we should try to leave for access to the boiler? We don't actually have much leeway to move the units, but I'd like to know if this is something that a surveyor is likely to comment on when it's time to sell the flat.

North Americans need not reply to this one.. we rarely have or see such beasts here. But if it is gas fired, it will need a supply of combustion air from somewhere..

Cheers

North Americans need not reply to this one..

Yeah, this is a UK question. Any standards that exist are probably different.

we rarely have or see such beasts here.

How do you get hot water, then?

But if it is gas fired, it will need a supply of combustion air from somewhere..

It is gas fired, but we'll be leaving plenty of room for airflow. My main concern is maintenance access.

I assume the boiler has a balanced flu (sp?) outside. Therefore, I don't think you have an issue with access from a legal or safety point of view. The only issues I can see is if something goes wrong with your boiler and they have to rip your nice new kitchen apart to get to it

I'm a North American and I'll reply anyway...

I brought one of these back from Taiwan and installed it here. I found that, more than a source of combustion air, it needs a lot of flow for cooling. My unit wanted 500mm clear on all sides, but it actually has only 200mm, and the surrounding walls stay cool. It's got about 3m clear on top, tho...

>How do you get hot water, then?

We use these inefficient 40gallon boilers in the basement, with pipes running from there to all of the hot water needs in the house. Lots of heat loss having the device so far from points of use, and having to keep it hot even when we're not around and using it.

Cheers

Just to clarify the kind of gap we're talking about, I've put up some more pictures. There'll be slightly more room than that -- I've got to cut some holes in the sink unit for the pipes, which will allow me to move it back towards the window another 4 inches or so.

That's a bugger of a mega size boiler for a flat in this day and age, and what twat stuck it in that awkward corner.

Boxer Towers with its extensive living quarters, from which I have frequent difficulty evicting relatives from the former colonies who find it too comfortable after the weekend that they were invited for, only has a 2' 6" x 2' O" x 9" item hung on the wall at cat perching level.

That boiler looks old, are you sure that it might not be better long term to consider a smaller, more efficient unit that does not impinge upon your valuable space, whilst the opportunity arises?

I assume the boiler has a balanced flu (sp?) outside.

Yeah, there's a flue on the outside wall of the flat. Exhaust gas isn't going to be a problem.

Cooling shouldn't be a problem, either. There's actually more room around the boiler itself. It's just that the units are larger and the gap between them is smaller.

I can't move the units on the inside wall -- they're as tightly packed as they'll go. I can't move the sink unit along the outside wall any further -- it sits right up against the gas meter as it is.

If I ever find the monkeys who put this kitchen, I'm going to slap them silly. A couple of points:

1. There are 3 (three!) separate gas pipes into the kitchen, all capped off. Two of them come up through the floor near the wall (the one with the cupboards on), but they're not close enough to the wall to ignore -- so I've got to put a 1.75" spacer behind the units and somehow fill out the gap this'll leave behind the worktop. Neither are they low enough that they can be put under the units. The fitter can't do anything with them, either. On the plus side, he can use one of them to feed the gas hob, once I've installed it in the worktop. The other gas pipe is on one of the internal walls, and comes out horizontally. Fortunately, we're not planning on putting anything there, but it'll be ugly. The boiler is hooked to a fourth gas pipe.

2. The gas meter is nowhere near any of the existing gas piping. It all goes under the concrete floor, meaning that we can't do anything with it without ripping up the floor.

3. Before the plumber ripped it out, there was a veritable jungle of water piping under the sink. It was a double sink, which meant two waste traps, and two sets of waste pipe. The waste piping had any number (well, one, but why ruin a good rant?) of spurs on it, which were no longer being used. The waste hose from the washing machine was simply jammed into the pipe, without any kind of non-return valve or jubilee clip.

