New Guy

BIGGLES1977 · 1 May 2008

Hi all, Ive just gone self employed and I am recently corgi registered but have little experience, anyway I was after some advice. A customer recently contacted me to say her oven wasnt working correctly (She only had a small flame, when turning the oven on, even turned up to gas mark 9). The oven was cleaned including the burners and she was told that she needed a new oven thermostat which I fitted for her, however the problem still persists and I am a little stupmed as to how to rectify the problem or what to do next. Any advice from you more experienced fellas would be great.

Regards

Biggles1977 (New Guy)

namsag · 1 May 2008

It is the ffd that has gone. If oven has been recently cleaned check that ffd probe is actually sitting in the flame and has not been dislodged or that burner holes are not blocked under it

gasacs · 1 May 2008

BIGGLES1977 said:
Hi all, Ive just gone self employed and I am recently corgi registered but have little experience, anyway I was after some advice. A customer recently contacted me to say her oven wasnt working correctly (She only had a small flame, when turning the oven on, even turned up to gas mark 9). The oven was cleaned including the burners and she was told that she needed a new oven thermostat which I fitted for her, however the problem still persists and I am a little stupmed as to how to rectify the problem or what to do next. Any advice from you more experienced fellas would be great.

Regards

Biggles1977 (New Guy)

Where did you sit your CCN1 this is a basic control covered on this and CKR1. I am assuming you hold these qualifications. Personally I would not have changed the thermostat without checking the FFD.

namsag · 1 May 2008

Gasacs. As a lot of us keep saying it is not unusual for people to get through ACS without knowing the basics, could you have seen that happening at aylstone road or have they dumbed down aswell to catch the private sector market

gas4you · 1 May 2008

I obviously have CCN1 and CKR1 etc etc, but I would never go out to a faulty oven or hob. I use my qualifications to only fit an inspect for CP12.

Although you are taught about these things in CCN1 I always feel that unless you work on things everyday it is too easy to forget.

Anyway, cookers are too dirty and greasy to work on

gasacs · 1 May 2008

namsag said:
Gasacs. As a lot of us keep saying it is not unusual for people to get through ACS without knowing the basics, could you have seen that happening at aylstone road or have they dumbed down aswell to catch the private sector market

Not sure about Aylestone Rd, but I am resitting my LPG there later this month so will let you know. All I can say is I would not be happy passing somebody at our centre who did not know how a basic safety device worked. Also I personally would not have fited the stat if the fault had been diagnosed (wrongly) by somebody else without first checking the cooker operation myself. Basically because most stats are a right b*****d to change.

Agile · 1 May 2008

gas4you said:
I obviously have CCN1 and CKR1 etc etc, but I would never go out to a faulty oven or hob. I use my qualifications to only fit an inspect for CP12.

Although you are taught about these things in CCN1 I always feel that unless you work on things everyday it is too easy to forget.

Thats why CORGI test people before giving them their own registration.

Nevertheless, its usually only inexperienced people who want to get involved in repairing ovens.

They are hardly economic to repair unless the upmarket range cookers. With the basic tennants cooker at £200 there is not much scope for a repair at under half the new cost.

As Dave says, they are usually thick with grease and very unpleasant to work on. It really amazes me that some people will work on catering repairs. I know from the enquiries that they are few and far between with most firms installing catering but not repairing them!

Tony

gasacs · 1 May 2008

I get fed up with calls from mobile catering firms asking if I will certificate there mobile burger van etc, always turn them down..

namsag · 1 May 2008

Cookers are a peice of p#ss to diagnose faults on , but tend to find the only fault newcomers and boiler repairers seem to know about is the blocked oven bypass which is in the ACS exam. And in 29 years have only ever seen 2 get blocked.
As for greasy dirty cookers when you see grass growing out of them and grease above the burner caps we used to just say try cleaning it and walk back out the door.
The other one was asking for washing up liquid when finished , oh to wash your hands with? Nope to wash my tools i am not using them on next job in that state.

One of most common faults was ovens left on auto, used to cancel job for pensioners etc but the smug smart asses ,sign here please that will be £xx . What for pushing a button. Well why didn`t you just push it?

