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Anybody watching it? Not sure that I would want to employ any of them!
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Yep I watched it as it's something I self-taught myself 25yrs ago. My skills are at least equal to all of the finalists.... I was a bit taken aback at the apparent low calibre.
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I watched it.
I can see why the copper pipe assessment was done, we covered copper bending, measuring and soldering in about 6 weeks (with only 1½ days' practical work a week) and there is more to it than meets the eye.
The technical questions were pretty easy for anyone who's read the textbook recently, but I would imagine an on-the-job plumber would specialise in their own particular area (such as the female plumber with boiler servicing) and soon forget the facts and figures that weren't in regular use.
The bathroom fault task was slightly strange, as in the real world a plumber wouldn't just go into a room and see what faults there were - they'd usually be called out by a householder in response to a problem and would therefore have some background information to go on. Having said that, I liked the use of real sewage in the blocked toilet!
When I've queried spelling/grammar on my college course I've been told in no uncertain terms that the course is aimed at people who want to become plumbers, not accountants, therefore a lower intellectual standard is to be expected. With that in mind, I though the fountain thing at the end was just a joke. The finalists were clearly not in the business of being arty and creative so deciding the winner based on their art and creativity skills was unfair.
Oh, and that Charlie bloke was trying too hard to be Simon Cowell :)
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>>>deciding the winner based on their art and creativity skills was unfair.
They had to get the girl to win though so it served a purpose.... having said that the guy lost as he didn't worry that the pool would be empty soon due to his failure to realise the water was recycling.
Perhaps I was wrong to be critical of the finalists but put it another way. The standard of the tests wasn't hard. In the mock bathroom many DIYers could have sorted all the issues quickly.
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>> Not sure that I would want to employ any of them!
Au contraire, I'm pretty certain that they'd all carry out spot-on installation and maintenance work in a domestic environment. The cachet of even getting entered for a competition like that is huge, and a source of pride for the candidates, their employers and study institutions.
Doesn't "Young Plumber of the Year Finalist 2010" sound better than nothing at all?
Last edited by: Dave_TD {P} on Wed 1 Dec 10 at 00:20
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Any chance they'll be an old Builder version?
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>> Any chance they'll be an old Builder version?
A sort of inverse Rogue Traders, you mean? :) I'd watch that!
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>> Not sure that I would want to employ any of them!
When I typed that I was watching the program, and being lazy. They were probably resonably competent. I was looking at it from the point of view of "would they do a better job than if I did myself?"
The Q&A were poorly presented/phrased which lead to some of the mis-understandings because of the (lack of) intellectual comprehension of the candidates.
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Yes... didn't they question the *size* of seal for a bath when really they should have asked the minimum seal depth??
Last edited by: Fenlander on Wed 1 Dec 10 at 07:49
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The first question on' resistance to flow' - nobody suggested that the size of pipe had a bearing! The girl was the smartest by mentioning that hand bent pipes could have 'ripples' in the surface.
Size of a seal - not only a badly worded question, one candidate aske for clarification only to have exactly the same question shouted at them (3?) times.
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Funnily enough, I have never had the problem of tape blocking
One of my mixer pipes before
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>>I liked the use of real sewage in the blocked toilet!<<
The great Emo Phillips once said the only work he ever turned down was appearing on a cable TV programme called 'Diving for Excrement'.
Obviously, it's now reached mainstream TV...
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Not heard of this one. Can you catch it again on U-Tube?
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>> Its BBC so try Iplayer.
I'm wasted here. U-Tube. Plumber.
And I never took my coat off before you say it.
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www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wdpdr/Young_Plumber_of_the_Year/
But I am not sure it was real sewage - good imitation tho!
Last edited by: pmh on Wed 1 Dec 10 at 13:21
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I've just skipped through it again on iPlayer.... in truth the programme was as shoddy as those joints on the first test.
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Frankly, it wasnt much more than basic DIY.
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I suppose that they could not rely on the viewers to understand 'dry joint' or not soldered joint, but considered that 'snot' made the program more viewable TV.
Love to have seen them do a pressure test on part 1, but would have probably stolen the thunder for the section on 'design and build' a water feature. :)
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Yes, I was amused by the well-spoken voice-over continually referring to "snot" as well. That's the term we were taught in college, although it doesn't crop up in the textbook.
I was expecting them to pressure test the copper pipe assembly too, as that's an integral part of similar assessments in training.
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I've done plenty of DIY plumbing, since I was old enough to hold the blowlamp. At University one of the labs we had was to understand /model / calculate pumping systems - which involved hooking up a pretty simple system using bits of (pre-cut / olives seized on) CU pipe with compression fittings. I went round all the joints, nipped them up, started it up and had a couple of weeps.
The poor lass on the rig next to me had not a clue, and hers leaked like a sieve when started up! I did feel slightly smug, but had to point out that I did have a bit of previous form!
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Were there any questions on time keeping or job estimating?
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>> 'Diving for Excrement'.
plumbing new depths.
Coat on - I may be some time, looking at the weather.
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Repeated at 20.00 Thursday (today) evening.
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BBC3 Young plumber of the year - Fenlander
