Letters

Intouch Please send your letters, which may be edited, to editorial@registeredgasengineer.co.uk.

From the editor: Our May feature about dyslexia and how it may be more common among gas engineers certainly struck a note with readers. We had deliberately mis-spelled dyslexia on our cover, to illustrate the real-life experience of some people who live with the condition – and we acknowledge that this treatment did not go down well with some readers. Some people found it in poor taste, which certainly was not our intention.

But we know that the article has really got people talking openly about dyslexia and encouraged them to share their own experiences with others. Just some of the responses we received are below.

I couldn’t do what I do without dyslexia

I have just read the article, Working when you have dyslexia. I fully endorse what was written.

I, too, find that the difference that dyslexia makes for me in how I think is a real advantage to me and enables me to trace faults almost instantaneously. This ‘gift’ enables me to see in my mind the whole assembly in its entirety and how each part interacts with other components. I can see how these symptoms would be related to each part in the working assembly.

As a result, I can often see maybe four possible failures that would cause these symptoms and a quick test can eliminate maybe two or three possibilities. This whole thought process is almost instantaneous and it’s intuitive, so even I can’t often explain how I have made the determination.

Because of how my mind works, I do have an appetite to understand any mechanism completely but there are many devices or components where it is not possible to dismantle so that I can discover how it works, and I find that a bit frustrating.

Very often manufacturers do not provide sufficient details and the fault-tracing flow charts in the manual are often incomplete, poorly thought through or non-existent. Instruction books are often full of many words but lack logic and the information needed is fragmented.

I think dyslexia is a gift and I could not do what I do anything like as well without it.

I do sometimes tell my customers that I am dyslexic and I get a variety of responses: some seem disturbed and concerned that somehow this makes me ‘disabled’ and look worried that they have let a disabled person loose on their precious equipment.

This is usually short-lived, though, when I then explain how it enables me to be much more capable. It often also uncovers their own hidden dyslexia or that of a family member, and sharing the differences of each other’s dyslexia can be quite refreshing and liberating.

My school experience was similar to Paul’s and is a sad and painful memory for me, but my Precision Engineering apprenticeship was quite different – my school exam results were 2 per cent in physics at school compared with my apprenticeship exam of 98 per cent in engineering science.

Cleary the problem with physics at school was not the subject matter but the exam.

Running my own business for the past 19 years has been great but also has its own challenges relating to the dyslexia. Many of the organisational aspects are made more difficult because my mind is not organised in a sequential manner and so using a non-sequential mind to organise my work sequentially is almost impossible. But my wife does have a sequential mind and so I rely upon her heavily with her book-keeping and organisational skills to complement mine. Christopher Dolley

I’ve dealt with it in secret

Having a form of dyslexia has created a number of challenges for me in my life from my school days in the 60s and 70s. This article was brilliant and heartwarming to read.

I have had to deal with this in secret most of my adult life, but when mandatory assessments were introduced, it created obstacles for me with regard to reading sentences or phrases and determining what was asked or said – but if someone read it to me aloud I could fully understand.

I made my local assessment centre aware ‘privately’ of my situation a number of years ago, and they have been very professional in assisting me with the additional challenges.

I’m now in my 60s with my career coming to an end and the article was uplifting for me. I am very pleased that this is being brought to people’s attention. Walter Montgomery

Disappointed with wall of text

I was really excited to see an article about dyslexia, a really important and interesting topic! Very disappointed to turn to a wall of text, which obviously hadn’t been written or presented with dyslexic people in mind. Amy Hemmings

Coverline was in bad taste and insulting

I am concerned about the intent of the publisher, and the point they are trying to make. Dyslexia is a common condition and has, in the past, created a social stigma from childhood all the way through a person’s life.

In the UK, gas engineering is a heavily regulated trade, with the tradespeople having to undertake apprenticeships and regular training, the difficulty of which is only increased by dyslexia.

Was [your cover line] a deliberate play on the spelling to reflect the subject matter or simply poor proof-reading on your part? If it was the former, then it was in very bad taste and, as someone who suffers from this condition, I find it insulting and degrading. Details withheld

Why add chemical soup to clean heating systems?