BIGGLES1977 · 1 May 2008

Thanks for the positive responses, I thought it would be the FFD but consulted with my kid brother who is a time served apprentice and he seemed to think it was just the burners blocked, as I said im new to all of this and only did a dillutey course as I didnt have a trade and knew a few people doing it so wanted to get involved.

Thanks also to the guys griefing me as it serves to only persevere and try harder to make a real go of this, after all how am I supposed to get the knowledge without practice. The big problem nowadays is that the training involved is just a toe in the door not so much a foot, because out of the 15 people on my course only 5 have jobs in industry 2 doing meters which is easy and you dont need brains and 2 doing purge and relights which again whoopee doo you dont need to be a rocket scientist to do.

I will strive to become a better engineer and was only consulting this site as there was a conflict in diagnosis between my brother and myself, so even though he has 7 years experience I will go with my own gut instincet next time. I do hope that if I get stuck again I could use your help and I'd like to appologise to the lads giving me grief for having the balls to startup on my own.

Any how take care lads and thanks, this is a great site and I feel it helps all of the not so experienced installers like myself.

Biggles1977

gremlin16 · 1 May 2008

BIGGLES1977

I'd like to appologise to the lads giving me grief for having the balls to startup on my own.

Any how take care lads and thanks, this is a great site and I feel it helps all of the not so experienced installers like myself.

Well said. Theres to many on here to quick to criticize others.

They need to look back to the time they originally qualified and the knowledge they have gained from older installers.
Constructive criticism has an advantage but meaningless criticism only reduces someones confidence.

When i went self employed I like others thought I knew it all.
I did know my limitations and never hesitated to seek advice from others.
Even now I come across situations that baffle me, but theres always some one that can give constructive advice.
There is no one installer on here that can answer every question asked, if he exists then they are liers or bluffers.

You will learn by your mistakes and become more competent every day.
If in doubt just ask someone, and best of luck in your chosen career.

gas4you · 1 May 2008

Thats all ok, but in reality you have been passed to work on gas just the same as any of us, experienced or not

The public will assume you know the same as us because your CORGI card says so

Hope you see my point. We all started somewhere, but basic responsibility must be taken by you AND the training centre that passed you as fit to work in the field on your own

gremlin16 · 1 May 2008

Hope you see my point. We all started somewhere, but basic responsibility must be taken by you AND the training centre that passed you as fit to work in the field on your own

Come on ! Can you honestly say that training centres really care.
If they had a poor pass rate then word would soon get around, and installers would seek out other training facilities.
I have attended several different centres, their aim is to make as much money as possible, the higher their pass rate the fuller their books.
Some of these training centers were run by boiler manufactures and are no different to independent centres.

I truly belive its the wrong way to go, but where money is involved there are to many cashing in on training!

I will not name the centres we have attended but my experience were quite shocking.

OFTEC course, 3 days and 1 day assessment.
Three installers did not know what kerosene was and had never seen an oil boiler?

Part "p" Installers on course did not know how to wire 13amp plugs

G3 a rgi did not know what a 2 port vale was?

And yes they all passed

You think £orgi are ripping us off

Training centers are even worse

namsag · 1 May 2008

totally agree with gremlin on those points

Trundles Tricks · 1 May 2008

It's good to see a positive attitude and desire to learn.

However your own experience/inexperience just highlights my favourite hobby horse...

The alarmingly low standards of training schemes and certification in this country, heads at the top of of both CORGI and the government should roll and many of our colleges/private training centres stripped of their certification to train within the gas industry immediately

It's also a touch concerning that that your brother didn't recognise the fault when described given his so called experience.

To be honest this fault was so basic that it's truly alarming that it has to be explained by others.

I gave up reparing cookers years ago due to as already pointed out the cheap cost of new ones plus the increasingly awkward strip down of more modern cookers resulting in much higher uneconomic bills for customers.

Best of luck for the future but your not unique case just highlights my continuing experience of new starts in the industry, they are basically chucked to the Wolves straight from a short inadequate traing course either resulting in an incident within months or learning at the customers expense or possible health until gaining enough experience to scrape through in the future.

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