Summer, Sunshine Holidays & Riots ?

Hi to all my readers I have been taking a well earned rest since returning from my last set of practical’s in Featherstone, I have finished all my TMA’s for level 2 and am just waiting to here when I can get in for my final 2 weeks practical training which will include my GOLA end test and get me my level 2 accreditation.

 Its been a lovely summer so far but tarnished by a hand full of idiots rioting in the streets of Tottenham in the name of Mark Duggan,  Make no mistake, they're not crusaders on some just cause, most of them don't even have a point to make, these are morons acting like morons — nothing more, nothing less. It must actually be insulting to Mark Duggan's family and friends — who have spoken out against the riots — that people are doing this in his name, using his death as an excuse to steal, and now it seems to be spreading like a virus through the countries other cities we haven’t seen the same riots and looting yet but even in small towns businesses and shops are closing early because of groups of young thugs are parading around just looking for a spark so they too can get themselves some free bling out of this disastrous situation. 

Well that’s my rant out of the way back to plumbing.

I have my First workbook for the level 3 starting with module 33 Gas Installation (A) this is a 150 page module that is a bit daunting and I am a bit unsure whether to start it until I have completed my level 2 practical I also feel that I should be working with a Gas Safe registered plumber during this period of my training and as yet I have not been able to secure a placement for myself. So its quite a dilemma I have been approaching all the local plumbers but these are nervous times and all are saying that work is scarce and are unwilling to mentor anyone at the moment but I keep persevering and am casting my net further afield in the hope of finding a mentor.

Well that’s all for now I’ll be updating my blog on a weekly basis again now and hope to have some good news next week about my practical training thanks for reading, Regards Cliff

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Diary of Practical Training Week 4

Monday 4th July and i am back in Featherstone for week 4 of my practical training there are not so many students this week and i am in a group of three. Our main task for the week is an airing cupboard fitting a hot water storage cylinder, feed and expansion tank also running a single hot feed to a hand basin, this is part of the requirement for city & guilds 6129 course and is assessed but there is no photo and summery required, also you can have two attempts to complete this task but if you are happy with your first install it is not necessary and you can move on to other things.

We don’t need a materials list for this task so its straight to work on the install, we can install this system any way we see fit and the only information given is that we must use as many machine bends as possible so as not to slow the flow of water, this is quite a task as a great deal of the pipe work is in 22mm which is difficult to bend by hand, but after last weeks LCS I am feeling pretty pumped up and find it less difficult than my first attempts with 22mm pipe. By lunchtime I am well into the install and have the feed and expansion tank completed and the feed to the cylinder also. After a catch up with the other students over lunch were back to work fitting the primary vent pipe which is the most complex of all the bends as it has a bridge, offset and two 90  ̊ bends all in one piece of 22mm tube this takes the best part of an hour to work out and pull accurately  but once complete the rest is plain sailing and by the end of the afternoon I have the system filled with water and soundness tested

   

Tuesday Having soundness tested the install the previous day and left the system filled overnight Robert our tutor assessed the install and passed it with some nice comments on neatness and the quality of the bends and said that it was not necessary for me to do a second install and that I could decommission and move on the decommission takes a long time as there is a large quantity of water in the system so the morning soon passes. During lunch I spent some time with a group of students on there first week of training and am able to give some advice on what to expect during there week and hopefully helped them to avoid some of the mistakes people were making when I was there for week 1, this was good because it allowed me to realize just how beneficial the first weeks were to me and how much I had retained to memory. In the afternoon Robert did air testing drainage systems with me and I got acquainted with a manometer, I also did two test papers ready for the exams the following day which I failed miserably much to my disgust, so out came the books and I spend the rest of the day doing some serious revision in the canteen.

Wednesday Feeling pretty tired today did another 2 hours revision when I got home last night and am just hoping I haven’t done to much and bamboozled myself with facts and figures, I am given another task by Robert a Soil and Waste fit in one of the bays its not a long task but there are two photo’s, a written summary and a materials list needed for this task. It really helps me clear my head and distracts me from worrying about the exams as I excel in the practical parts of the course. And I am feeling much more relaxed by lunch.

 During lunch talking with fellow student I realise its not only me who has been dreading exam everyone failed the mocks and spent a long night of revision but are now all feeling pragmatic about them pass or fail, my own attitude is failure is NOT an option.

