Oct 6, 2026 · 21 min · 11 segments
If you're not on social media, not reading Gas Safe updates, and only picking up regulation changes at your five-year ACS renewal, you might already be behind. Terry Sawyer spent years as a Gas Safe…
Tulloch PriestHost
And what, what are the kind of the biggest changes that you've seen over the last decade?
The changes, this, this new IGEM UP1B change is probably one of the biggest in the last decade, I would've thought, because it's completely changed the procedure that most, if not all gas engineers should know.
Like, they sh- they should be able to do it with their eyes shut now, this procedure.
So now it, it- it's probably one of the biggest because it's completely flipped the, you know, how we deal with gas leaks on its head.
You know, so, so tightness testing pressures have changed from when I first started to now.
They've probably changed two or three times in terms of what pressures you're allowed when you do a letby test.
Um, and some of the, you know, some of the guys I used to inspect would still give me the answers from when they first qualified, same as, same as me.
So they're not wrong, and they're certainly not wrong, but the, but the, the range of, the range of pressures had changed, you know, what you was allowed in that range.
They, they wasn't wrong, but the answers were more of a range of pressures that the inspector would be looking for.
So little changes like that, um, again, they didn't change so that the engineers, what they originally learned were wrong, they just changed so that the answer was a little bit different, a little bit, you know, uh, than, than what it was.
And it makes it a little bit more, um, you know, for instance, saying letby 10 millibar.
Okay, well, how many people get, you know, can get bang on 10 millibar? You know, it's, they've made it a range so that you could be within a, a range at the, you know, the 7 to 10, which made it, makes life much easier.
Like I say, they, they are just little changes, um, that have come in, that have come in place.
Um, and I'd say a lot of the other changes that people were unaware of were more to do with, like, building regulations around fitting boilers and things like that.
Now, these were all in the manufacturer instructions, but I used to go out and inspect people and, and they would say, "Well, I didn't know you had to do that." And I said, "Well, it's in the manu-
And what, what are the kind of the biggest changes that you've seen over the last decade?
The changes, this, this new IGEM UP1B change is probably one of the biggest in the last decade, I would've thought, because it's completely changed the procedure that most, if not all gas engineers should know.
Like, they sh- they should be able to do it with their eyes shut now, this procedure.
So now it, it- it's probably one of the biggest because it's completely flipped the, you know, how we deal with gas leaks on its head.
You know, so, so tightness testing pressures have changed from when I first started to now.
They've probably changed two or three times in terms of what pressures you're allowed when you do a letby test.
Um, and some of the, you know, some of the guys I used to inspect would still give me the answers from when they first qualified, same as, same as me.
So they're not wrong, and they're certainly not wrong, but the, but the, the range of, the range of pressures had changed, you know, what you was allowed in that range.
They, they wasn't wrong, but the answers were more of a range of pressures that the inspector would be looking for.
So little changes like that, um, again, they didn't change so that the engineers, what they originally learned were wrong, they just changed so that the answer was a little bit different, a little bit, you know, uh, than, than what it was.
And it makes it a little bit more, um, you know, for instance, saying letby 10 millibar.
Okay, well, how many people get, you know, can get bang on 10 millibar? You know, it's, they've made it a range so that you could be within a, a range at the, you know, the 7 to 10, which made it, makes life much easier.
Like I say, they, they are just little changes, um, that have come in, that have come in place.
Um, and I'd say a lot of the other changes that people were unaware of were more to do with, like, building regulations around fitting boilers and things like that.
Now, these were all in the manufacturer instructions, but I used to go out and inspect people and, and they would say, "Well, I didn't know you had to do that." And I said, "Well, it's in the manu-
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