1. If it is a new machine there will be travel bolts in the rear of the appliance. It is very important to remove them all.

2. Disconnect the water supply on old machine there will be a hot and a cold (the water inlet will be slimmer than the waste pipe). On most modern appliances there is only a cold inlet as the washing machines heats up the water its self. To disconnect turn the water off. This is done at the end of the flexi hose.Thumb tap 90 Decrees this will turn the water off. Then you can unscrew the flexi pipe.

3. To disconnect the waste you might need a cap (the waste pipe will be larger in diameter than the water inlet). At the end of the flexi waste pipe can be two different fittings. Either a U-bend if that is the case it can be removed. However it might have a fitting that needs to be un screwed. Once removed go to the plumbing merchants and by a cap to replace the fitting. Otherwise there will be a large hole where smells and wastewater can leak out.

4. Un plug the electrics

For more information on this and our london plumber service, contact our team on 0208 964 6714.

If you have an old boiler (not condensing) it is important to let the boiler circulate at least once a week.  This is to let the pump run and make sure it does not seize up.

The Properties of Asbestos and its Affects on Health

Properties:

Asbestos is the name given to a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals. It can come in several types, however the following are the most common types used within industry:

• Chrysotile (White)
• Crocidolite (Blue)
• Amosite (Brown)

The groups of asbestos fibres differ in their mechanical and chemical properties. The different types of asbestos can be found on their own or as a mixture with any other of the fibres. They cannot usually be identified by their colour alone. Where asbestos is affected by heat and chemicals or is combined with other substances, its colour and appearance can easily change.

The supply, importation and use of blue and brown asbestos was totally banned within the U.K. in 1985, with a general ban on white asbestos following in 1999 (there were slight exceptions for the specialist use of white asbestos, however a total ban came on 01/01/2005).

Work with asbestos can release small fibres into the air. Although the body will get rid of most of the larger fibres that can enter the nose and mouth, tiny fibres can pass into the lower parts of the lung. They can stay there for years and in some cases work their way through the lung lining. The body naturally gets rid of any asbestos fibres that you might take in with food and water. Asbestos fibres cannot be absorbed through your skin.

Health Affects:

Breathing in asbestos fibres can eventually lead to a number of fatal diseases/conditions:

• Pleural Plaques

• Diffuse Pleural Thickening

• Asbestosis
• Lung Cancer

• Mesothelioma
• Cancers at other sites.

Working with asbestos can lead to an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Smoking can increase this risk further. These two risk factors combined appear to have an effect that is greater than the sum of the individual increases of risk from smoking or asbestos exposure alone. Ex-smokers have been shown to be at a significantly lower excess risk than current smokers.

There are no known cures for asbestos-related diseases and they will generally appear many years after first exposure, which can vary between 15 and 60 years. The symptoms may include:

• Shortness of breath
• A cough or a change in cough pattern

• Blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up from the lungs
• Pain in the chest or abdomen
• Difficultyin swallowing or prolonged hoarseness and or
• Significant weight loss

There are approximately 3500 deaths a year due to asbestos related diseases.

If asbestos containing material is intact and in a position where it cannot easily be damaged, it will not pose a risk to health by releasing fibres into the air.

Many of the people currently suffering from asbestos related diseases formally worked in the building trade. They were exposed to asbestos fibres in their day to day work with asbestos containing materials or because work with asbestos was carried out near them. Therefore, take note of the following guidance and take the necessary action if you suspect that you are working on or near asbestos containing materials.

The Types, Uses and likely Occurrence of Asbestos and ACM’s in Buildings and Plant

Although asbestos should have not been used as a new building material in any form since at least 1999, many thousands of tonnes of it were used in buildings in the past. A large amount of asbestos is still out there and you cannot easily identify it from its appearance.

Asbestos is likely to be in a building if:

• It was built or refurbished between 1950 and 1980 and particularly;

• If it also has a steel frame; and/or

• It has boilers with thermal insulation.

But you also need to bear in mind that asbestos cement has also been widely used as a building material since the 1950’s.

Some ACMs are more vulnerable to damage and more likely to give off fibres than others. In general, the materials which contain a high percentage of asbestos are more easily damaged. The list below is roughly in order of ease of fibre release (with the highest potential fibre release first).

Sprayed coatings, lagging and insulating board are more likely to contain blue or brown asbestos. Asbestos insulation and lagging can contain up to 85% asbestos and are most likely to give off fibres. Work with asbestos insulating board can result in equally high fibre release if power tools are used.