 

1pm Exam time today we have Sanitation systems and Central Heating Systems both are about 30 questions multiple choice and computer based with about 60mins allocated for each which again is more time than is necessary and even spending lots of time over the papers I’m out within the hour relieved that there over with. The rest of the day is to be a Rain Water System install again not a very long task but photo’s, materials list and a written summary is required for my portfolio, the install only take 30mins and the remainder of the day is spent doing materials lists and summaries for the last two tasks. We get our results from our exams quite late in the afternoon and I’m very pleased to say I passed both CHUFFED!!!

Thursday Today is about getting my portfolio up to date and making sure everything is signed and dated correctly absolutely everything has to be signed and counter signed by the tutors so Robert spends a whole morning going through our files with us, he also dose some talks on Solvents, Scaffolding Erection and The Safe Use Of Power Tools so that they can also be signed as completed. He has also given us a talk on what to expect on our final two weeks and it sound like its going to be very intense with lots of summaries to do.  I am all up to date with everything completed so there is no need for me to attend for the Friday. Friday’s seem to be for resist’s of exams and alsoany work that needs to be completed, so far I haven’t needed to attend on Fridays hope I can continue in that manner.  Hope you have enjoyed the read I have 4 more TMA’s to complete the level 2 then 2 more weeks practical so am hoping to be back with parts 5 & 6 of the diary soon. Regards Cliff

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Diary of Practical Training Week 3

Well here it is again i am in Featherstone for week 3 practical training, i am not at all nervous this time and have had a week of revision on hot and cold water systems and environmental awareness as these are the exams i will be having during the week. I was thinking it was going to be a completely different group of people this week so i was pleasantly surprised to see one person from my group from weeks 1 & 2, Hi Jermaine hope you enjoyed your week as much as me, anyway i wont get distracted with name dropping, Its Monday morning and i have been on the go since 5.15am we start at 8.30 but everyone there at 8 chatting and introducing themselves, Its a nice mix of ages and there are also two women in the group this week 12 people in all but straight away the group is split into two for the week one group to do Low carbon steel the other doing airing cupboard we will exchange next week, so this week is LCS for me. I know it is going to be hard going as it the warmest day of the year so far and the humidity is really high. so we start our day with an introduction to LCS cutting, threading and bending equipment and a bit of relevant health and safety as its dirty and lots of very sharp steel fragments around so gloves are well recommended to save on cuts and abrasions. I don't think anyone was quite prepared for how physicaly demanding LCS threading with stocks and dies actually is especially on such a hot day and by lunch time everyone is soaking with sweat and in dire need of a break. In the afternoon we are given our first assessment for the week which is a small jig similar to the one done in week 1 except in LCS

This has to be accurate to within 2mm which is very difficult because of the nature of the material and the way in which it is jointed, i had this finished well within the allocated time and was able to spend some extra time doing some more complicated bends on the hydraulic machine bender to fill in the rest of my day, but believe me when i say i really needed a cold shower when i got home and my shoulders were aching badly.

Tuesday Awoke very stiff in the shoulders this morning to another hot day even though the weatherman had promised rain overnight there is no evidence of it, arrived for 8am and everyone in my group is feeling pretty sore today and wondering if its going to be like this all week and generally having a gripe about the fact that they never want to be involved in any LCS installations, this is a bit of a knee jerk reaction but i can understand where everyone coming from. we have a different tutor today as the staff are a bit short handed this week and Neil who has been my tutor since week1 has to take a different group, but Robert is also very good and easy to understand he gives us our other assignment for the week which is again in LCS with two radiators to fit into a bay with all the pipe work to be pressure tested also we have to do our own materials list so i get straight to work compiling a list of pipe, fittings and fixings this has to be done straight out of a supplier catalogue complete with part numbers, description and quantities as it is a requirement of the assignment along with a written summary description, more about that later. i just have time before lunch to mark out from the drawing into the bay where the installation is going.

 

In the afternoon i got all my fixings installed and cut all my tubing cut to length and the majority of the threading complete which is no mean feat when you consider how many threads are required, take another look at the drawing there are lots of threads necessary, so all together an exhausting day.