4. Fortunately, the double sink had only one mixer tap, so the vertical pipes you see in the photo were pretty much as you see there. Even here, there was a random unused spur on the cold feed. The plumber ripped it all out and fitted a fresh pair of pipes above a pair of new stopcocks (out of shot at the bottom of the picture), so that we can still have the water turned on while I get around to getting the sink fitted.

5. Oh, and when we took the plinth off the original sink unit, it still had wood shavings under there, from, like, 1960 or something.

Ah, you raise my favourite topic, apart from the illogicalities that you mention, why do we heat water up to such a temperature that we have to mix it with cold water to use it. Why not just heat it to the temperature that we want to use it at?


Why don't we have a small heater immediately under the relevant basin, so that we don't have to wait for warm water to be drawn through all those pipes - we do it with electric showers, why not basins?

We only need a large heater for all those that enjoy wallowing in their own dirt!

No, I'll stop now!

That boiler looks old, are you sure that it might not be better long term to consider a smaller, more efficient unit

Aye, well, there's the rub. We're not thinking long term. Assuming that Jen and I haven't killed each other after this trial living together thing, we'll be looking to get a 3 bedroom (one for us, one for guests and one for PCs) place. That'll be in about 6 months or so.

We're just replacing the crappy kitchen that the council fitted back in the 60s with something a bit more modern looking, in the hope that we can increase the value of the flat accordingly.

Dropping a (thick) wedge of cash on a new boiler isn't in the plan.

Dropping a (thick) wedge of cash on a new boiler isn't in the plan

Got you - I'd do the same, I'll try and get an answer on the legality. The pregnant wife of a plumber of my acquaintance is just approaching my desk, I'll ask her.

Dropping a (thick) wedge of cash

I'll admit I'm not up to snuff with my Britishisms, but isn't that a ``wodge of cash''?

Wodge, wedge, stack. Makes no real difference. Of course, Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney used to refer to it as a "wad".

Actually, ``wad'' is the only of those terms I'd not be surprised to hear from an American in that context.

Sorry, I'm off sick to-day, so I don't have the answer on your boiler, if this bug's a 24 hour one, I hope to post tomorrow.

A very good newsgroup for this kind of stuff is uk.d-i-y - here is a simple Google search that has some articles - a tweak with the search terms should get it even better:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=boiler+access+group%3Auk.d-i-y

Probably the single key recommendation people should take from this group is to NEVER buy a Saniflo shredding toilet system because they block at the slightest provacation. Everybody on the group who has owned one has been up to their elbows in sh!te trying to unblock it. My uncle has one and has also had to do this twice.

Gareth

Here's the advice, as given:
"I asked Michael about the legalities of leaving a gap round the boiler
when fitting units.

He said that unlike fires, flues etc. there isn't a 'standard' legal
spec. They vary and to be legal and safe it must be fit to the
manufacturer's installation specifications. If he doesn't have the
instruction booklets for the boiler he should ring the manufacturer who
will give him the info for the boiler.

Hope that helps.

Michael said if in doubt call out a corgi registered gas fitter to
check it & make sure it is safe!!! "

Hoorah. It's been 6 months, but the kitchen is just about done. We just got the floor put down today.

See http://www.differentpla.net/gallery/Kitchen for pictures. The only things remaining are some architrave behind one of the work surfaces and some edging around the floor.

Looking good Roger, you put it all together yourself? The kitchen is about the only thing that I'd think about replacing in my house.

you put it all together yourself?

Mostly. We had a fitter run the gas for the hob (and tidy up the plumbing), and a carpenter came in to do a couple of fiddly bits (like cutting the end cupboard down to size -- the walls aren't strictly vertical). We also got someone in to do the tiling around the worktops -- I can tile reasonably well, but I find it deadly tedious.

For the cupboards, I had some help from my stepdad, but Jen and I did the rest (worktops/units/flooring/sink/lining paper/painting) ourselves.

All told, it's taken us about 6 or 7 weekends, but it's taken 6 months, because we've usually been busy at the weekend (and we were lazy about getting the tiling geezer in).