Apprentice Gas Service Engineer
The job
Gas Service Engineers install and service customers' central heating systems, gas fires, cookers etc., diagnose and repair faults and design system upgrades to improve efficiency and flexibility.
If you'd like to be a Gas Service Engineer, can you:
- enjoy manual work? (You'll need to handle lots of specialist tools)
- put learning into practice quickly?
- deal with different people every day?
- be polite and friendly at all times?
- feel comfortable explaining what you are doing in a reassuring way?
Gas Service Engineers must always put safety first - natural gas and gas appliances can be dangerous if not treated with respect.
Transcript
A Gas Service Engineer attends to properties, offices, maintains gas fired central heating systems, boilers, water heaters, gas fires to make sure that they're running efficient. We're right at the end of the chain - the gas comes from the gasometers, supplied through the pipes under the street into the people's houses. We then maintain the units that burn that gas at the final point by making sure that they're clean and running efficiently, we can save the environment and also money in people's pockets.
A gas fire boiler will be a condensing, non-condensing, combination boiler or system boiler is there to heat the house, the hot water. The first check that we do on a property is the gas tightness test, which is to make sure there are no gas leaks within the property. We use a gauge called a manometer which is a water gauge, we pressurise it to 10 millibar, make sure there's no gas passing through the gas cock that comes into the property we then pressurise it up to 20 millibar and hold it there for two minutes. The slightest drop will show on that 'U' gauge. If there is a drop we need to find it.
You now need an NVQ qualification to get you into the gas trade. You need on-site experience, you need an apprenticeship and then you need to pass your gas qualifications. Science - you're doing different things with different boilers: working out pressures, gravity on pumps and all sorts. Maths - the formulas that we use are very basic, once you've got them you'll never forget them-you use them day in and day out. If you go to a property and there's a gas leak and it's on a copper supply you'll have to cut that out to prepare the leak. Copper is a soft metal that can be bent, formed and shaped to whatever shape you want it, to replace the part that's leaking.
The challenge in finding faults is that not every boiler is the same all the appliances and faults are different, so when you go to a property you have to distinguish what that fault is and it's never the same.
It might sound corny but I do enjoy my job very much. I enjoy meeting different people, everybody's different, there's lots of different people out there. To walk away from a house and a boiler that ‘have broken down and to see people smiling because you've repaired their boiler is fantastic.
"I do enjoy my job very much. I enjoy meeting different people. To walk away from a house and to see people smiling because you've repaired their boiler is fantastic."
Ian Morgan, Gas Service Engineer
If you'd like to find out more:
- visit the E.ON careers section.
- watch the Apprentice Gas Service Engineer video.
Fact file
- Minimum joining age:
16 - Qualifications and skills:
4 GCSEs grade C or above, including English, Maths and Science / a Technical subject. Manual Dexterity (assessed in a practical test) - Training on the job:
You'll have everything you need to gain a Technical Certificate up to NVQ Level 3, approving you as a CORGI qualified engineer - Salary:
£8,410 - £9,804 while training, £20,500 - £22,000 when qualified - Benefits:
Pension scheme, contribution towards driving lessons (up to 10 lessons), at least 26 days' holiday (plus Bank Holidays), protective work clothing and equipment
