Gas Engineer Courses...

[kay-jay]

olci is one hundred and fifty hours of buddying up with qualified gas engineer not 15 jobs

you get your portfolio empty sheets after the 10 day basic gas course which is after the 3 day copper pipe bending and 2 day steel pipe bending and the 5 day gas intro course

then you do 5 day gas assessment and 5 day acs then you can become self employed and if you get your marketing right you make lots of money

nick you are living in a dreamworld pal!

yes you will be classed as qualified gas engineer after acs, but the course teaches you nothing other than basics in gas safety, legislation and certain procedures. as fuzzy keeps stating it is the nvq and experience which teach you the job.

the course will not teach you how to;-

install boilers
install fires
install cookers
install gas meters
install water heaters

it will not teach you how to fix mrs smiths boiler which has an intermittent firing problem.
it will not teach you how to strip out and service/replace faulty components
it will not teach you how to design a full heating system
it will not tell you how to deal with building fabrics
it will not make you competent with tools
it will not teach you how to understand heating and hot water systems

in fact it will teach you very little other than a couple of gas tests and a few heat loss calcs if you are lucky

everything else you learn on the NVQ and with on the job training under supervision from a time served gas engineer

KJ

 

[kay-jay]

p.s if you are not already a plumber you therefore won't understand plumbing systems and therefore if you go to a job where either the heating or hot water isn't working how will you know if it is a problem with the boiler or a part of the system? and if its the latter you are gonna look like a chump when you say you can't fix it, then the next feller comes along and fixes it in 5 mins and tells customer it was a very very very basic fault.

 

[GQuigley67]

then you do 5 day gas assessment and 5 day acs then you can become self employed and if you get your marketing right you make lots of money

ayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee no bother pal

 

[kay-jay]

then you do 5 day gas assessment and 5 day acs then you can become self employed and if you get your marketing right you make lots of money

sorry pal but it don't work like that!

all marketing will do is get the phone to ring but if you don't know the first thing about fixing appliances or have any knowledge of plumbing systems how are you gonna make any money???
all you will have is large overheads and large calves from all that cycling round to customers you can't actually help!

 

[fuzzy]

get fit though

 

[Gar73]

Is this thread for real.

Time served ex BG engineer worked for manufacturers and BG. 20 years in experience on breakdown/service/install and I am finding it hard to find work. What is happening in this industry £4000 150hrs.

 

[fuzzy]

people think the acs is a all out gas course, thats what gets me, its only for people who can already do it

 

[bikeman01]

the course will not teach you how to;-

install boilers
install fires
install cookers
install gas meters
install water heaters

it will not teach you how to fix mrs smiths boiler which has an intermittent firing problem.
it will not teach you how to strip out and service/replace faulty components
it will not teach you how to design a full heating system
it will not tell you how to deal with building fabrics
it will not make you competent with tools
it will not teach you how to understand heating and hot water systems

Ok so lets accept that he wants to get trained on the above in addition to safety theory but doesn't have the option to tag along with someone for 4 years and £95 pw - there are loads of courses out there but what should be be looking for in terms of ones that will lead to a recognised qualification? Of course the training needs to be backed up with practical experience but help the guy understand what courses are worth doing because c&g sure as hell don't. c&g 6129 then 6128?

 

[fuzzy]

the 6129 is a plumbing qual
the 6128 is a heating and vent qual
what your talking about is a gas qual, [DLMURL]http://www.cityandguilds.com/65522.html?search_term=gas[/DLMURL]

which ever way you want to angle this, the answer is always the same, you need to be working in the industry

 

[fuzzy]

if you go on C&G website, follow my link it has all the quals available from them, you can even search all the assessments required, all the information is there

 

[bikeman01]

which ever way you want to angle this, the answer is always the same, you need to be working in the industry

Jeeze I give up. The OP just wanted to know what qualifications Brit Gas, EON etc looked for. Probably best if you just ask them direct.

