Why aren’t plumbers plumbers any more?

[hENRYDAC]

The trade of plumbing originates from the Latin and chemical symbol for lead. There can't be many on here that have ever wiped a joint with moleskin. I was apprenticed as a coppersmith, my first test piece was to make a ball float from scratch, soft soldering the seams with irons. we made scotch joints and saddles from 2 " copper filled with resin, bent with 6' iron bars with the pipe chocked on a slab with wooden wedges. I learnt silver soldering and brazing, and in my trade test I manufactured a complicated 2" pipe between flanges to a tolerance that allowed only one test fitting. I served as a Royal Naval Artificer, and subsequently worked for 10 years in building services, I ply my trade in property maintenance now, and accept work involving plumbing, but never call myself a plumber, because I didn't serve the time. You earn the right to call yourself a plumber, you earn the right, and pay for it to become GSR. Engineer is a professional title and usually is bestowed upon those who have qualified to become members of an institution (mine was I Plant E until I lapsed it). Being multi skilled is not a crime as long as one does not profess to be that which he isn't

 

[SimonG]

Four pages in and still no punchline.......

 

[chris watkins]

As the post above alludes to, trade skills change overtime & have always done so, what I learnt as an apprentice is hardly ever practiced now-a-days (lead work, bronze welding & brazing copper, below ground & roof drainage, to name but a few in my case).
Instead I have had to learn new ones, changing & adapting to new products, technology's & work opportunities as they come along.

Surely that is why we love Plumbing so much!! ?

Some want to specialise or stick just to certain areas of the trade & that is fine but what concerns me is the move to hive off bits into separate trades or professions.
So come on tell me what the core skills & knowledge you all think a newly qualified Plumber should possess to be able to start their journey ?
PS. I will start a new thread if you don't mind as I would really be interested in your lists.

 

[Myfanwy]

Crumbs! that all got a bit heated to begin with. Let's have more mutual respect, folks - after all, we are all in the same trade, albeit with varied specialisms.

 

[Last Plumber]

There can't be many on here that have ever wiped a joint with moleskin

I've done a few!

 

[Jim09876]

Gas Engineer just sounds better, plus gas is dangerous and danger equals charging more money! Plus who wants to touch a dirty toilet or Rubbish pipe...not me!

 

[chris watkins]

Gas Engineer just sounds better, plus gas is dangerous and danger equals charging more money! Plus who wants to touch a dirty toilet or **** pipe...not me!

*****, you should try a grease trap Jim, now that really does sorts the men out from the boys.

 

[chris watkins]

Crumbs! that all got a bit heated to begin with.

Yes, some one set light to the gas boys, it took a Plumber to put it out mind.

 

[Ben-gee]

Hands off, that’s Willy’s retirement grease.

 

[Jim09876]

Hahaha I never heard of a grease trap...surly can’t be worse then a Rubbish pipe!

 

[OffshoreGas]

Gas Engineer just sounds better, plus gas is dangerous and danger equals charging more money! Plus who wants to touch a dirty toilet or **** pipe...not me!

Gas Engineer just sounds better, plus gas is dangerous and danger equals charging more money! Plus who wants to touch a dirty toilet or **** pipe...not me!

Gas geezer, boiler bloke?

 

[Welder]

Hahaha I never heard of a grease trap...surly can’t be worse then a **** pipe!

Oh my ...

 

[Sharp Point]

Engineer is one of the most abused terms In the English language. In Germany for example it’s a protected title in the same way you can’t just call yourself Lord/Lady/Reverend in the U.K. It’s the same in America where there is a lot more respect for the term technician.

I had a guy knock on my door when we moved into a new house and introduce himself at a “clear wall maintenance engineer” after a brief pause he had to explain he was actually a window cleaner.

Engineer seems to have been adopted in a lot of situations simply to justify higher day rates.

It’s no different to a nurse and a doctor, one is not better than the other but generally neither is qualified to use use the others title.

Oh, here we go again. Don’t tell me, you’ve got s degree in engineering and you feel as if you’re entitled to calling yourself an engineer!! If I’m not mistaken, it’s not that difficult to get a degree neither these days..... just turn up and see the course through. Looks a lot the calibre of graduates who get degree’s.... haven’t an ounce of common, who can put their BSc to work.

 

[Sharp Point]

And I can comment on the calibre... my son is about to graduate and his a fecking retard.

 

[Sharp Point]

Like I said, just turn up and complete it

 

[chris watkins]

And I can comment on the calibre... my son is about to graduate and his a fecking retard.

Adopted is he ?

 

[Sharp Point]

Adopted is he ?

Miaow...

 

[Welder]

Adopted is he ?

Surely if he was, he'd NOT be a retard ...

 

[Sharp Point]

Surely if he was, he'd NOT be a retard .

Like what you did there YD

 

[Welder]

Oh, here we go again. Don’t tell me, you’ve got s degree in engineering and you feel as if you’re entitled to calling yourself an engineer!! If I’m not mistaken, it’s not that difficult to get a degree neither these days... just turn up and see the course through. Looks a lot the calibre of graduates who get degree’s.. haven’t an ounce of common, who can put their BSc to work.

To be fair, and yes I know that's not how this works on here, it is true that elsewhere in the world one does have to properly qualify to even be called an engineer. Engineering is not the dirty word it has become in the UK.

Further, and no I am not clever enough to have a degree, I challenge one and all on here without a degree to do any of the mechanical **** my lad did during his 4 genuinely hard years of studying for his Avionics degree.

We all know of kids who gain degrees by 'turning up' but, trying to be fair, they are mostly in non-degrees like media studies or mixology or other such stuff.

With regard to common sense and other life skills, who on here would take on their 18 year old self? I bl00dy wouldn't! We old g1ts are far too quick to criticise our offspring when the root cause of their failings is ME & YOU not them.
WE have raised them to be lazy sh1ts,
WE have raised 'em to not care less, it's
WE who have to take responsibility for their inadequacies and it's
WE who can change it for the next generation...

 

[OffshoreGas]

Oh, here we go again. Don’t tell me, you’ve got s degree in engineering and you feel as if you’re entitled to calling yourself an engineer!! If I’m not mistaken, it’s not that difficult to get a degree neither these days... just turn up and see the course through. Looks a lot the calibre of graduates who get degree’s.. haven’t an ounce of common, who can put their BSc to work.

Being an engineer has little to do with formal education. It generally helps speed things up but plenty of people gain accreditation as a professional engineer with only an HNC.

To gain chartered status you need to demonstrate a period of responsible duties, produce a portfolio and the generally have a series of interviews to demonstrate your discipline knowledge to a group of your peers.

I’m sure there will be guys working with hearing systems who have the knowledge to gain professional accreditation but have never gone through the process in the same way there will be people working as handy men who have the skills to be plumbers or install heating systems but that doesn’t give every handy man the right to call himself a plumber.

 

[OffshoreGas]

And I can comment on the calibre... my son is about to graduate and his a fecking retard.

You may be able to waffle your way through some arts degrees where there aren’t really any right or wrong answers but engineering is a science based discipline where things are pretty black and white.

If your sons managed to pass a CEng accredited engineering degree I assure you he’s certainly not an idiot.

 

[Riley]

Bored of this now as it’s now reflecting badly on the forum