Gas  Boilers  -June 2022

Wicklow Co Co arranges to have all gas installations safety checked and gas boilers serviced on an annual basis by Registered Gas Installers (RGII contractors). There is no charge to the tenant for this.  The Council keeps track of when boilers were last serviced and when they will be due. There is no need to contact the Council to request that the boiler be serviced.

Tenants should ensure that they have sufficient credit on their gas meter at the time the RGI visits the house. If there is no gas supply (due to no credit) the boiler cannot be serviced. However an Annex E safety check will still be carried out.

The Council does not supply tenants with gas fires, gas cookers or any other gas appliance apart from gas boilers. We do not service cookers or fires but, if present, they will be safety checked at the time the gas boiler is serviced. Any defects or safety issues found during these safety checks on cookers or fires are the responsibility of the tenant to rectify.

When a breakdown call is received by the council, any boiler which is due to be serviced will be serviced as part of the breakdown repair visit.

The following Registered Gas Installers are working on behalf of Wicklow County Council and will be contacting tenants to arrange access for service and safety checking:

Giltspur Gas  - Ciarán Dunne 086-1621669 or Shane Dunne 086-6015553 – Bray MD area.

Gaswise – 01 -8315566 – rest of county excluding Bray MD.

FAQs

Disconnected meters/supplies:

My gas meter was disconnected some time ago due to non-payment of the gas bill. How do I get reconnected?

If a tenant’s gas supply and meter has been disconnected due to non-payment of the bill or any other reason such as at their own request; Gas Networks Ireland will not re-connect them without an RGII Cert 1. It is the tenant’s responsibility to obtain this cert. The tenant will need to engage an RGII registered contractor to inspect the gas installation and to issue RGII Cert 1. Contractors will charge the tenant for this service and the charge may be significant.

Notification of Hazard:

The Council had my boiler serviced recently and I also have a gas cooker which is supplied via an orange coloured rubber hose running through a hole in the wall to a gas bottle outside. The Council’s contractor issued me with a Notification of Hazard. What does this mean?

As part of the safety checks mentioned above which the RGI carried out when servicing the boiler, he discovered a Hazard (in this case, as an example, associated with the way your cooker is connected to the gas bottle (butane cylinder)). The Notification of Hazard was issued to warn you, the tenant, that this set up is unsafe and that you, the tenant, need to get it rectified. 

Any Notification of Hazard issued in relation to a gas boiler will be dealt with by the Council but cookers and fires are the tenant’s responsibility.

I want to change from a bill pay meter to a pre-paid gas meter.

Current policy is that the Council does not permit card or pay as you go meters. This is due to issues with unpaid charges which continue to accumulate even after a tenant vacates the house.

Gas heating repairs/breakdowns:

My gas heating is not working. What can I do?

Before ringing Wicklow Co Co to report the problem, please check the following yourself:

(1)  That your gas meter is in credit (if it is a pay as you go meter) or that you have paid your gas bill.

(2)  That your electricity meter is also in credit. Remember the gas boiler needs electricity to operate as well as gas!

(3)  Be sure that you understand how to operate the heating controls (the time-clock or programmer).

(4)  If the boiler is firing/running but the radiators are not heating, then check the settings of your wall thermostat. If the thermostat has been set at a temperature lower than the current temperature in the house, then the radiators will not receive hot water from the boiler. (It may have been interfered with by children etc). Turn the knob on the thermostat fully clockwise. The radiators may now start to heat up. You can then re-adjust the thermostat if the house gets too hot.

(5)  If the boiler is firing/running and you have heat to the radiators but no domestic hot water (i.e. your hot water cylinder is not heating up), then check the cylinder thermostat. This will be attached to the hot water (copper) cylinder in the hotpress. If the thermostat has been set too low, then the hot water cylinder will not receive hot water from the boiler. Turn the knob clockwise to say 60 or 70 degrees C.

Gas Emergency Telephone Number:

If you smell gas in the house, then call the 24-hour gas emergency service on :

1850 20 50 50

This service is provided by Gas Networks Ireland.

