Being in the gas industry

[andyg0507]

Thought id start a post on how people have got into this game, where they started and how the more experienced lads/ladies have learnt to be good gas engineers, im sure this will be an insight into other people getting into or already in the trade and still learning.

Ile start the post off with my experience.

I started plumbing and gas five years ago when i decided that the £40 i was getting fitting windows all over the country was taking the p**s, decided to go to college and learn a trade at the age of 25, once i had started my course i was lucky and managed to find an employer where i did boiler installs, servicing, breakdowns on a regular basis.

After id completed the level 1 plumbing course i enrolled on a gas foundation course which my employer had said i was ready for and 12 months later i was a gas engineer ( a bit of a virgin tho ) i then completed my 6129, (not the right order i may add).

Since passing my gas my learning curve has been that steep you could fall off it, sometimes things dont go to plan and you learn the hard way,sometimes im at work till 9pm, some days are that quiet i could win a qiz show about t.v the previous day, and sometimes if works quiet wonder where the money for the bills is coming from at the end of the month.

Whats all your views on getting to where you are, how have you learnt, what are you best at?

And a big thing also to say is, no i didnt get into this trade because id seen some advert telling me i can earn 50k a year, i got into it because it intrested me and to be honest i love it, no days the same, so anyone who's wanting to get into this trade have a long hard think as to why you want to do it because the money isnt what it says on the tin all the time.

Any way look forward to all your feed backs, good or bad:yes:

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

my dad has been a gas engineer for ever,i followed into the industry,went to college got my level 3 done my gas and went from there with the business we run i solely carry out servicing/repairs/ boiler changes my dad and a apprentice concentrate on the bathroom/plumbing side of things

 

[Koogatubac]

I started working for a one man band 'off the books' learning, however couldnt hack being told i was crap as a apprentice lol so i left that

When i was representing the local college in a plumbing competition, got a trail on a large company who solely did '1 day heatings' - 2 years working there, they lost the main contract (eaga, warm front) so they laid EVERYONE off

Got on a government grant scheme by them paying me £150 a week doing being dogs bodies for various of different businesses to gain my gas portfolio

Got my GAS and NVQ Lvl 2&3, no one would take me on, so i did sub contracting for a local council, doing fill re-pipe and replacing bathrooms in a day. And 1 day heating squads.

Got out of there and got in with 1 of the 'best' plumbing companies in my area (they ant the best since working for them) solely running a large building site (plumbing & heating side) installation, maintenance, repair.

Was only on a temp contract and bloke was using me so decided to go self employed and be my own boss.

Still young (23) and always learning

 

[Ivor Bates]

I started of in the gas industry at the tender age of 10, when me and my pals broke into a builders site and set light to a dozen propane gas bottles and stood back and watched the building site go up in flames, only for the fire brigade to come along and evacuate the local area. We all got nicked and all got a damned good hiding. 16 joined the army came out at 23 took a year out to sail around the planet came back, did a TOPS course @ Lewisham college, then took day release @ Hackney college & college of NW London. Joined a few different companies doing local authority work. Ended up after 4 years as a supervisor for OCO Heating was offered a job as contract administrator for Kensington & Chelsea after getting bored with that left to go back on the tools joined some other company who thought they would knock my money because a timesheet wasn't filled out correctly, however as I was quids in because I had half a dozen of their boilers and bundles of different size tube in my garage. Gave them the option to pay me what they owed or I'd leave within the following 10 minutes.... I left and set up on my own and have never looked back. However if I was starting out again there is no way I would come into this industry, too much of a headache and it messes up your social life too much...

 

[stevetheplumber]

as a plumbing apprentice in the seventies we did little gas training after i was a plumber i got to working with a guy that did heating and from there i started doing them my self it was a different game in those days most blokes didnt even have a gas guage everything went in on 15 mm unless there was a previous ascot on 22mm, despite being corgi registered id never done a gas rate till the first acops

 

[diamondgas]

In 1978 at the tender age of 16 I sat an aptitude test for Northern gas! Got chose and then followed 3 years apprenticeship about half/half college and on the job training! In 1981 I completed my apprenticeship. At that time we'd do every aspect of gas work from installing gas meters to repairing everything up to and including comercial boilers! Spend 1st cupl of years servicing and repairs, gas escape emergency call out inside and outside! Then 10yrs installing for 'The Gas Board'.

After Privatisation I got out of installation and ended up trouble shooting system design. Became tech assistant for team of guys eventually managers assistant. that's when I got to see the managerial side of B-Gas and realized I and everyone else there were just numbers!! Left after 25yrs!

My advice on becoming 'good' ... Learn how components work and how they relate to each other, the expected sequence of events for all appliances to get from off to on! Learn what happens to water within a system how it gets from a to b. And network! Get to know others in the trade you can sound off with when you just don't know ...

Enjoy what you're doing and it becomes less like 'work' and more satisfying

This isn't a bad profession all in all IMHO

 

[AWheating]

the day after i finished my final gcse exam at the age of 16 i was told by my dad that i had 2 weeks to find a job and start paying board or i would be no longer welcome living at my parents house. So with the fear of living on the streets in the back of my mind i check the local paper and saw a advert for plumbing apprentices. 6 days later i was enrolled and working, £40 a week paying £20 a week board. Still dont know how i made £20 last with travel to work etc... but atleast i had somewhere to sleep

that was 18years ago and sadly i still smell of flux and boss white, but i dont really know anything else.

 

[kozak1968]

Started in 1985 at 16 on a Y.T.S on £27.30 for Taylor Woodrow. Done my craft, advance craft and construction services welding. Then got pushed to do the gas by my boss in 2005 then jacked in and went on my own and have"nt looked back.

