domestic ACS

[Bamber gaspipe]

......sometimes I think 'why didnt I train to be a joiner instead'.

Because a joiner is someone who bangs bits of `three by two` together with a nail gun. Unlike a carpenter & unlike a skilled professional such as yourself.

 

[heatingman]

But if you'd become a joiner, you'd never have come on here and got so much abuse.

 

[Bamber gaspipe]

But if you'd become a joiner, you'd never have come on here and got so much abuse.

He`s only just posted, where`s the abuse come from

 

[heatingman]

I just checked to see if there was any abuse, and you actually called the man a "moron". I was actually referring to the amount of abuse that goes between the posters, that was generated by his original post.

 

[ChrisR]

For someone who is `supposedly` a part time gas instructor ( your claim ) & advising `joe bloggs` to `have some RGI say you`ve done enough stuff with them supervising ` to gain access to assessment is irresponsible & dangerous. You should know better.

The supervising plumber Where will he be when Numpty takes his assessment

He has no responsibility & well you know it.

You're misquoting, and you're wrong, wrong and wrong. I'm telling you what the procedure is. If you don't like it, tough.
You clearly don't know what you're gobbing off about. Nothing new there then.

Do carry on hurling insults, your posts will probably get deleted

again.

 

[kirkgas]

i will try to find out the exact requirements for a portfolio of evidence for the OP, as a plumber he will be Category 3, which will allow access to the assessment centre once checked and confirmed the portfolio allows him to train(if required, advised but not mandatory) and be assessed, if successful he would then be qualified and by definition deemed competent, he must then do all in his power not to confirm he is not competent by screwing something up, at an investigation the first question is who done the job, the second thing is to check qualifications, if not qualified you get done for working out of scope, if you are qualified you get done for not beng competent, in the mean time if he has access to a plumbing college he could ask apprentices what their portfolio requires, our 3rd years start to work on their portfolio by getting sent with gas engineers doing various tasks to bid up their experience while getting the technical back up at college, if no contact with apprentices then visit your local training centre who will be able to provide info for a cat 3

 

[kirkgas]

Gas tel i know a reason you chose correctly over training as a joiner, money, a joiner gets less than a tenner an hour with a gas enginer getting about £12.50 plus £1-3 per hour bonus, and he has to do much heavier work than us, you only get abused on here if you let it bother you, i have been abused at work for years, in one ear out the other in our game

 

[JPC]

i;m building up my gas hours at the moment.

cmat (at measham) and coalville college (leicestershire) both tell me i need 70 days evidenced experience with a corgi, as a cat 2. (i have nvq3)

i friend of mine did it throu leicester council and they req 70 hours. (they dont do it anymore)

so...i can be confusing i guess

cmat also told me if i get wide experience..ie cookers, fire etc ..not just boilers then they might consider less days...poss down to 40 days.

you then do 8 days ccn1 training and then 2 days exams.

then your elements...i think they are 1/2 day tuition and then test..
pass it all and apply to corgi

cost £700 for ccn1 + 255 per element

oh.....and some lost wages while fitting cookers/ fires for nothing!!

 

[Al-Glasgow]

Many thanks guys for clarifying the situation, I'm hoping to be on domestic heating systems again soon, this would help get more experience for a portfolio.

Some people on the forums just seem to think they should be the only gas engineers in the world, and choose to insult. Think back to when you were getting experience from good engineers.

Cheers
Al

 

[WDIK]

I know things are different these days,
the thing to remember is this...
the people you are talking to have been the last of a long tradition,
they did their time...
generally 4yrs-5yrs with another five yrs at college at their own expence.

tell the youth of today that and they wouldnt believe you

 

[Terrywookfit]

Aye!! It weren't like this when I was a lad tha knows!!

 

[ChrisR]

I don't deal with the applicants at the ACS centre, so I can't quote chapter and verse, but the fixed number of hours experience has gone, now there's a form asking things like how many gas tightness tests (and several other similar things) you've done under supervision. That's in addition to some form of formal training, which is pretty loose as far as I'm aware. It could for example have been done abroad. (Like Poland!)

Some guys come in without formal training of any sort but they've been doing it for years, and just recently had someone supervise them to get them straight. So they do 2 days training in the classroom and they're fine. Fine that is, in terms of the basic safety which ACS is there to test for.
When I did it it was simpler. I did a few days training from no experience whatsoever, passed the assessment and was Corgi reg in a about 3 weeks.

Let's not pretend it's actually very difficult. If someone can't adjust a gas valve, they're taking the P and are more or less shown the door.

 

[Agile]

Less than 50% of current RGIs seem competent to set up gas valves!

Some try and make total mess. I saw one where the min was the same as the max!

Setting up gas valves in NOT part of the boiler ACS. It should be !!!

Tony

 

[Trundles Tricks]

This entire thread just illustrates what a joke gas training and competency is in this country.


I've got a good idea...forget letting plumbers tack on a little gas course onto the end of their pathetic NVQ qualification and lets insist on a full 3 years gas training as used to be required for City and Guilds qualification.



Quite frankly the overwhelming number of newly 'qualified' trainees that I see emerging into the industry are a danger to themselves and more importantly the customer.



I've no idea why it is thought that a plumber short shortcut any proper long period Gas training as undertaken by real Gas engineers. Since the 1970s I have always shaken my head at plumbers being regarded as being competent in gas matters after witnessing job after job after job being left in potentially dangerous conditions by traditional plumbers all certified by Corgi.



Coupling up a toilet has absolutely no relevance whatsover to gas appliances and should not qualify as a shortcut into a couple of week gas qualification for the next generation of hopeless incompetents.

 

[ChrisR]

Coupling up a toilet has absolutely no relevance whatsover to gas appliances and should not qualify as a shortcut into a couple of week gas qualification for the next generation of hopeless incompetents.

And it has no relevance. Only GAS qualifications are counted, or quals with a significant gas content.

---
ACS is certainly outdated and has plenty wrong with it, but I don't think the main problem is lack of training and experience.

ACS only establishes that a person has knowledge of a list of things, before he leaves with a Pass. I reckon that anyone who's been through it OUGHT to be safe. There is enough in it for that. If you don't agree, tell me what's missing.

In my view the problem (which leads to shoddy work being done) is based around two thing which training, and working with someone else for aeons, can do nothing about.

1) People are lazy. Even when they know what to do they'll look for a short cut to getting finished. They can't be bothered to look up how to adjust a gas valve. They can't be bothered to do all their tightness tests.

2) Too many people who do gas stuff, are thick. They might look something up, but can't understand, or implement, what they find. They all might know that too little air leads to a yellow flame, but show them a hob burner roaring away with half its GAS ports blocked, and they'll say not enough air.

What's the answer? Dunno. Beats me!