I refer to the article in the May issue of Registered Gas Engineer about the new Part L revisions regarding water treatment. Once again, the chemical manufacturer lobby has got its way and the regulations totally ignore the most effective way of protecting heating systems.

Can any of these peddlars of snake oil tell me why system water that has the correct pH value, low oxygen content and low conductivity needs a chemical soup added to it which, in many cases, will adversely affect these figures?

They also mandate the fitting of a system filter. This is treating the symptoms rather than the disease: a clean system does not need a filter. Money would be far better spent on fitting de-aerators to keep the oxygen out of the system.

As usual, it seems that those who shout the loudest get their way and the science is totally ignored in favour of selling unnecessary products. Mike Walton

Time to review EU language

Your answer to Frank Chandler’s question [Letters, What’s up with Chimneys?] goes a long way towards explaining why this country needed to leave the EU. Surely we should review all the rubbish that was introduced just for the sake of doing so.

Then a flue can remain a flue and a chimney remain a chimney. It’s time to accept that the majority of technicians know what they are talking about and will not being changing. And it’s time those in charge reviewed their inane ideas and moved on, leaving the language and understanding of things alone. Jonathan Davies

Water treatment turmoil

Having gone through the requirements for the water treatment that must be carried out when installing a new boiler, servicing or carrying out maintenance to a boiler or heating system, I find myself very disappointed. I say this because I believe this will be the fastest way to lose work from new customers, plus cause long-term damage to small servicing and maintenance providers.

My experience when entering the homes of new customers tells me this is never going to work for the majority of them. I have already tested it out on a couple about this unexpected cost and it did not go down well. Turning up on the doorstep for the first time to service or carry out maintenance is one thing, but it’s another to then test the heating water and tell them that it is not to the standard required (about 70 per cent of jobs) and that I will need to flush it out (probably via a powerflush) before I can put more inhibitor into the system. This will cost the customer significantly more money than just a service.

While some customers will tolerate this huge cost increase above the service or breakdown cost, most will just ask me to leave and there will be no way to enforce the powerflush. We all know Building Control cannot enforce these regulations. The only person who is going to lose out is the registered gas engineer. Furthermore, this may deter people from having their boiler serviced for fear of having to have a powerflush.

Then once the public realise they can stop you from taking a water sample as they own the property, there will be nothing you can do.

I am disappointed as this has nothing to do with gas safety: it only benefits the water treatment manufacturers. We won’t see any improvement to the carbon footprint that can be attributed to system cleaning. We won’t be able to enforce it and lots of installers will just say the water was OK on the day. Derek Clark Clarks Gas Heating Service

Is 100% biogas the way to reach net zero?

I’ve been Gas Safe registered for about six months and I read the Gas Safe magazine and see different viewpoints on a greener Britain. I am very concerned how little people understand what is eco-friendly – mostly electric boilers and cars.

Our gas boilers run off the grid, to which we do add biogas, which is a carbon-neutral fuel source. Wouldn’t it be more economical for the government to create a 100 per cent biogas grid so that most of Britain won’t have to get a new alternative-fuel boiler?

The problem we have is that currently we only have two alternatives – electric and hydrogen.

Electric does discriminate against the poor and working class. How are they supposed to afford a new, greener boiler when they cost a lot to install and run? It’s the same with electric cars. The problem we have is that it’s expensive to run off the grid. Wealthy people can invest in air source heat pumps and electric cars. But the electricity grid runs two-thirds on fossil fuels: how is this zero-emissions?

I think a 100 per cent biogas grid should be used. Using government and some rich businesses, we could have more bioplants and more maize farms.

What would be a good idea to help the gas grid is more accessible grants for anyone who has a less efficient boiler to upgrade to a modern condensing gas boiler.

I want a greener world. I see the reality of this isn’t easy as every country is different, and it has to be profitable in order to work. But if my generation doesn’t act, then the earth will be uninhabitable by the 22nd century. Harri Mathews