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Dutch_Master
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heiowge
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Location: Cheshire, UK
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 Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:05 am Post subject: |
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That had me and the kids rolling! 
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Nuke
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:11 pm
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Location: Chepstow, UK
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| Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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I bridled a bit when it included "Do your own electrical work".
I spent most of last weekend doing just that, some of it rectifying shoddy work probably done by professionals. The professionals meet the regs, but don't bother much about things like stapling the cables in the attic neatly out of the way; basically they skimp wherever they think the customer will not see. I am finding 40 amp cables loose and snaking over attic flooring where they can be trodden on.
Similarly with gas. Last year I called in a registered fitter (as required by law) because my boiler kept tripping in freezing weather. I realised it was condensate backing up, but all the fitter did was to replace a condensate water level sensor. (Ie he assumed the trip was caused by sensor error) It cost me £nnn. But at the next cold snap it tripped just the same. So I looked inside the boiler myself and immediately saw that the problem was a hole corroded in a condensate drain pipe. The professional has missed it.
I am a nuclear power station engineer, overseeing work on several sites, and my sig is needed against any mods that they do. But apparently I am not considered good enough to mend a gas boiler.
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heiowge
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| Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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Get a qualification. Sounds like you'd walk it.
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Nuke
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:11 pm
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Location: Chepstow, UK
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| Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:04 am Post subject: |
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| heiowge wrote: | | Get a qualification. Sounds like you'd walk it. |
It doesn't work like that. Fitters themselves are not "qualified" (ie they do not have a personal certificate) - they are simply recognised as competent by their employer (maybe themselves) who is in turn registered with the Local Authority. With gas, you cannot get such recognition as an amateur.
With electrical work it is similar except that an amateur can do work as long as they go through a process similar to meeting building regulations. It is hard to know how much this is followed in practice since mains wiring components can still be freely purchased. They call this sort of thing "self certification" :-
From www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=60746 :-
| Quote: | it [is] certified by the person who carried it out as being in compliance with the Building Regulations
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What could possibly go wrong with that I wonder?
I have always worked on my own cars, and imagined that one day a competence test might be introduced as a requirement for eg brake and steering work. But I had never worried about that as I thought I would be OK, like passing a driving test. In fact I could welcome it as we do not want cars with bodged brakes on the road. However, I do now worry as it could be on similar lines to the gas fitter rules - a method attractive to the Authorities because it does not involve them doing anything (except file some paperwork and charge a fee). There has been talk for example of making an annual service (as an extension of the MoT test) compulsory. I have had some contact with the motor trade (I mean behind the scenes) and know what a bunch of crooks they are, and very often incompetent to boot, but politicians know best don't they?
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Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe No 9 :-
Why can't you buy a domestic mailbox that will take an A4 envelope without creasing? |
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towy71
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Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:11 pm
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Location: wild West Wales
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| Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:35 am Post subject: |
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| Nuke wrote: | | but politicians know best don't they? |
haha these are the people that came up with the idea of elected police commissioners 
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bobthebob1234
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| Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Nuke wrote: | | I am a nuclear power station engineer |
Lol I think that qualifies you to do just about anything safety related..
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Dutch_Master
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| Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:31 pm Post subject: |
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Not in my book...  It's cool to know how a nuclear power plant works (I have a basic grasp of that too) and how to control it (not a clue here  ), but I wouldn't have him run a train, unsupervised and untrained (sec  ) I'm sure he'll pick it up quickly, given his intellect, but not while thrown in at the deep end... |
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catgate
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Location: Just over there, in that corner.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:25 am Post subject: |
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And just who creates the "electrical regs" and the "gas regs"??
Why the trade organisations of course...they are the experts!!
I recently had a gas fire installed. The installation instructions said it did not need "additional ventilation" because it was not a large one. Over the course of time I have fitted three gas central heating systems and two gas fires into the houses we have owned but now my physical condition precludes me from bending and kneeling down so I "got a man in".
He was a local CORGI certified gas central heating man. He knew better than the makers of the fire and so we had to provide additional ventilation.
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Nuke
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:11 pm
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Location: Chepstow, UK
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| Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:01 am Post subject: |
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| Dutch_Master wrote: | | Not in my book... It's cool to know how a nuclear power plant works (I have a basic grasp of that too) and how to control it (not a clue here ) |
No-one can know everything, but as in any field, you have to know how to find someone who does know about a given subject. A nuclear power station for example has technical departments in operations, engineering, physics and chemistry. My own background is mechanical plant and structural stress analysis, and my chemistry only went to O-level, but if for example the chemists were proposing a change to boiler feed water pH, I do not have to take their word for it being a good idea. I would pass it to a chemist at headquarters (in fact I sit opposite one) for their view on it. We also consult external academics sometimes.
Another example is software. I can install Linux and write simple C programs, but at HQ I once sat near a software reliablity guy against whose whose expertise my own knowledge seemed insignificant. I did not need to consult him however to refuse the use of Windows with anything to do with nuclear plant - you only need to read the advice which comes with Windows itself for that 
| Dutch_Master wrote: | | but I wouldn't have him run a train, unsupervised and untrained |
That is quite funny, because I previously worked for London Transport (when both trains and buses) as a test engineer. I did the train driving course and sometimes drove our test trains, mostly on the open part of the Metropolitan line north of Harrow. This was unofficial and might have caused a one-day strike if known to the NUR, of which I was not a member. It was also unofficial in that I had not done the route training (you need to know every signal position), but our regular test driver was right next to me telling me when to brake etc. It is not hard actually driving a train, after you get used to its really lousy braking power. Most of the driving course is about dealing with failures and how to over-ride trips in order to get the train to the next station to detrain the passengers.
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Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe No 9 :-
Why can't you buy a domestic mailbox that will take an A4 envelope without creasing?
Last edited by Nuke on Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:55 am; edited 2 times in total |
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MartyBartfast
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Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:25 am
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Location: Hants, UK
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| Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Since watching that I really cant get the song out of my head, I was walking through the tube station this morning when I realised I was quietly singing "Dumb ways to die...." God only knows what would have happened if anyone heard me, there'd either be a full on terrorist callout, or I'd be carted away in the padded van.
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