I have just had 3 quotes of £60 an hour or £70 if the fitter is Corgi registered for 2 jobs I need doing... So labour ONLY 5 hrs to have a new plastic water tank and a gas outlet for a new hob fitted looks like being over £400 inc VAT :0

These seemed to be the going rates as they all welcomed me to shop around! Are these the going rates in Surrey guys - and if so I cant afford it :(

[The new tank is in the loft already and the 22mm gas supply is a mere drill's throw away the other side of the cooker's wall!]

I changed our water tank over. It's not terribly difficult... Drop me a mail if you want advice/reassurance :)

Thanks mate! What puts me off is lack of time and the fact that the incoming mains cold supply is lead - never worked with lead pipes. Looks like I'm about to learn though (as long as there is a kit to join plastic pipes to lead...?)

From what I see the tank has the lead pipe mains input, two outputs (one to hot water tank and the other (I think) to the whole house cold supply). It also has a pipe bent over for any expansion from the hot water to escape I think.

Mog was kind enough to help me in advising to change all ball valves to high pressure ones and then join the incoming water to the previous tanks mains cold feed output - this avoids having the drinking water coming from the manky tank and will give me a better pressure on the hosepipe!

Gonna get a bunch of floatmaster ball valves and I'll do that Byelaw kit thing tip I picked up from your postings here too.

Lets hope I cut the tank properly!

Cheers

D

Crap at DIY, good at Google.
http://www.bes.ltd.uk/products/n159.asp

Diesel...If you are not going to replace the lead pipework entirely then try to work with the fittings that have been soft solder/wiped on to the lead, this is normally a brass ferrule with a nut and ring which will fit BSP threads. If you cut the lead then although there are plastic adaptors about you will need to know the poundage of the lead (relates to wall thickness) to get the correct part. Also use a hole cutter to cut holes in the plastic tank and don't heat up a piece of copper to make a hole as many people do rather than buy a cutter.

Mog

Thank you VERY much Jack & Mog.

I'll do a proper job Mog - I'll cut the pipe back as far as I can and get one of each 3 poss lead connectors from Jack's link to make sure I can join to it!

Once again thanks for your help and pound saving guys!

[As and aside a chap is coming to fit me new hob's gas supply for £70 for the job tomorr - happy to pay this as I am not totally skint/tight ;)]

You should really consider getting rid of the lead piping, plenty of grants available.

Yep - I just got a 75% grant to replace the lead piping approved today.

Workshy - I also had my lead piping done last autumn and also got my 75% grant from the 'cooncil'. Fab!

Was £700 to replace the lead pipe from pavement through garden and into house. So only paid £175 myself. I'm sure the plumber upped his rate for the job, but given he has done me some favours in the past, seemed ok to let him have his share too (I assume he upped his rate a bit!).

It was a hell of a lot of digging mind you - he subcontracted the digging to a labourer - must have taken all day!

[Edited by imlach - 3/12/2003 8:08:40 PM]