For further information on what to do if you smell gas, go to:

http://www.gasnetworks.ie/en-IE/Safety/Gas-Safety-in-the-home/How-to-turn-your-gas-on-and-off/

Servicing and repairs will be carried out by the following RGII contractors:

Contractor                                              Contact                                 Areas Covered 2022
Gaswise                          01-8315566 Or Locall:1850- 427 947      Arklow MD                                                                                                                             Blessington                                                                                                                               Wicklow MD                                                                                                                                                    Greystones MD

Giltspur Gas                      Ciaran Dunne - 086-1621669                    Bray MD

                                             Shane Dunne - 086-6015553

Oil Boiler Servicing 2022

Wicklow Co Co will be arranging to have tenants oil boilers serviced on an ongoing basis. 

Tenants should note the following:

(1)  There must be an adequate supply of oil in your tank to allow the service to be carried out.

(2)  Tenants are advised not to fill the tank from 20 L drums  (as this usually involves fuel wastage due to spillage) or to connect such drums directly to the burner (as this bypasses important safety devices). 

(3)   Fuel poverty is an issue but tenants should note that many oil distributors offer monthly payment plans for oil supply whereby you can get a bulk delivery and pay for it over a number of months.

(4)  Failure to keep the tank filled will allow air to enter the supply line which will stop the boiler from operating and will require bleeding. Tenants should not attempt to bleed the pump/burner themselves.

(5)  Oil Storage Tanks:

Tenants are warned not to jack up the oil storage tank at one end in order to get every last drop of oil to enter the burner. This is counter productive. Tanks are intended to be installed with the floor of the tank falling away from the outlet. 

This is to prevent water and sediment from entering the supply line to the burner. Water is denser than oil and will separate at the bottom of the tank. Sediment (dirt) and water entering the burner and pump will damage both. Tilting the tank may also cause cracking/splitting of the tank which will result in oil leakage. It may also damage the oil supply pipe to the boiler. Tenants should regularly check their tanks for any signs of cracking.  If you find a crack in your oil tank, contact Housing immediately on 0404-20120 or your local Municipal District office.

Tenants should not erect timber fencing, trellises etc around the oil tank as this would be a potential fire hazard.

(6)  It is in the tenant’s interests to provide access to the servicing contractor. Soot builds up within the combustion chamber of an oil boiler and reduces the rate of heat transfer to the water. This will result in fuel wastage. Typically, an oil boiler which has run for 1000 hours will have accumulated 3mm of soot which will result in 8% more fuel use than is necessary. Servicing involves cleaning the combustion chamber to remove this soot. Efficient combustion requires the correct fuel pump pressure, air pressure and correct nozzle size and spray pattern. The service technician will set and select these correctly. This cannot be done by the tenant as it requires the use of a Flue Gas Analyser.

 Inefficient combustion means the boiler will use more oil than is necessary.

(7)  Correct Fuel:

All of our oil boilers (and particularly condensing boilers) are designed to run on Class C 28 second Kerosene only. They cannot run properly on diesel or mixtures of diesel and kerosene. Use of the incorrect fuel will damage the boiler and invalidate any warranty. 

Boiler houses:

If you have a boiler house or the boiler is located inside a shed, do not store other materials, and in particular, fuels and flammable products such as logs, coal, petrol, paints, thinners etc on or around the boiler or flue.

The following contractors will be servicing oil boilers in 2022 for Wicklow Co Co:

Turloch Bracken – Bracken Plumbing & Heating - 086-2731294

Arklow Municipal District

Wicklow Municipal District

O’Kane Plumbing & Electrics – 01-4979103

Greystones MD

Bray MD

Baltinglass MD – West Wicklow and Tinahely Area

Wicklow Co Co is an OFTEC registered organisation and has it’s own  OFTEC registered technicians who will carry out spot checks.

All contractor’s and Council technicians are OFTEC registered and carry OFTEC ID cards.