Pass Your Gas

The spillage test is completely separate from the flue flow test .  The spillage test is designed to show the engineer that the combination of  the ventilation,  the appliance, the flue is effective enough to prevent any products of combustion from entering the room in which the appliance is situated.  The test itself is carried out with the appliance in place , turned ON, and uses a smoke match NOT a smoke pellet . It may have to be carried out more than once depending on the other appliances and electrical items in the room.

There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the flue flow test. It’s mainly because people don’t really know why they are carrying it out. It is PRIMARILY a test of the “integrity of the flue”. Integrity in this case means the “structural soundness and suitability” of the flue This means that you must check the flue from the appliance all the way to the terminal for any leaks or breaks and ensure that it will remove ALL of the products of combustion The easiest way to do this is to see if it will handle a specific volume of smoke without spilling the smoke back into the room or letting it leak out of any holes or joints. The quantity of smoke is written down, in law, as 5 metres cubed of smoke. But they don’t allow you to just make that amount of smoke over whatever time you want, if they did that you could spend all day with a small bit of wood letting wisps of smoke go up the flue. No, they say that you have 30 seconds to make the smoke and that the flue must not leak while the smoke is p...

  A GOOD START IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN SUCCESS As you will know, you are not allowed into the assessment area prior to your assessment. As a result, and unless you’re attending your 5 year refresher at the same school that you learned at, this is the first chance you will have had to see the layout of your assessment bay. It can be very disorientating. And this is the time that the assessor is watching you the closest. Remember he (or she) hasn’t seen you before and he will be forming his first impressions of you. This first impression will last throughout your assessment. How you act in the first minute or two is VITALLY important.  I have found that the people who most often fail are those who just start “doing things” straight away. Jumping into tightness tests or flue flows. The assessors can see that they usually lack organisation and skip many fundamentals that the assessors like to see . Remember - this is a SAFETY assessment. The ONE question that the assessor ...

  Learning is HARD! Learning to be a Gas Engineer is HARD! Remembering what you learned is HARD! But…it can be done…and without too much pain and effort. It is my experience that most “teachers”  within the gas industry love to over-complicate  what is quite a simple topic. It’s said that you can’t eat an elephant all at once, but this is often what students are asked to do. They are presented with ALL the information that an engineer needs to know in one big lump, and that leads to confusion. By breaking each topic down into small chunks, and explaining the principles behind WHY we do things then even the most complicated subject can be understood and remembered. On this site you will be guided through your topics using simple everyday language and videos designed to explain exactly what you need to know. This is not a site designed to show you how to be a practical plumber or engineer. It is designed with only one task and that is to help you through your exams and asse...