Habitation check, is it worth it?

by bazil Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:41 pm

My van is due a habitation check, the last one cost me nearly £200 and was wondering if it was really worth it?
What is the feeling of members on here?

by -mojo- Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:44 pm

You won't get a universally agreed "yes or no" answer. From previous threads with the same question it was evident that some people feel that they are competent to do their own habitation checks, and others do not.

by **roli** Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:50 pm

The habitation check should be done if for nothing else a gas check

£200 does sound a bit much we pay around £120 ish with an. NCC approved guy

It was explained years ago by a respected caravan dealer and backed up by a local dealer many charge the price of doing a caravan which of course has more to check than a motorhome

by TravelKat Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:30 pm

If your MH is still under warranty then really you have no choice IMHO. We just had ours done at the AS factory and it showed up a small damp area in the bathroom. A re-check has been booked at our local dealer in 3 months' time; if still similar readings then repairs will be carried out.

Not happy at having damp in a £70k+ van, but that's a different issue.

Must say AS were very helpful in sorting out the re-check at local dealer, they've also provisionally booked it in for the rest of the week in case it does need repair, so at least we won't have to wait x number of weeks to have the repair done.

by meanchris Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:35 pm

We had this discussion the other night at a meet-up of another forum where some of us had motorhomes.

The consensus seemed to be that it is worth it for newer and still under guarantee motorhomes, where poor service history could adversely affect depreciation and re-sale, and also for those with little or no technical knowledge of the systems in their vans.

For older vans and those with some technical skills it might not be essential unless your insurance demands it, IMHO.

by RML Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:39 pm

I would say yes it's worth doing. Put another way, if you were buying and narrowed your choice down to 2 'vans, one with authorised workshop hab service records and one without which would you choose?
Rich..

by meanchris Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:45 pm

Not wishing to be contrary, but, I would go with the one which looked like the best value for money.

I think that some hab checks may not be worth much more than the paper they're written on.

If I had no technical 'bent' I might think differently, and possibly still get caught out by relying on the hab check.

It's similar to an MOT IMHO, but without the rigorous MOT checks and balances that MOT testers have to meet.

by Paulmold Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:47 pm

Worth checking your insurance as mine states no claim for fire caused by gas appliances will be considered unless gas system has been checked by qualified engineer . So as has been said, at least have a gas check.

by nuevoboy Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:57 pm

For various reasons, we missed out on a couple of year's hab checks and ended up with a bill of over two grand due to major water ingress.
I'm sure the problem would have been spotted earlier and without needing such drastic measures. shrugg

by meanchris Tue Nov 29, 2016 2:59 pm

Fair comment, as I'm pontificating from the point of view of being a monocoque owner.

by Gromit Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:01 pm

Nuevoboy beat me to it.

I would say it's worth it, if only so that you have some come-back if serious water damage is discovered at the next hab check. If you can say with some authority, "This much damage can't have happened in the year since you last checked it!" you have good grounds for haggling about who pays for the repairs.

by meanchris Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:06 pm

Gromit wrote:Nuevoboy beat me to it.

I would say it's worth it, if only so that you have some come-back if serious water damage is discovered at the next hab check. If you can say with some authority, "This much damage can't have happened in the year since you last checked it!" you have good grounds for haggling about who pays for the repairs.

If you remember, the van that we sold passed a hab check by the new owners with flying colours, only for them to find serious delamination in the plywood floor under the rear cupboards.

I have one observation and a question:

The hab check did not find one of the very things that it's supposed to.

Would they have grounds to ask the tester to cover the repairs?

I'm still wondering what the outcome of this embarrassing episode was. I note that, at last check, the van is still MOT'd and taxed.

by mikethebike Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:16 pm

When i was looking for a private A/S i never saw one advertised as having had a habitation check done.Dealers can do one for a sale.

Regards

Micky

by bikeralw Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:34 pm

I've owned my van for six years now and have never had an official annual habitation check carried out. I've also owned my house for thirty years and have never had a habitation check on that either. Maintenance and inspection of both are done by me, far more frequently than once a year..., and to my mind a lot more competently than lots of corner cutting professionals.
I agree with others here regarding newer vans though.
Al.

by Paulmold Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:38 pm

Paulmold wrote:Worth checking your insurance as mine states no claim for fire caused by gas appliances will be considered unless gas system has been checked by qualified engineer . So as has been said, at least have a gas check.

Just dug out my policy and this is the stated clause...

''This insurance does not cover loss or damage caused by fire or explosion arising from the use of heating or cooking equipment, unless the equipment has been serviced by a CORGI or HSE registered engineer and a fire extinguisher and/or blanket is kept in or on the vehicle etc etc''

I know CORGI has been replaced by GasSafe .

by meanchris Tue Nov 29, 2016 4:37 pm

Typical mealy mouthed backside covering insurance clause.

Point being that a check by some bored technician is unlikely to prevent a sudden major gas leak capable of starting a fire or an explosion. Some common sense precautions such as switching off appliances and bottles is far more effective, IMHO.

