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Post by crowsfoot on Oct 31, 2024 10:55:57 GMT
Since retiring I do follow a few of the YouTube plumbers and one of them seems to have got a bit upset with social media dishing on him which is a pity because he is one of the better ones that I enjoy watching.
Mainly a boiler repair guy but he does have a go at plumbing.
On this one he's re-doing a gas hob that a kitchen fitter's connected up with a flexi.
Whilst I know and understand how to and why we do a drop test on a gas install it's this 26-9 checks business that he sometimes states that's driving me up the wall because it's something that I've not heard of before.
Can anyone tell me what exactly is he referring too by 26-9 checks?
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Post by dickpuller on Nov 1, 2024 19:29:14 GMT
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Post by crowsfoot on Nov 2, 2024 10:04:36 GMT
Thanks for that Dick. So it's just a bit of gas-safe bunkum designed to do exactly what it did. I'm surprised he did this because he seemed to be a straight up guy and not the type to try and bamboozle with fancy chat. Then again this is basically all what gas-safe is really all about!!  That all purpose cutter he used did look handy and if I was say 10 years younger I'm sure that I would have bought one as part of me tool kit. However, if I was doing that job it would have certainly been an hacksaw blade out of the hacksaw and a big struggle to cut through that pipe in the plaster! Not a tool of our generation? |
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Post by dickpuller on Nov 3, 2024 7:24:00 GMT
Thanks for that Dick. So it's just a bit of gas-safe bunkum designed to do exactly what it did. I'm surprised he did this because he seemed to be a straight up guy and not the type to try and bamboozle with fancy chat. Then again this is basically all what gas-safe is really all about!! That all purpose cutter he used did look handy and if I was say 10 years younger I'm sure that I would have bought one as part of me tool kit. However, if I was doing that job it would have certainly been an hacksaw blade out of the hacksaw and a big struggle to cut through that pipe in the plaster! Not a tool of our generation? Yeah, us Gas artisans do love to ‘big it up’, use our smoke n mirrors😂😂 He’s a good guy & I follow him too on Utube. The Multiitool is a good piece of kit for getting you out a hole, but the gear like that is endless. I’m as guilty as most for buying power tools & only using them occasionally. |
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Post by DIYDafty on Nov 3, 2024 20:54:23 GMT
Why don't the GS knobs teach the kitchen fitters how to use a manometer?
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Post by dickpuller on Nov 4, 2024 7:53:06 GMT
Why don't the GS knobs teach the kitchen fitters how to use a manometer? Ah!!! Fantastic to hear from you Dafty!! I thought you’d met an early demise matey……..You & the whole family taken out by a massive Gas explosion!!💥 💥💥 |
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Post by crowsfoot on Nov 4, 2024 9:34:47 GMT
Why don't the GS knobs teach the kitchen fitters how to use a manometer? Everyone seems to like new fangled gadget's and gizmos plus they do help GS bamboozle the public into believing how the country could blow up if your fitter is not on their register. You can still drop test and set the gas pressure using a manometer and also do the 26,9 checks (or not leave the installation in a dangerous state) . The flu gas analyser is the new expensive bit of equipment that has mainly stopped the DIY or occasional gas installer (it's a lot of money to fork out if it's not for your livelihood). Like Dick says it's good to hear from you again dd. I think that these YouTube plumbers are slowly replacing these once popular forums. |
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Post by dickpuller on Nov 4, 2024 15:54:48 GMT
Yeah there’s plenty Ponce Plumbers coining it in on social media. With endorsement & advertising they can make a good living at it, which is good, because most are ‘all the gear & no idea’!!
They’re not making a living grafting that’s for sure. Clueless cunts!!
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Post by DIYDafty on Nov 4, 2024 21:10:53 GMT
Kind of you both to say so.
My feet are firmly on the ground although I've now got 2 boilers installed and am very happy with them. The new modulating boiler is superb. Without Dick's "invaluable" advice I wouldn't have had a clue.... I move from main to standby or vice-versa by turning 7 valves and 3 switches. Takes less than a minute.
I'm a DIYer but I think 90% of this GS bullshit is to keep the boiler fitters happy. Makes them feel exclusive. Not thought about it too much but I wonder if you couldn't run a morning's course for kitchen fitters and keen DIYers how to test for gas leaks. If you're doing some work on the gas side and ultimately you know how to check if you've got a leak that's most of the battle isn't it?
I did buy an FGA for about £120 still in calibration date so it still does the job. You can get it re-calibrated every 2 years which still works out cheaper and less stress than getting a wrong'n in your home.