Wednesday I arrive today knowing i have got most of the really physical work done and get on with the two offset Passover bends required for the installation, this doesn't take long the hydraulic bender is easy to use and you don't have to calculate for stretch with LCS when doing this sort of bend. I know i have two exams later today so i want to get as much done as possible before hand and really get my head down to the task in hand, and by lunch time i have surprised even myself and am ready to cap off and pressure test the installation.
1pm I have two exams now HOT WATER SYSTEMS & COLD WATER SYSTEMS Both are online multiple choice exam with about 90mins given for each you'll forgive me for not giving to much information here but i will say if you have revised these subjects there reasonably easy 35 questions for cold 40 for the hot and a 70% correct answers on each to pass. The time given was far more than required to complete and i had done both in little over an hour so after a short break i got back to pressure testing my rig. 

Having got it up to 5 bar and with a few tweaks here and there Robert the tutor passed it off with some nice comments as to the neatness and as he is walking around all the time watching and helping as necessary the fact that he had not had to assist me and also that i had finished long before the others, he was very impressed which gave me a real confidence boost.
the remainder of the day was spent decommissioning the rig, also about an hour after the exam we had our results 95% on both so i went home feeling great.

Thursday  Big day today as we have a BPEC Energy Efficiency Exam in the afternoon so the morning is classroom based with a PowerPoint Presentation given by Robert, we were given the revision material yesterday but i had fallen asleep with it in my lap having not made it passed the first page never the less it is my pet subject as i want to get into the renewable part of the industry and was able to get fully involved in the presentation and again surprised myself with the amount of information that i had accumulated and absorbed during my studies and research. We have an extra long lunch just resting in the sunshine and chatting. The exam is a paper multiple choice, open book exam with 30 questions with an 90% pass requirement with one resit available if required and again i am going to say if you have paid attention during the morning you have all the answers in your head so its relatively easy and there is no reason why you shouldn't get 100% on this exam.
So i am out in 20mins a happy bunny. Back to decommissioning or rather decorating as that's all i have left to do, apart from my summery description, so i do notes for that and having talked to Robert he says that it is not necessary for me to come to the centre Friday and can write up my summary at home. 
I am including a copy of my summery description for anyone who has not had to do these before it might be worth a read but please no copying you'll only be cheating yourself.

Summery Description Low Carbon Steel SP2,3,4&8

To complete this task I first did a risk assessment on the work area and selected the appropriate PPE steel toe boots, gloves and safety glasses then I studied the drawing and completed a materials list of pipe work, fittings and fixings and also assessed what tools I would require to complete the task. I then brought my material and tools to the work area storing them safely.

I then transferred the information from the drawing onto the wall using a tape measure, pencil and spirit level. Then i fitted the pipe fixings in the required places within the maximum recommended spacing requirements for LCS, also fitting the radiator brackets in position. I then measured and cut my pipe lengths using a heavy duty pipe cutter and pipe vice; I used a file to de-bur both end of the pipe both internally and externally.

 I then chamfered and cut the treads using a chaser die stock and the correct die for the tube size, this was achieved by applying cutting compound to the end of the tube to be cut placing the stock and die over the end of the tube and rotating the die in a clockwise direction until I had three or four threads then anti clockwise a little to remove the swarf using this technique until the required length plus two stress threads has been achieved. Two of my pipe runs required an offset Passover bends this was achieved with the use of a hydraulic pipe bending machine by marking off the required measurement for the first set onto the tube, placing the tube in the machine without any deductions, pulling the first set to the required angle 45 ̊ removing from the machine and placed on a straight edge and marking the second set, placed back in the machine and pulled to the required angle plus 5 ̊ to allow for spring back.

I then assembled the pipe work using PTFE tape on the threads to gain a good seal and rotating the tube using my stilsons and wrenches leaving two stress threads showing and arranging all my runs in a neat horizontal and vertical manner. I then assembled the radiator fittings using a radiator key to fit the valves and placed the fitted radiators onto there brackets and using the correct wrench to attach the to the pipe work, once this was completed I gave the installation a final inspection to ensure everything was tight and secure.

I then pressure tested the installation this was achieved by fitting stop ends to all open ended tubes with the exception of one where I fitted the pressure testing equipment the system was pressurised to 5 bar for 1 hour to ensure there were no leaks, once that was completed I depressurised the system and drained down from the lowest point also removing a stop end from the highest point to allow air into the system to aid the draining procedure.I then carefully decommissioned the installation sorting the pipe work into reusable and or recyclable lengths, cleaned and returned the fittings, fixtures and radiators. Removed my tools and cleaned the work area.

Well that's week 3 complete i hope you have enjoyed the read and find this usefull please let me know what you think and watch out for next weeks diary of week 4.

Thanks for reading, Regards Cliff...

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