I would most definitely NOT rely on a hab check to keep me safe from gas fires or explosions.

Like 'winter health' and 'brake' or 'battery checks' for cars, more of a cosy insurance and risk averse promoted money making scheme in my view.

I do think that they're more useful for coach built aluminium bodies, although you can easily buy a damp meter and check around yourself.

by m8form8 Tue Nov 29, 2016 5:33 pm

Benimar will get one til its warranty runs out and then.. Well it won't be going to Marquis at Golden Cross thats for sure but I might have one done elsewhere. Gas side especially as the rest is doable myself.

by Pete Taylor Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:43 pm

Interesting that this question is posted in the van conversions (tin box) forum, yet most of the responders are owners of coach-builts (add-ons).
Having owned both, my take would be to get a gas check on the tin box but a full hab-check on the add-on, purely because there is much more chance of water ingress due to failed joints/poor build quality etc. on the latter.

by Heanorboy Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:37 pm

As a current "tin box" owner and a caravan owner I will have hab checks by a MCEA engineer
Reasons
in 2008 bought a new bessecar motorhome 1st Hab showed 80 percent damp the almost the total upper half of the interior was changed.
2 years ago I had a damp problem around the skylight this was due to the fact that a 2006 ducato had a corrugated roof so for the skylight to fit it had a plastic mounting plate this had failed and started to breakup thus letting in rain.
Yes maybe I could find this but there was no way I could carry out a pressure test on the gas which showed up a small leak on a joint.
More than happy to pay as it could save our lives
David

by steve00136 Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:45 pm

I have a gaslow pressure gauge which I bought primarily to check the amount of gas in the bottles. I always turn the gas off at the bottle when traveling or not in use and the gauge also has the benefit in checking that the system is leak free as there appears to be no pressure drop between uses ..... at least between the gas bottle and the cooker control knobs.

by meanchris Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:11 am

I must admit that a professional gas check would be the only reason that I'd consider it.

I also turn the bottle off when not in use, and would note the pressure on the gauge that our previous van's system would remain pressurised when not in use.

The current van doesn't have a built-in bottle gauge, so I rely on visual and smell indications.

by Heanorboy Mon Dec 05, 2016 12:05 pm

Slightly off the subject but did everybody know that rubber gas pipe has a date printed on it and like tyres should be replaced about every 1/ 2 years for the black stuff and every 5 for the orange and 20 for the stainless steel. if out of date could be that the pipe will breakdown internally with bits going back or forward to either the regulator or fittings (cooker,heater, waterheater etc) and cause expensive problems there.
Also just because your van is "new" doesnt mean that it doesnt need changing i read a forum somewhere that informed a new Hymer had 3 year old black pipe fitted when built so therefore outside the pipe life
David

by mikebro Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:05 pm

Heanorboy wrote:Slightly off the subject but did everybody know that rubber gas pipe has a date printed on it and like tyres should be replaced about every 1/ 2 years for the black stuff and every 5 for the orange and 20 for the stainless steel. if out of date could be that the pipe will breakdown internally with bits going back or forward to either the regulator or fittings (cooker,heater, waterheater etc) and cause expensive problems there.
Also just because your van is "new" doesnt mean that it doesnt need changing i read a forum somewhere that informed a new Hymer had 3 year old black pipe fitted when built so therefore outside the pipe life
David

Thanks for that reminder on the rubber pipe. I had been meaning to change the pipe on our 2001 Symbol that hooks the gas regulator to the system but hadn't got round to it.

Regarding the original topic of habitation checks, we bought our Symbol from a main dealer in 2103, apparently with a full habitation check. We smelled gas in the cupboard that holds the distribution manifold very shortly after. With the gas system under normal operating pressure, I simply made up a small quantity of diluted washingup liquid in a squeezy bottle and squeezed the soapy water over the manifold (domestic version of the "Snoop" I used to use on pneumatic tubing runs during my working life) and checked for bubbles. Every joint leaked slightly. I do the checks myself now.

Rgds

Mikebro

by rose49f Thu Dec 15, 2016 2:41 pm

Paulmold wrote:Worth checking your insurance as mine states no claim for fire caused by gas appliances will be considered unless gas system has been checked by qualified engineer . So as has been said, at least have a gas check.

My insurance is the same so my answer is yes.
allthumbz

by dandywarhol Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:40 pm

For anybody wanting to do it themselves all you need is this form and a £12 damp meter from ALDI, a multimeter and a soapy water solution to spray on the gas joints.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

From my own experience the habitation check is only as good as the so called "approved agent". I bought a motorhome which had a fresh "Approved Agant" habitation certificate and it wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

They failed to notice that it had a solar panel and that the habitation battery was in fact u/s
They failed to notice water ingress between the skins of a rooflight.
They carried out the dampness check in the censored!

rain so the complete lower area of the van scored 12 but only because it was so damp.

There is a feedback area of the Approved Workshops website but the shortsighted "Approved" guy who did mine has a 96% satisfaction record from 39 surveys - work that one out confused0

Habitation check, is it worth it?

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