G
Welcome to the forum. Although you can post in any forum, the USA forum is here in case of local regs or laws
Doing it the old way normally means its harder, heavier, worse for your health and takes longer. Yes there is more skill involved but if most of the work is obselete why would a younger plumber bother to master a defunct skill set. Their time would be better spent learning the trade as it is properly. Most of the work you are talking about gets ripped out, or it often should as it has forfilled its job and it is now time for the next generation of materials.
Yes I can work with cast iron, steel, lead....but lets face it, who wants to?
Yes I can work with cast iron, steel, lead....but lets face it, who wants to?
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diamondgas
Differnt forum WHIPES!!! Ya need the "Debbie dose" forums website!!! LOL (tongue in cheek)
HA!! I think so mate. I was just having a laugh. No offense meant to anyone by the way!
E
ecowarm
I can say I have worked on lead sheet and pipe, wiped joints (full and taff/scotch)no offence and lead burning, screwed pipe up to 6" welded pipe up to 48" I think was the largest but it may of been larger, pipe materials I have used copper, brass, stainless, inconel, chro-moly, duplex and super duplex, glass lined and ptfe lined and many more I can not remember. and I have only been a plumber 6 weeks!!
By the way, slight change of subject, but on a recent dig for a new mains, we came across a very small clay pipe. There was a geologist on site (catching newts of all things)...he said it probably dated back a good few hundred years of more. Funny that we decided to trench the same route.
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ecowarm
Yeah and 5 of those he spent drinking tea and reading The Sun. Its been a busy week Eco.
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Blackcatgas
I guarantee, no I promise, I swear on my life, much like I swear I won't get to 50 and start talking about how talented pop stars and tv stars were in my day - I absolutely refuse - to find myself, in 20 years time, referring to the days when we installed plastic and copper - as if they were the good old days - where skill was involved and men were men. i will not look back and confuse my irritation with the impending obsolescence of hard-learned and once-respected skills with evidence of their merit.
was very good at leadwork, bossin, weldin but have not done much in the last 10 years.
with the lack of lead used in the trade today maybe wee need to change the name of the trade from plumber to something related to a modern material??
with the lack of lead used in the trade today maybe wee need to change the name of the trade from plumber to something related to a modern material??
K
Kimou
Done lead at college. Didn't like it, but would do it if I had to. Fortunately I don't. But has anyone used or remember the old pitch fibre pipes? Now that would be a nightmare to work with
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gaspastemania
Why are peole refering to cast ,lead etc as the good old days ??
I come across this on a reg basis on commercial works and more often than not does not get replaced with plastic or 'alternative technologies'. This thread was not started as a harp on about the good old days!!!!
Besides have you thought about how much money your business loses every year with the introduction of plastic?? How many times have you been to a sight and find the builder has put soil stack in , or underfloor heating because its plumbing made easy , or how many times do you goto B&Q and see joe public buying plastic fittings because they simply dont need a plumber to push fit a few things together .
Even down the merchants they are buying plastic in bulk to do there own plumbing on an extension ,may make it easier for us but plastic /push fit is bad for business and probably costs us every yearon lost revenue because of it .
Plumbing covers a vast amount of work not just 'PLASTIC'
I come across this on a reg basis on commercial works and more often than not does not get replaced with plastic or 'alternative technologies'. This thread was not started as a harp on about the good old days!!!!
Besides have you thought about how much money your business loses every year with the introduction of plastic?? How many times have you been to a sight and find the builder has put soil stack in , or underfloor heating because its plumbing made easy , or how many times do you goto B&Q and see joe public buying plastic fittings because they simply dont need a plumber to push fit a few things together .
Even down the merchants they are buying plastic in bulk to do there own plumbing on an extension ,may make it easier for us but plastic /push fit is bad for business and probably costs us every yearon lost revenue because of it .
Plumbing covers a vast amount of work not just 'PLASTIC'
An interesting thread. With hindsight one can see the development of our trade. In the 60/70's having done the apprenticeship and gain paper qualifications at college. Employment was not an issue, there were jobs a plenty. Giving one the opportunity to practice any aspects of the trade you fancied. Things like 4" copper soils and 2" antis. Forming the branches and bronze welding the joints, quite rewarding but boring after the first 3 months. Dry risers and fire mains another, spun cast suspended drainage, zinc work, the list is endless. However this was city life at the time, and i think city life in the trade is far different to that of the country and remains so today. Simply because the city offers a greater exposure to the materials and methods employed, being a mixture of commercial, industrial and domestic. The greatest change in my opinion is the gas side of things. In days gone bye gas fitters in general were failed plumbers. But as i have witnessed over the years the training of operatives in the gas side of things has required candidates to have a far better understanding/ knowledge of pipe sizing, electrical, flueing arrangements, and encouraged to practice the theory in the design before installation. Plumbing and heating seem to lag behind as many do not grasp the effect pipe size for example have on system performance. With the improvement in education, young people entering the trade should be first introduced to the physics and design and then the materials and tools to carry out the tasks. Theory is the crystal ball it tells you the future. Which can mean will they pay me when i finish the job.
K
kay-jay
Done Lead, Cast iron, iron, galvanised, copper and plastic. Worked on Soil systems cooling systems, heating systems, compressed air, low pressure steam and high pressure steam, worked in domestic, commercial, industrial and on a ship once, Instaled Gas appliances, Oil appliances, Electric appliances, Wood burners, straw burners and solar. Done Soldering, Brazing, Oxy Acetiline, Mig and stick welding, used stocks and dies, threading machines. Also done brick work, carpentry, roofing, insulation and groundworks.
Heating and plumbing Is a Brilliant trade with so many branches and disciplines, that many people seem to think that Gas Safe registration is the only option, No I most certainly do not know it all and for me to have done all the above has been over the course of over 30 years and with the growing need for renewables once again our trade is changing and now I am learning more, but I still havent learned to reed and right
Heating and plumbing Is a Brilliant trade with so many branches and disciplines, that many people seem to think that Gas Safe registration is the only option, No I most certainly do not know it all and for me to have done all the above has been over the course of over 30 years and with the growing need for renewables once again our trade is changing and now I am learning more, but I still havent learned to reed and right
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rawr
I had the chance to work with a squad from outta town on a commercial premesis and threaded and installed LCS pipes, was good fun I enjoyed it, messing about with cast iron doesn't sound like my idea of a good work day and as for lead, well I was ok with the stuff at college but I've never had the chance to wipe a joint
All of the above skills 😉 been a plumber for 21 years and now at 38 i am doing my gas (because i have to evolve 🙂) your kind of right in a way plumbers in training nowadays don’t really get the lead work, and come on when was the last time you saw someone sweet an old lead joint? Besides the fact it’s being against water regs where would you need to use it? as for threading and installing carbon steel again colleges don’t spend time training on this unless the guys they are training are doing it for their company or doing ventilation etc. don’t know why this is but it is what it is as for threading and installing it its easy no biggy, i do agree with the plumbers of now do have to evolve with the industry there is a lot that should not wear the plumbers hat but this is just the way of things now, the push fit plastic thing i have used it but always felt i was cheating weird but it’s down to money i guess, i would solder make my own bends in copper anyday over plastic and walk away from a job without a worry. But Each to there own, maybe its these fast track courses i dont really know but as i said 21 years in the game and i am still learning if my dad was still alive he would probs still say i am not a plumber cos he was a real plumber lol but i do think that sum ppl should stop living in the past 😉
Cheers
kev
Cheers
kev
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