On the other hand, asbestos cement contains only 10%-15% asbestos. The asbestos is tightly bound into the cement and the material will only give off fibres if it is
badly damaged or broken.

You are most likely to come across asbestos in these materials:

• sprayed asbestos and asbestos loose packing – generally used as fire breaks in ceiling voids;
• moulded or preformed lagging – generally used in thermal insulation of pipes and boilers;
• sprayed asbestos – generally used as fire protection in ducts, firebreaks, panels, partitions, soffit boards, ceiling panels an around structural steel work;
• insulating boards used for fire protection, thermal insulation, partitioning and ducts;
• some ceiling tiles;
• millboard, paper and paper products used for insulation of electrical equipment. Asbestos paper has also been used as a fire-proof facing on wood fibreboard;
• asbestos cement products, which can be fully or semi-compressed into flat or corrugated sheets. Corrugated sheets are largely used as roofing and wall cladding. Other asbestos cement products include gutters, rainwater pipes and water tanks;
• certain textured coatings;
• bitumen roofing material; and
• vinyl or thermoplastic floor tiles.

Remember, although these are the most likely uses and places where asbestos will be found, asbestos was used in many other materials. If you are in doubt, it is safer to presume that a material contains asbestos, unless there is strong evidence that it does not.

The General Procedures to be Followed to Deal with an Emergency e.g. an uncontrolled release of asbestos dust into the workplace

In any circumstance where there is an accidental discovery or uncontrolled release of asbestos into the workplace then measures, including emergency procedures, should be in place to limit exposure and the risks to health. Such procedures should include means to raise the alarm and procedures for evacuation, which should be tested and practised at regular intervals. The cause of the uncontrolled release should be identified, and adequate control regained as soon as possible.

The following steps should be followed if an un-damaged asbestos containing material is discovered during a working process:

Procedure 1

1. Discover ACM, stop work immediately
2. Keep everyone else out of the work area
3. Report problem to the person in charge as soon as possible
4. Put up a warning sign ‘possible asbestos contamination’

However if you discover an ACM in a bad condition or actually damage the ACM during the work activity, the following procedures will need to be followed:

Procedure 2

1. Discover damaged ACM, stop work immediately
2. Keep everyone else out of the work area
3. Is there dust or debris on clothing (if no, follow procedure 1)
4. Remove the clothing and put it into a plastic bag
5. Try to wash thoroughly straight away or if the facilities are provided take a shower
6. Leave the washing facilities clean
7. Report the problem to the person in charge as soon as possible
8. Put up a warning sign ‘possible asbestos contamination’

Step 3 of Procedure 1 and step 7 of Procedure 2 will require that you contact the site foreman as soon as possible. The site foreman will then contact head office and the site contact to inform them of the discovery and the procedures that had been followed. Head office will then arrange with the client to arrange for a sample to be analysed and the work area to be cleaned up if necessary. No-one will be allowed to re-enter the contaminated area for any reason until a clearance/re-occupation certificate has been issued to the client by the appropriate asbestos analysing/air monitoring company.

How to Avoid Risks from Asbestos

There are some simple procedures to be followed in order to help reduce the risk of employees coming into contact with asbestos. Owners and occupiers of non-domestic premises, who have maintenance and repair responsibilities for those premises, have a duty under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 to assess the premises for the presence of asbestos and the condition of that asbestos (this duty has been enforced since 21st November 2004 under the CAW 2002).

Where asbestos is present the dutyholder must ensure that the risk from the asbestos is assessed, that a written plan identifying where that asbestos is located is prepared and that measures to manage the risk from the asbestos are set out in that plan and are implemented.

If the non-domestic premise does contain asbestos containing materials there is no legal requirement for the asbestos to be removed. The owner/occupier will need to assess the condition of the product and then decide whether they will remove it or whether it will stay in place. If the ACM does stay in place the duty holder will need to ensure that it is either in a good condition or alternatively arrange for the product to be enclosed/sealed/encapsulated or repaired.

Therefore, before any work takes place on site, the site foreman or senior operative will request to see the Asbestos register for that site (please note, not all sites will have a register, please see section 1 below). The register will provide information on the location and condition of any asbestos containing material on that site. If the register details that asbestos containing material is present in the area that you are scheduled to work in, the site foreman/senior operative will contact head office for further confirmation on whether the work is to continue or whether alterations are to be made to the safe systems of work which were to be followed.

Section 1

Not all sites will have an asbestos register, this could be the case in a number of situations;

1. The site is too young for it to contain asbestos e.g. it was built after 1999,
2. The building will obviously not contain asbestos e.g. a steel built industrial unit
3. The site itself has had all asbestos removed.

