Gas or water?

[A2TG]

Hi Guys, hope you can shed a bit of light to help me with my dilema. I'm booked up to start a 6129 course in September. The intention was to get fully qualified with water, get a bit of experience behind me then get into the gas side. I've been thinking about it recently and can't decide whether i'd be better off doing a gas course first (ie do a basic training course, get work experience then do the ACS). Do you think i'd gain enough experience from the gas to be able to work on bathrooms etc? Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[migoplumber]

i think your better off doing your plumbing first, and get a bit of experience.
your gas will be easier to pass if you have some basic knowledge,
to pass your gas, all you have to do is prove competency which only comes with experience.

good luck
shaun

 

[REDSAW]

hi,
without being too personal here as i know the guys will tear u to shreads,
but if i were you, i would spend from now to september raking every bit of information from past threads posted on this forum and learn from them.
you clearly have a blinkered view as to how simmple the industry is, as there is no chance of you achieving the goals that you are setting in your own mind.
good luck all the same.

 

[johnmcginty]

The most difficult thing you will do in your life is to find someone who is willing to give you the gas experience , Plus sometimes a boiler failing is nothing to do with the boiler itself, maybe it was the pump ? so having some knowledge of plumbing is always the first step.

 

[secret squirrel]

Water, I've not been in this industry long at all. Every time I cut a pipe or start a job there is a short pause. Have I done everything that I need to? Is this pipe isolated? Am I going to have a major flood on my hand? Have I got everything I need to sort this problem.

Before I look at an unvented system I have to re-look at my books.

The thought of starting off on gas sends shivers down my spine.

 

[dick999]

you have to learn the alphabets before you can learn words....

 

[obseen16]

you cant actually do your gas until youve got your 6129 or better. so you gotta do the water stuff first regardless lol. good luck

 

[migoplumber]

obseen as i have said on different threads, you do not need any water qualifications at all to sit your gas.
the only thing you have to do is prove you are competent to your college.
if the college believe you are confident you will pass first time.

as my instructor told me, his 8 year old could come and sit the course, ( there is only 1 paper that is closed book ( all other questions are with your regs books in front of you and the answers are in them ))
his daughter would pass the exam, and could easily find the rest of the answers in the books.
but he still wouldnt want her working on his gas supply!

 

[obseen16]

obseen as i have said on different threads, you do not need any water qualifications at all to sit your gas.
the only thing you have to do is prove you are competent to your college.
if the college believe you are confident you will pass first time.

as my instructor told me, his 8 year old could come and sit the course, ( there is only 1 paper that is closed book ( all other questions are with your regs books in front of you and the answers are in them ))
his daughter would pass the exam, and could easily find the rest of the answers in the books.
but he still wouldnt want her working on his gas supply!

Ah Fair doos migoplumber, im doing my gas course at college at the mo (ccn 1 + 4 appliances & Met 1)and i was told i had to have my 6129 as a minimum but that might have been the colleges own policy and not a national thing i guess, sorry to mis inform.

 

[Bernie2]

When I worked for a big Plumbing specialist company in the late 60's early 70's we had a gas fitting division that did a lot of gas work for the then nationalised British Gas. The gas fitters both in British Gas and our company never touched anything to do with water. The Plumber did the house gas carcassing and the fitters fitted appliances and obviously perhaps serviced them. That is why BG was called British Gas probably and not British Gas and Plumbing.

The move into central heating by British Gas also included bathrooms and showers which they expected their poor old gas fitters to know all about. There seemed to be chaos at first until it all settled down.

Some of our lads went over to a site to help some BG gas fitters install central heating as a favour to the lads. Apparently somebody said to the gas fitter's "Seeing your in the JIB now and graded the same as a Plumber, we expect you to fit central heating".

I am not sure even now if BG do their own installations most of it seems to be subbied out.

 

[jpm]

I have actually fitted a full central heating system for the sister of a BG man with 20 years service at his request.Guess what they can't plumb.

 

[A2TG]

Thanks guys to all of those with positive helpful advice, it's much appreciated. Think I may have been getting ahead of myself a little so i'm glad I asked the question as it's better to listen to those in the know about such things before jumping in head first. Thanks again!

 

[fuzzy]

obseen as i have said on different threads, you do not need any water qualifications at all to sit your gas.
the only thing you have to do is prove you are competent to your college.
if the college believe you are confident you will pass first time.

as my instructor told me, his 8 year old could come and sit the course, ( there is only 1 paper that is closed book ( all other questions are with your regs books in front of you and the answers are in them ))
his daughter would pass the exam, and could easily find the rest of the answers in the books.
but he still wouldnt want her working on his gas supply!

you dont need any quals to sit your ACS correct, but its got nothing to do with confidence. YOU MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE. The amount fo experiecne comes down to which quals you have. No quals means 240 days experience of working on gas, that must be signed by a RGI, if a college takes you on without it they wil have their creditation taken from them.
If the exam was that easy it wouldnt get throught the strict quality assurace. there is a time lmit so simply looking up each question will not get you through you will run out of time. what about the practical section?? there is more theory involved in that
your advice is misleading and dangerous

 

[macplumb]

Just want to get my pennys worth in. First off good luck in which path you choose. I would say the best path would be to start with the plumbing, work though the tech certs andthe nvqs this way you will do gas at level 3 and gain experience.
The other reason I would say if you whent to a install where there is a exsisting system lets say y plan you would need the knowledge for the decom and then to convert into a sealed system insted of mounting the boiler running gas to it then callin in a plumber to do the wet side.