 

[Millsy 82]

At the age of 16 I worked in a factory as a temp all I wanted to do was go in the army 2 weeks before I went for my medical got laid off as work dried up, Went for army medical passed everything then got told as I didnt have a job I would have to try again when I had a job.

Got another job in a factory and lasted 2 weeks so decided to take up a trade then go in the army after I passed.

Went to careers office wanting to be either a chippy or grease monkey and walked out a apprentice plumber (Still not sure how that happened) After the first day I wanted to quit as my job was knock the flue hole out with a lump hammer and chisel and I hit my hand more than the chisel.

After 4 years I got my gas and changed jobs started earning good money so carried on with gas.

Over the years I have regreted not following my dream and went through a spell of depression and drugs. I then became a dad and carried on working as I had no choice 14 years since I started I have started to focus on the positives ( I love working with the girls I do and I love meeting different people But I hate everybody thinking I am a rip off merchant because of the tv programmes although I offered to look at somebodies pump because they have been quoted £300 to replace it for a pint)

 

[Dannypipe]

My father is a heating engineer, my brother is a plumber. I left school with a handful of bad GCSE's. Had the option to go back to school, but starting working for my father. Enjoyed having a few quid in my pocket. I was dogs body for a good while. Eventually I went to college in the evenings. Did an NVQ2. My father started to take more of an interest in teaching me once he could see I wasn't about to jack it in. I then went on to get qualified in gas, solar, ground & air source, unvented.

That was a good few years back. Now I'm running my own small business (I still work with my father). We also do building work, and I currently have a few blokes working for me and really enjoy my job.

I'm still a big believer that everyday is a school day. To that end I am at college this week, picking up my oil qualifications. So I will be OFTEC registered soon too.

I think I will always be on the tools, as I don't want a big business, with all the stress that can bring...I'm quite happy having a crack with the lads (who have all been mates for years) going to the local after work on a Friday and switching off for a few hours, and seeing lots of my wife and kids. I've mates who went into banking and the like who earn lots of dosh, but they work silly hours.

My last couple of big jobs have been 7 minutes from my house (not rushing either). That's been for coming up for a year. My next one is 15 minutes away. When we knock off at 4.30, I can be home before 5. That's a massive perk for me.

 

[SimonG]

Went back to do my a levels and lasted 3 weeks. Dropped onto an engineering YTS in Hull, lasted 8 months before I got a start on a hospital contract over the road from where I lived, offered apprenticeship after 3 months. Laid off after 7 years when construction last slumped, but laid off in morning and phone call same day for second interview at Glaxo. Started there 6 weeks later popping tablets and a leaflet it a cardboard box. Worked my way through and after 11 years transferred to Canada. Lasted 19 months out there before coming back. Wifes nephew was doing property maintenance when we came back, had 2 bathrooms that he couldn't do so I did them and went on my own. That was 7 years ago. Left the gas alone but have my OFTEC, for what it's worth.

 

[Bernie2]

In the old days, it was more "Can you do the job" than "Lets see your qualifications". Its very much the same now when you go for a job I get the impression. I started in construction straight from school in 1961 when the dole said "You have to take this job" I became an apprentice plumber because I liked the young plumber. In those days gas work was a part of a Plumbers job as well as a gas fitters.

In the 70's a gas fitters job was classed as semi skilled a Plumbers as skilled. It was British Gas wanting to break into the central heating market forcing its gas fitters to do central heating that started a lot of the modern industry scene.

It was new regulation after Ronan Point that brought in all the qualification stuff plus the government stopped subsidising the technical colleges and so they where forced to charge for courses or close. They spilt up the gas work into a load of modules basically I suppose to make a lot of money to help run the colleges. And of course the likes of gas boilers in the old days were not really complicated at all. The demand for more efficiency and lessening of flue gas harmful emissions, has seen electronics widely used in modern boilers most of which was not really there before.

I have to admit in the old days on reflection a lot of gas work had been done with little technical knowledge applied. It was a case when installing of opening the box and reading the fitting instructions before fitting. The industry did need some form of education and supervision. Today's courses would have been good without the prices. But saying all that I do not know if more people got killed before Corgi, Gas Safe, ACOPS or ACS started or after it.

Certainly the old timers learning was more experience based than college and qualification. But then you could at least get a job in the game. The modern problem seems simply to be a lack of work. If things work like they have in the past all the Plumbers out of work or low on work at the moment will soon be taken up in an upturn. Probably the experienced ones first so the companies can be in full production right away, then the less experienced who need supervision. The problem is there does not seem much signs as yet of any up turn.

 

[andyg0507]

Some great posts so far, cheers

 

[Barry98]

Oops I thought this was the models forums

 

[andyg0507]

Oops I thought this was the models forums

Thats one for the mods to open bod, i await there response:yes:

 

[fuzzy]

H&V apprentice then added to my quals steadily over the years

 

[kirkgas]

1978, started as a plumbing apprentice on the YTS scheme, which gave the boss 6 months free labour, but most of the companies started the boys they had on YTS as full apprentices after the 6 month course and the 6 month counted towards your 4 years, £16.50 per week and i still had money on a friday moring from last weeks pay,

 

[Dotty]

1984 started with BT as a power and bes apprentice. The boss found out me dad was a plumber so in his logical way of thinking that was the section I went to. Worked on h&v, air con and generator fuel circuits. Late 90's saw all the work outsourced and I went from doing the work to running it as a clerk of works. Left BT in 2002, bummed around on my own for a bit, played about online and met my beautiful wife. Moved to Northern Ireland in 2005, worked for a couple of builders for a couple of years, then got a start back in the commercial market with the crowd I'm with now, picking up my oil and gas tickets in 2005 and 2007 respectively.