If a site falls under category 1 or 2, please err on the side of caution. There could be situations where a building contractor may have installed ACM’s that they still had in stock. Therefore, if you do come across a suspect material, follow procedures 1 or 2.

If a site falls under situation 3, ask for written confirmation/evidence that the asbestos has been removed by a licensed contractor.

Conclusion

All exposures to asbestos should be avoided, however, that does not mean that you should necessarily worry about a one-off exposure. From time to time, accidental exposures to asbestos may occur and can be a cause of much concern and distress to the individuals concerned. Your risk of developing an asbestos-related disease depends how much asbestos you are exposed to, for how long and on how many different occasions. A one-off short-term exposure is unlikely to be of concern, but each time you are exposed, the risk increases a little bit more. Think of this like smoking. The more times you smoke, the greater your risk of developing cancer.

If in doubt:

STOP WORK, CLOSE AREA OFF and NOTIFY PERSON IN CHARGE.

Completion of Training

In order to be sure that you have all seen and understood this, you must sign and date the relevant check list that covers our annual Health and  Safety review.

There are strict rules about the amount of gas required for every appliance. If there is not enough gas available for the requirements of the appliance then the appliance could be dangerous.

It is usually possible to do a rough calculation to establish whether there will be enough gas for the appliances that will be connected. However, this can never be definitive especially when pipes are concealed etc.

Unfortunately it is impossible to test that the correct amount gas needed for the appliance to burn correctly without having the appliance connected.

If when the final commissioning checks are carried out and there is not enough gas, then the appliance fails. It will then require that the pipework be adapted or re-run so that enough gas is delivered to all the appliances working off that meter.

Re-running the gas piping to an existing appliance can lead to considerable disruption and cost.

It is also very important to vent the radiators to make sure no air has entered the system and to keep an eye on the pressure this should be in the green or around 1.2 bar of your pressure gauge. At the end of each winter go around all the thermostatic radiator valves and turn them all on.

You can then control the heating if you need it from the main room thermostat. This will mean that next winter none of the valves will stick.

Please phone us for any queries or help on anything 24 hours a day on 0208 964 6714

A Magnaclean can be installed – this pulls out any rust in the system continuously. Each year when the boiler is serviced the engineer will then clean the magnaclean out. Thus it is constantly cleaning the system.

The system can also be power flushed. Harsh chemicals are added to the system then the radiators vibrated loosening lots of the rust. This process is then done to each of the radiators in turn until all of the floating debris has been removed.

This will remove the worst of it but if systems have been left in a poor condition for a number of years it will not clear out all the cold spots.
Please phone us for any queries or help on anything 24 hours a day on 0208 964 6714.

This will remove the worst of it but if the system has been left in a poor condition for a number of years it will not clear out all the old cold spots.

Please phone us for any queries or help on anything 24 hours a day on 0208 964 6714.

Over time this will reduce the effectiveness of the radiators and the boiler will need repairing. Chemicals can be added to the system to reduce this. However sealed systems are more efficient.

Sealed systems pros

• Less rusting
• Less likely to suck air in to the system creating air locks and rust
• If a radiator is damaged, only half a bucket of water will leak from the system.

Sealed system cons

• When the pressure reduces the boiled will stop working. (Regular servicing is needed)
• A pipe must lead to outside for the pressure relief valve to dump the excess pressure when problems occur with the boiler

Open vented system pros

• If the system is very old and has lots of small leaks the pressure will never stop the boiler from working
• If the system is very old no excess pressure will be put on pipes and radiators creating leaks.

Open vented system cons

• Less efficient
• More rust in system
• More space is taken up from the tank.

Please phone us for any queries or help on anything 24 hours a day on 0208 964 6714.

This may be a problem and the engineer might have to re run some of the gas pipe from the gas meter to the boiler. Modern boilers use much more of the heat created from the gas being burned. Therefore the flue gasses are considerably less hot than in the older models.

This in turn means that the flue gasses have much more noticeable moisture content contained within. In practical terms modern condensing boilers, plume. You can see this on a cold day boiler flues pumping out clouds of condensation. As well as this, a condensation pipe must be fitted to the boiler to take more unwanted water away. This pipe must be able to drain away.

It can be pumped if necessary. Modern day systems can be sealed or have small water tanks, there are pros and cons to both systems. But a sealed system must have a pressure release valve.

It is also very important to have the system flushed out before the new boiler is installed.

Please phone us for any queries or help on anything 24 hours a day on 0208 964 6714