ACS Gas course revision guidance.

[Waqas351]

Hello everyone.
My first post here, dont know if its in the right area, sorry if its not.
Im doing the ACS gas with Access Training, they provide live and recorded seminars for the theory, but i find it difficult to understand, im not blaming them because even in the book (Niceic) its hard to understand. Like i look at some mock questions online and then i try to find an answer in the book and its just so hard, i would be looking around in the chapter over and over and i wont get the answer, then ill ask other guys in a group and they would point it out and thats when it will stand out.
So i just want advice on how can i learn the answers or find them in the books when i need to, like believe me when i say i read over and over again and the answer wont be clear to me until someone points it out with a little explanation then it becomes clear, how do i get to that stage? What sort of method of revision is suitable?

 

[Deleted member 120897]

Welcome to the forum.

Everyone has different ways of learning, you may just need to find yours? Perhaps you’re trying to hard to look for the answers?

 

[Chuck]

It may be that you are treating the course as a memory test that involves learning the answers to a long list of unconnected questions. This is not what the course designers expect, or want, you to do.

In my experience, a better approach is to aim to understand how a 'system', for example the emitter circuit connected to a boiler, works. Here, the aim is to transfer the correct amount heat from the boiler to each room. So, how much heat does each room need? What size and a temperature does the radiator need to be to transfer this heat? How does the heat get from the boiler to the radiator? What determines the circulation rate of the water? How is the expansion of the water as it heats up accommodated? etc. Learning in this way connects the ideas together in you brain, which greatly helps recall and means you really understand what you are doing so you can apply basic principles to solve problems.

 

[SJB060685]

The problem with courses like this is they expect you to learn a lot and fast and that’s not always the right path for everyone. I personally like to think I can wrap my head around anything but in order for me to learn and visualise something I need not only the theory of it in front of me but diagrams and hopefully a working mechanical device.
You need to find how you learn best. Ignore other people and their progression because we all speak a different language and we all picture things differently, it’s just some of us are fortunate to pick things up quickly.

 

[SJB060685]

It may be that you are treating the course as a memory test that involves learning the answers to a long list of unconnected questions. This is not what the course designers expect, or want, you to do.

In my experience, a better approach is to aim to understand how a 'system', for example the emitter circuit connected to a boiler, works. Here, the aim is to transfer the correct amount heat from the boiler to each room. So, how much heat does each room need? What size and a temperature does the radiator need to be to transfer this heat? How does the heat get from the boiler to the radiator? What determines the circulation rate of the water? How is the expansion of the water as it heats up accommodated? etc. Learning in this way connects the ideas together in you brain, which greatly helps recall and means you really understand what you are doing so you can apply basic principles to solve problems.

I agree with what you’re saying because I know what you’re trying to get across but the boiler is supplying energy to a system and not necessarily heat. The first law of thermodynamics states energy can neither be created or destroyed but only transferred or transformed. You can run the maths all you want but you will always arrive at an answer where energy has been displaced.

 

[Waqas351]

It may be that you are treating the course as a memory test that involves learning the answers to a long list of unconnected questions. This is not what the course designers expect, or want, you to do.

In my experience, a better approach is to aim to understand how a 'system', for example the emitter circuit connected to a boiler, works. Here, the aim is to transfer the correct amount heat from the boiler to each room. So, how much heat does each room need? What size and a temperature does the radiator need to be to transfer this heat? How does the heat get from the boiler to the radiator? What determines the circulation rate of the water? How is the expansion of the water as it heats up accommodated? etc. Learning in this way connects the ideas together in you brain, which greatly helps recall and means you really understand what you are doing so you can apply basic principles to solve problems.

I get what youre saying. You make sense, i will try do it this way and see how it goes. Like @SJB060685 said the course guys just have you do seminars through video and give you recorded seminars and find your own way. My way of learning is mainly hands on thats why i chose to a trades profession, you learn the theory and then carry out jobs hands on mainly, but they dont teach you like that. Alot of the parts of the boiler and appliances i read the names but i just forget what they are what they do where they are etc and that leads me to not understand when a question which is designed to test you is asked. But if i have a physical boiler infront of me and work through all the parts i can learn fairly quickly.
But the way you suggest may be a very good way to connect things with just the books infront of you, so i will give it a try and see how that goes.
And i may need to find someone to work with for better understanding.

 

[Chuck]

but the boiler is supplying energy to a system and not necessarily heat. The first law of thermodynamics states energy can neither be created or destroyed but only transferred or transformed.

I'm not sure what point you were trying to make.

You've stated the law of conservation of energy, which doesn't doesn't define heat. The first law of thermodynamics is more specific and defines thermodynamic heat (for a stationary system) as the sum of the increase in internal energy plus the work done by the system.

In these terms, in a boiler, the work done by the expansion of the products of combustion is neglible and heat is extracted by reducing their internal energy. Most of this passes down the temperature gradient across the heat exchanger and out the other side where it increases the internal energy and hence temperature of the circulating water. At a radiator, the internal energy of the water is reduced by transferring heat to the room.

Perhaps you were trying to say that there are losses in the pipework and up the flue that need to be accounted for as well? If so, you're right, but I don't think it invalidates my approach. Those are details that can be added to the description if more accuracy is needed. I was only trying to illustrate my proposed method of learning technical material with a familiar example, it was not intended to be a definitive or comprehensive description of a heating system!

 

[king of pipes]

You may have a undiagnosed learning disabilitiy my stepson is Dislexic and has trouble understanding written text he's managed to get through his core and appliances with special help, the accessors have to help you if you have this problem alot of his questions were verbally put to him to explain ? When I do my course I place sticky post it notes in various sections so I can find them quicker when searching for answer . 👍 Kop