My central heating failed but hot water still working OK. An engineer is coming to replace synchron motor. Do I also need to replace one or both heads, as engineer recommends? I've been quoted £120 just for synchron motor?
Why do you need an engineer to do that? A fitter or technician could do it.
I take it that you're not in the UK.
In the UK, the term Engineer has become synonymous with a technician or fitter.
Most annoying to those of us who were professional qualified engineers.
Unlike other professions such as Architect, Solicitor etc., whose titles are legally protected, the title Engineer is not and it is widely misused.
David
IMO Just the one that has failed. You could look up the model/part number on the net.
Plumber. Electrician. Handyman. Competent person with a screwdriver.
Safety hazards for the unwary.
:-|
A UK Gas Engineer has professional safety training and a certification for that.
Still doesn't necessarily make them an engineer.
Oh I think they are all engineers these days, it sounds better then fitter.
I expect somebody working in Government writing reports are known as Publicity Engineers Brian
A universal motor is about £10 (EBay)
A complete valve assembly varies but I?d expect to pay £30-£40 for one.
The head a bit less depending on make etc.
To replace the valve, you need to drain down at least part of the system - unless there are isolation valves.
Motor is just a few screws. A couple to remove the cover. One or two for the motor. Wire may have screw terminals (2).
It is probably easier to replace the motor than a head or valve as there are fewer wires and the valve needs the system (partly) drained.
There is (usually) a (small) lever on the valve you can move by hand. If it moves freely, the valve is probably ok and you could risk replacing the motor for £10.
Likewise, I don't think a degree of engineering makes someone an engineer.
Or an MCSE a computer professional, etc....
All relative to how much memory someone has to recall the notes and examples that someone once wrote on a blackboard, and someones ability to adapt those notes to exceptions found in practical life.
Here on usenet, we see lots of hopeless hopefuls asking for "solutions manuals" to get past exams and presumably bad educators.
I wouldn't label them as engineers, but they may get a bit of impressive paper that sez so.
I have successfully replaced motors.
Here is a valve with cover removed and then motor removed
Replacing a whole valve is a total pain as it needs a drain down usually unless there are isolation valves. As in the above photo!
With motor assembly removed you can check the valve shaft for free rotation. If its stiff try wiggling with some 'angry pliers' or similar. generally if there has been lime buildup that will free it up a bit .
If its leaking, forget it and do the whole job.
I also repaired one motor assembly where the motor wires had been connected using slipover ceramic blind tubes after TWISTING TOGETHER. Instead of the more usual crimp
I still have a complete spare valve I ordered from ebay in case I needed it.
Soldering restored sanity
All of this is well within most DIY people's skill sets.
Just remember to isolate the CH system electrically first :-)
Strictly, it does.
What you are really saying is that qualifications do not equal either practical experience or practical competency.
Engineers are unlike *some* other professions. They are in the same boat as e.g. accountants, doctors and nurses. Hence "chartered accountant", "registered nurse" etc - and similarly "chartered engineer".
I remember when I started my BEng university course we had an introductory lecture and one of the things mentioned was how in the UK (but not in a lot of other European countries) "engineer" was misused for a technician who came to fix your boiler etc. He was advocating using the spelling "Engineer" with a capital E for qualified BEng etc engineers and/or members of the IEE, BCS, IMechE etc chartered institutes.
In Germany, "Engineer" is a pre-nominal title like "Dr" - as in "Herr Ing Johann Schmidt" (Germany's word for engineer starts with an I not an E). I remember one of my mates made one of those "I wish *I'd* said that comments" - "Herr Ing sounds a bit fishy to me".
To emphasise the distinction in the UK the phrase to use for a professional engineer is "Chartered Engineer", shortened to CEng, though I'm not sure if that has any legal backup.
If (as I am) you are a meamber of FEANI, the European umbrella engineering organisation then you can prefix your name with "Eur Ing", e.g. I'm:-
Eur Ing Christopher Alan Green CITP CEng MBCS
(I just got a letter from the BCS with it on!)
True enough, I know lots of fellow electrical engineers who don't know how to wire a plug. However there is still a requirement, as for other professions, to be able to know if someone is qualified to be 'a medical doctor', 'a lawyer' or whatever.
Technical authors
In one of university lectures we were told "You don't need to know the answer - you need to know where to look it up"
It is, frankly, a lost cause. Any kind of distinction you attempt to make is not one that's reflected in the public's mind, so trying to distinguish between technician v engineer, engineer v Engineer, invented new terms like 'technologist', etc are not going to be shared by the public at large. (in the US an engineer is also someone who drives a train)
Plus IMX chartership is merely an excuse to fleece you of £200pa by the Institutions for doing not-a-lot beyond keeping you on a database and some gentlemans-club premises that most members don't visit. I can see it might impress some clients if you're freelance, but it's not really a mark of quality any more, merely a mark that you paid the fees. I suspect the whole system will fall apart sooner or later.
That's an EE perspective. It might be more relevant for folks in, say, civil where liability plays a bigger part. I can't say if the ICivilE is more rigorous in assessing their members, but the IET doesn't do a lot. (apart from the wiring regulations part, which is in a different universe from the professional engineering institution, albeit a nice cash cow for them)
Theo
Jonathan Harston expressed precisely :
It's a fairly simple DIY job.
I have generally found that people who collect letters after their name are more likely to be wankers than professionals.
I remember one sub continental girl with an alleged degree in electronics from somewhere in India who couldn't solder.
Once we taught her, she got put on doing simple remedial work involving unsoldering a bad component and inserting a good one.
OTOH our Hatfield polytechnic electrical engineering HNDs were bloody marvellous.
That has proved to be extremely true.
I cannot remember most of my engineering degree, but I can remember three things
- what you need to have an answer to, in various situations
- how to look it up
- how to work it out from first principles if that fails
Example. I was faced years ago with trying to design a power supply running at TV line frequency. Eventually I realised by going back to basic magnetic principles that the power you can get out of a cored transformer is the maximum flux density the core will take without saturating, times the frequency of operation.
(When I wrote this down and gave it to Clive Sinclair, I was constructively dismissed for pointing out that the laws of physics were as immutable as his egotism.
What a wanker.)
It's amazing how much you can do on the 'back of an envelope' sometimes to prove a design is either possible or impossible
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