Plumbers and Heating

[DerbyBorn]

I often wonder whether there should be a different title to differentiate between a plumber who can fit pipes and one who can solve heating problems. (However, having heard of some problems at a new old people's home I wonder if some plumbers have never read the instructions on how to assemble plastic pipe joints. It is costing thousands to expose and chack all joints after several failed.)

I was speaking to a plumber about my heating. Whilst I can get a good full bore flow out of one of the radiator pipes - the other is merely a trickle. I feel it is a blockage at the microbore manifold)

The plumber told me that the one that trickled would be the return pipe and water isn't meant to flew from it!. I thought of drawing a diagram and explaining static pressure - but decided to play the thick punter and nod.

[Andrew Gabriel]

... and one who clears drains... ... and one who does leadwork on roofs...

At one end of the scale, you can find someone who thinks (wrongly) that plastic pushfit needs no skills and matches their capability, and at the other end, you will find someone with a science degree who not only has acquired the skills to design and install the most complex modern heating system, but also fully understands all the physics, electronics, and chemistry involved in the process, and has the diagnostic skills to quickly home in and remidy any problems.

Combine this range of skills with the additional complexity of modern boilers, heating controls, multiple energy sources and home generation, designing for efficiency (and my expectation that these will get much more complex still) - there's a massive mismatch between the skills base out there today, and what's actually required today, and on into the future.

This is a massive problem for people like boiler manufacturers, heating control manufacturers, etc, because their products are for the most part installed and serviced by plumbers who understand almost nothing about the products and how to use them effectively, and the extent to which they can be trained to do so is not very large.

BTW, no offence to a number of the plumbers here (or perhaps better called heating engineers), some of which have come to this from science and engineering backgrounds, but they're hard to find out in the wild.

[harryagain]

Tradesmen just don't get a proper training these days.

[DerbyBorn]

The concept of "Time Served" is inadequate today. It only says that someone received a level of training and experence some time ago when they entered the trade. Things move fast now and it is to be expected that some training should take place every few years. Some plumbers clearly don't even read the manuals that come with the items they are fitting. I had to intervene when a plumber was trying to "pair" my wireless thermostat to the new boiler. He was basing the procedure on a totally different make. He suggested that I was anal because I had read the manual.

[David.WE.Roberts]

:-)

Our plumber was bemused by me reading the manual - obviously he hadn't - and pointing out that the configuration required a small expansion vessel on the incoming cold water main.

I think even experienced plumbers assume that all boilers are much the same and do a 'standard fit' procedure.

Cheers

Dave R

[Mr Pounder]

And this is only going to escalate. How many kids of say 12 years old want to be a plumber? Where is the attraction/excitement in being a plumber?

[Onetap]

Your job won't get outsourced to Mumbai?

[ARW]

I once saw a film where a lady of the house was interested in the plumber

[jgh]

fitter

engineer

My plumber is a plumbing and heating engineer who employs plumbing and heating fitters while putting them through the training to become plumbing and heating engineers themselves.

jgh

[DerbyBorn]

[e-mail] wrote in news:30e5fb38-e9bd-4867-a5bd- [e-mail]:

I think "Engineer" is over the top. "Technician" would be more appropriate. An Engineer is someone who uses science to solve problems and design solutions and is professionally qualified.

[harryagain]

Michael Faraday and his ilk called themselves "electricians". Just a matter of terminology.

[harryagain]

When I had my solar panels fitted, I had to go on the roof myself to show the "electrician" how to wire them up.

DIY seems to be a dying hobby as well. You never see all the DIY magazines nowadays that once existed.

[stuart noble]

Sparrow's Dance 2012?

[Cursitor Doom]

The thrill of working with technical and highly complex systems that demand a thorough understanding of the rapidly evolving underlying science, of course. Modern plumbing appeals to the nerdy type of kid who decades ago would have gone into the aerospace industry. ;-)

[News]

I thought Adam had morphed into Robin Askwith ...

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'd like to think it could, but have you seen any evidence that it actually does? What's the entry route for this type of kid into the industry from university?

[John Rumm]

Similar parallels exist with modern automotive technology and traditional mechanics.

To an extent that is missing the key point of the argument... that tradesmen traditionally are not recruited from the rigorous academic and hard science backgrounds - and hence may be woefully lacking in the background knowledge required to have a deep understanding of the modern technology with which they work.

(there is also the parallel argument, that many engineers who do have the academic background may lack the practical aptitude and skills!)

[John Rumm]

Which is possibly more a reflection on the fact that "how to" magazines in general are vanishing, as they get replaced by more timely delivery of better content on the internet.

[John Rumm]

Obscene call out rates as the supply of willing people gets ever smaller ;-)

What was the tale of the barrister who called out an emergency plumber to fix a problem. After 15 mins work the plumber fixed it, and handed out a bill for £175. The barrister commented that he could not even command that hourly rate as a barrister. To which the plumber replied, "no neither could I when I was a barrister, that's why I retrained as a plumber!"

[John Rumm]

and prior to that, electricians were stage performers and close up "showmen" using electrical apparatus. However the world has moved on somewhat, alas joe public's understanding of what an engineer is has not it seems.