Times of Change

[Bernie2]

I suppose in the Plumbing industry since the war, we can roughly say there have been a certain number of times of change.

One of the first was the "Clean Air Act" of the fifties, which made many people turn toward gas as an alternative to coal. They mostly went over to gas fires with an electric immersion heater for hot water.

Then there was the Winter of 63 that changed all kinds and formed the basis of a lot of the modern Water and Building Regs. Water mains where to be laid at a standard depth, soil pipes moved inside.

Then there was Ronan Point and the alterations to the Gas Regs that brought in.

Then the 70's Gas Board cheap central heating scheme, that meant a fast move away from gas fires toward boilers and rads.

Then Water Privatization and the 1988 Regs, allowing unvented and wide spread cold water off the main.

Before these times of change, plumbing in the UK, for most people, was virtually the same as it had been done in the 1930's.

So we can really say modern Plumbing is relatively new.

Although there where instances of nearly everything we do today in those days, the difference now is that it is so widespread.

 

[justlead1]

Hi. Interesting to read your veiw on the changes. During this period we in the UK experienced the conversion of all gas appliances to natural gas, qualification to carry out this work was a pulse. Shortly followed by the corgi tax. Funny how things change, making winners and losers.

 

[HTB]

I'm thinking the next big change will be massive growth in renewable energy sources.

I've done one fairly large solar installation (very expensive) and get a good few queries about ground source heat pumps, and a few about water and air source pumps (though haven't installed any yet, I've got 2 in planning stages).

These work best with underfloor heating systems, so thats got to be thought about as well.

While this technology is not cheap, gas isn't going to get any cheaper, so as time goes on it will become much more common and eventually even commonplace.