Manager fined £22,500

The managing director at a St Helens gas supply firm has been fined £22,500 after he and an employee suffered serious burns in an explosion.

                                                                                                  

 John Webster and another employee sufferd burns to their faces, hands and legs at North West Gases.Also a third employee sustained minor injuries as a result of the explosion, which was powerful enough to lift the roof off the building.

The court heard that Mr Webster and another employee, who didnt want to be named, were attempting to remove the valve on an LPG cylinder when the explosion accured on
 April 10, 2008.

Mr Webster had failed to ensure the cylinder was empty and also that there was no potential ignition source before starting work.

So as a result of Mr Webster's neglagence, gas escaped from the cylinder and ignited. The resulting fire and explosion set Mr Webster's clothing alight and his employee was thrown across the building. Both men were treated in a specialist burns unit and the employee suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.

visit energy smart today for industry leading energy efficient boilers http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

World plumbing day is nearly here

To mark this years World Plumbing Day, the team at UK Copper Board have created a competition to test the knowledge of the nations plumbers. 

All Plumbers and student plumbers alike from across the country are invited to visit the UK Copper Board website and test their copper pipework knowledge during the week leading up to World Plumbing Day – March 5 to 11.                                                                 

All those plumbers that correctly answer all of the questions will then be entered into a prize draw to win a fantastic digital camera.

World Plumbing Day is an international event on March 11th,that celebrates all that is great about plumbing and how it became so important to everyday life

If you would like to enter this great competition, visit : http://www.ukcopperboard.co.uk/.

Or if you would like more information on World Plumbing Day, you can visit  http://www.worldplumbingday.org/.

Worcester's all new spares website

The Worcester, Bosch Group has increased its on line offerings further with the launch of their new spares website.The website has been designed to give installers the information they need on spare parts with great exploded diagrams to make it easier to find parts quickly.

As the cost of living rises, more and more people are choosing to repair their boiler instead of investing in a new model, which has increased the demand for spare parts.

if you need a spare part check their web site out  www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/sparesstockists.

visit energy smart today for industry leading energy efficient boilers http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

shadow minister visit's plumb centre

The shadow minister for energy and climate change Luciana Berger recently visited plumb centre to talk about sustainable energy in the plumbing sector.

                                                                  
During the visit the shadow minister met with a group of installers and specifiers who were on a training course.
They expressed their concerns over current financial incentives and the challenges of convincing homeowners to invest in renewable in the current economic climate also Ms Berger was given a tour of the building which showcases many of the low carbon technologies which are currently available.

For Plumbing Merchants providing energy efficient boilers see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

practical installer is back at the excel london

 
Plumb Centre has joined manufacturers from across the renewable industry to create the live display area. 36 live presentations will be spread out over three days.

Each display will provide a view into some of the technical considerations when installing renewable technologies, they will talk about some of the myths that surround renewable technologies and showing how many of the products that are on the market now will be important in delivering a sustainable future.so if you want to be able to see the action you need to get down to the excel London on the Tuesday the 20th and Thursday the 22nd of march 2012.

For Plumbing Merchants providing energyefficientboilers see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

PTS have released thier 2012 brochure !

PTS have just released their new brochure full of all the latsest barthroom suites,furniture,showers,and fixstures.The brochure contains all the most upto date items to create a truley beautiful bathroom and is full of high quaility images to help you pick the right products for you.     
                                                                                              
so if you want to get your hands on a PTS brochure you can visit your local PTS branch.
or you can visit there site http://www.ptsplumbing.co.uk/








For Plumbing Merchants providing energyefficientboilers see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

The future of plumbing....

Reading threw some recent news today i came across a young man called Michael driver. Michael is one of many young people today that are looking for work in the plumbing industry.

                                                                                                            

But after leaving college with a level 1 NVQ in plumbing under his belt
he is still searching for work 18 months later! So unsurprisingly Michael hasn't had much choice but to resort to job seekers allowance so that he can continue to travel to the job centre. 

Michael said he has applied for over 190 jobs and has only managed to get himself a months temporary placement in the whole time he has been searching.

It does make you think about the future of the trade if company's cant take apprentices on.

For Plumbing Merchants providing energy efficient boilers see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

In July 2010, a Vaillant auroTHERM exclusive three panel solar collector set and an ecoTEC 637 condensing boiler was installed at Woodlands bed and breakfast in Glossop, Derbyshire.

The installation followed the recommendation of a Vaillant solar panel system by Vaillant approved solar installers, Gas Care UK.

Woodlands’ tea rooms are now exclusively powered by the Vaillant auroTHERM solar panel system.

Brian Mairs and his wife Julie, owners of the bed and breakfast, were very pleased with the benefits that the new system has brought. “Our electricity bills have been horrendous for years. After having a conversation with Dave Wright, the director at Gas Care UK, we made the decision to have a Vaillant solar panel system installed”, Brian explained.


Dave Wright, Director at Gas Care UK, said: “Vaillant is one of our installer partners; we regularly use Vaillant products and trust the quality of the brand. Solar power was the ideal solution for Woodlands - as a guest house it has a high usage of heating and hot water. The solar panels can provide the heat source for the water and heating – so the owners shouldn’t have to pay gas or electricity bills. For this business, the investment in solar energy will pay for itself.”
Brian said: “The project has been partly-funded by an interest-free loan from a government body. It’s great to see that people like us, who want to invest in such projects, are being given a helping hand. Even in cloudy weather, the solar panels absorb the sun’s radiation, which means that the system is almost constantly running.

“This system is 90% more efficient than our previous boiler system and, in less than a year, we’ve already saved £850 in bills. We would recommend a Vaillant solar panel system to everyone; we are very pleased with this project.”
For more information on Vaillant, call 01634 292300 or visit: www.vaillant.co.uk
For Plumbing Merchants providing energy efficient boilers see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/

Yell’s web design team has released a new infographic urging plumbers to use the internet to boost their business.

‘Stop the leak’ highlights the opportunity for plumbers to market themselves and gain more customers by having a website. It also outlines the active customer base they may miss out on if they do not adapt to the online world. 

Google statistics show that there are 823,000 searches for the keyword ‘plumbers’ nationwide, every month. UK plumbers who do not have a website could be missing out on a large number of these ‘in market’ consumers.

The infographic highlights the regular demand for plumbers with many Google searches being location-specific; there are 40,500* of these queries each month for London plumbers alone.

As stated in the infographic, 58% of all purchase decisions now begin with a search engine**. The internet is becoming the main research tool for anyone looking for a product or service, so plumbers without a website could find themselves being left behind.

Many plumbers feel that the best way to market themselves is by word of mouth and do not realise the potential value of an online presence***. These businesses fall into the 54% of small enterprises that do not have a website****.

Yell’s infographic shows various ways that plumbers can use online channels including email, web content and advertising, to turn search queries into real customers.

Marketing.yell.com, the online marketing resource from Yell, is aimed at giving free advice and information to small and medium sized businesses on how to market their businesses online. Yell provides web design services and has built more than 600 websites for plumbers.

For energy efficient boiler see http://www.energy-smart.org.uk/