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Post by joinerjohn on Nov 5, 2024 17:19:37 GMT
Why don't the GS knobs teach the kitchen fitters how to use a manometer? Coz they don’t want kitchen fitters doing GS registered installers out of a job. They’d rather the kitchen fitter/ homeowner, was left waiting days/ weeks waiting on someone turning up to connect it to the gas. ( after all, these GS reg chaps have forked out a fortune, so GS staff can justify their existence) 😉😉😉😉 |
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Post by dickpuller on Nov 6, 2024 8:58:01 GMT
Why don't the GS knobs teach the kitchen fitters how to use a manometer? Coz they don’t want kitchen fitters doing GS registered installers out of a job. They’d rather the kitchen fitter/ homeowner, was left waiting days/ weeks waiting on someone turning up to connect it to the gas. ( after all, these GS reg chaps have forked out a fortune, so GS staff can justify their existence) 😉😉😉😉 Of course, as with electrics, we need regulatory bodies to ensure the safety of the Public. We do have huge on-costs being GSR artisans - as do electricians, with their respective authorities. As Dafty has stated, he’d be completely ignorant without the assistance of my good self. Which was only offered because of my deep concern for his families welfare. However, he being a tight ‘half a shandy’ Engerlander, it’s unlikely I’ll reap any financial rewards!! |
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Post by crowsfoot on Nov 6, 2024 11:12:17 GMT
As most of us know gas-safe evolved out of the plumbing trade which did gas-fitting as part of the plumbing works until (i think was 1992) we then had 4 years to do an ACOPS gas course to legally be able to continue to work on gas which was to be administered by the (mainly hated in the trade) GORGI organisation who must have thought that they had really hit the jackpot when the government handed them the new gas licence.
Me old gaffer at the time thought that it was ridiculous saying "if you are a plumber then you are also a gas fitter" and we carried on working safely with gas without the GORGI licence for a few years.
However, by late 1995 all the employed plumbers including me had completed this ACOPS course!
To enforce our newly found status we had a caption "Gas In Safe Hands" added alongside our CORGI badge on the side of our vans:) .
There was however a problem non trades people where completing the ACOPS course which was designed as a 3 day assessment course just for qualified plumbers.
To my own thinking the main reason up to now for the gas licencing was to stop the huge amount of moonlighting work done at the time by the gas trade.
GORGI lost the licence to implement the regulation and the 3 day ACOPS training course was replaced by ACS and GAS-SAFE was later formed.
The publics thinking had been slowly changed and a new exclusive trade had sprung up from what once was just a small part of a plumbers work.
Not only that it was now decided to pay the newly gas-safe qualified plumbers more money than they ever got paid has plumbers!
During the first few years of ACS the instructors would spoon feed you through the course, although this good attitude was later to change in later years.
I called time on gas fitting in 2010 when me gaffer said that he would now only pay me the gas rate for the time that I worked doing gas fitting.
Just my own personal experience of how we got to where we are today with the gas fitting trade of 2024.
Tappy,
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Post by joinerjohn on Nov 7, 2024 17:41:12 GMT
Me old gaffer at the time thought that it was ridiculous saying "if you are a plumber then you are also a gas fitter" and we carried on working safely with gas without the GORGI licence for a few years. However, by late 1995 all the employed plumbers including me had completed this ACOPS course! Tappy, Hmmmm, I learnt to ride a bicycle in the 60’s, took the cycling proficiency test in 1968 and passed. If I wanted to buy a new bicycle these days, do I have to take the latest version of the cycling proficiency test ? It’s the same with sparkies. Every few years the regs get updated. They have to attend courses on leccy installation. I’m convinced that these updated regs are nowt but a “course creation scheme” designed to relieve tradesmen of a lot of their hard earned cash. 😉😉 Im sure within a decade the average house owner is going to need a qualification to change a fookin light bulb. 😂😂 |
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Post by crowsfoot on Nov 8, 2024 9:42:17 GMT
Once the powers that be find a way to make money out of it JJ. Get the wrong light bulb in and it will contribute to creating more greenhouse gas and create global warming! |
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Post by crowsfoot on Nov 8, 2024 10:16:48 GMT
Plus getting the gas-safe registered does not mean that you are safe to do gas fitting.
A hopeless plumbing apprentice that once worked with me after everyone else had refused to work with the shit fell into this category.
He could pass the exams alright, but he had no practical aptitude at all.
He was even actually scared of lighting the blow lamp!
He passed the gas-safe but couldn't do the job by himself.
He's now back plumbing after being told that he had to work by himself on gas boiler re-fit (and failing to do it).
On one of my last plumbing assessments I noticed a guy in a room looking very down and troubled doing his "tick in a box" gas assessment paper.
His assessor came into our room and I overheard "I don't know what to do with him-he's scored less this time than he did on his last paper"!
"I would tell him to have another good read of the book before having another go" said our assessor
This chap could probably do the job but just couldn't do the exams.
I do wonder where we are going with all this continuous assessment in our jobs.
A secret "Fly on the wall" TV documentary would make some fascinating television in one of these centres, in my opinion!!
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