The C&G offer so many qualifs it is hard to identify which tickets to aim for.

All these replies just present a catch 22 of - cant get qualified without a job - cant get a job without being qualified.

 

[GQuigley67]

BG are looking for NVQs in Gas now, everyone looks for NVQS or the old C&Q Advanced Craft, not tech certs.

 

[bikeman01]

BG are looking for NVQs in Gas now, everyone looks for NVQS or the old C&Q Advanced Craft, not tech certs.

There are a lot of gas realted NVQs, which are required?

 

[fuzzy]

Jeeze I give up. The OP just wanted to know what qualifications Brit Gas, EON etc looked for. Probably best if you just ask them direct.

The C&G offer so many qualifs it is hard to identify which tickets to aim for.

All these replies just present a catch 22 of - cant get qualified without a job - cant get a job without being qualified.

Its a shame that you now decide to give up when confronted with the facts.

C&G's offer all the correct qualifications, they cover each trade, I think its very easy, what is it you find hard to understand? ill try to help you

No catch 22, of course you cannot get a job as a plumber without being qualified, did you think you could? You can get qualified without having a job as a plumber, this has always been the case, its called an apprenticeship. That option is still open.

i fear from your posts that you are looking for a short cut, because you are struggling to find one you are letting your frustrations get the better of you, thats fine I understand your frustration, however it is not our fault or the fault of qualified engineers and as such you shouldnt get angry with those posting the facts for you on here.

C&G's are only an awarding organisation, they do not write the standards, you should try summitskills

 

[fuzzy]

There are a lot of gas realted NVQs, which are required?

well ive posted a link for you, any related trade nvq with relevant experience would probably get you in most organisations. you could email BG and/or look through the C&G websites

 

[tamz]

Your gas course will make you the gas equivilent of the spark who can't hang a pendant. Get a qual with no experience will not enable you to do the job.
Stick to your own trade. The grass is no greener.
Everyone is different tho so you might make it work. Big money to be made in CP12's so i hear.

Btw my daughter could wire up an S plan without a drawing before she was 12. It was a great disappointment to me when she refused to take up the gas game. She was halfway there!

 

[cr0ft]

To those looking to qualify as a Gas Fitter on a short course. I'm speaking from someone who did a fast-track course to get me into plumbing. It can work (and it has for me) but this is with a bloody huge uphill struggle in year 1 to get the experience in. As others have commented, these courses take a lot of your money and teach you a lot about nothing. If you have a Gas Fitter who you can pass any jobs you are unsure about to then it can work out fine. Give them the jobs in exchange for hands-on experience and learning with them.

I'm looking to add an electrical qualification (fast-track course as I too can't afford to be an apprentice for 4 years). It's a 5 week course which in theory will make me a fully qualified electrician. I'll be finding a local electrician to pass anything I'm at all unsure to though and will learn off them. To start with I will stick to running wiring for electric showers and things I'm happy doing. Certainly won't be attempting whole house rewires from day 1.

In summary, it can work with the right approach, just don't think for 1 minute that you will be an expert on all things (or indeed anything) gas from day 1. As others have said, if you have no plumbing experience I would learn to plumb first before considering it. I'm not gas safe registered but this is logical advice to me!

 

[gixxer007]

hi im a newbie on here. In my experience theres allways a way in if you want it bad enough.Was recently working on an extention fitting kitchen and bathroom for a builder.The customer used there own plumber for the new boiler and heating system.Plumber turned up nice shiney new van all sign written but no gas safe mentioned.Ten minutes later another nice shiney new van pulled up but this one had gas safe plastered all over it.To cut a long story short the plumber fitted the boiler did all connections most of the pipework and commissioning.gas safe guy hung the radiators.Got chatting and as it turned out plumber had no qualifications at all and gas safe guy had no experience said he wouldnt know where to start installing a boiler but he had the qualification to sign it off .So that worked for them and had done for years. That was there way into both sides of the industry.Maybe some of you could try that route.