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16,932 Posts
That’s common with oldtimers around here too.
Why have a helper as a service plumber?
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8,185 Posts
Opensights ain't old. We've always just said toilet and it sounds funny to me. In our area there were some home which didn't get indoor plumbing for quite some time. My guess is people were still using stools and pots long past the time that the term toilet became the common name for a porcelain water closet fixture. Calling a toilet a stool in that instance would be confusing.
Some might call a van a car. If you've got a sedan, a pickup, and a van in the driveway, it would be pretty confusing to say get in the car/truck when you mean a van.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, a Stool.
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11,073 Posts
It’s just what I learned from the old timers. Like any plumbing fitting and fixture there’s at least a half a dozen names. Back home in Connecticut a common term is “closet”. From what I was told it’s because when indoor plumbing was installed in older homes, the toilet would be put in a closet.
Not many of my customers are confused with the term “stool”.
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8,325 Posts
I really probably ought to be teaching my future son-in -law this trade...
If he catches on and likes the work we do... at least I will know they wont starve
down the road after I am gone......
probably should bring him into work part time next summer to see if it would work out
If he catches on and likes the work we do... at least I will know they wont starve
down the road after I am gone......
probably should bring him into work part time next summer to see if it would work out
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377 Posts
Yabut you have an excuse.
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377 Posts
Sticks and stones yeah
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8,185 Posts
What's my excuse? All the sewer gas and glue/primer I've inhaled? HAHAHA
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377 Posts
HA!
Actually what I had in mind was something else out of your 'past'?...
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61 Posts
The reason I started this post is I was watching "Plumbing with Tim" a you tube series, about service plumbing. I had noticed he always had these helpers in the background often twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do. This reminded me of my experience with service plumbing when I first started with plumbing. I wanted to learn as much as possible, but there simply is nothing for you to do.
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61 Posts
Whoops, I didn't mean to post that last one. I guess my question is, from the service plumbers owners perspective, it does not seem worth it to have some guy sitting next to you, who can't really offer much in terms of productivity. That is why it is confusing to see this.
And then from the perspective of the brand new apprentice plumber, in my experience it is a waste of time compared to what he could be doing. I get that riding along with a journeyman service plumber is better than watching day time soap operas at home. I'm trying to make the point that it is not the most efficient use of time compared to other options.
What I tell any apprentice that wants to know about service plumbing I would recommend reading/ recording from the plbg.com forum, There you will find everything you need to know about the intricacies of service plumbing also watch you tube videos. If you want to learn about the business of plumbing, read everything from the business section of this forum. The reason plbg.com is better for service is because too much joking around goes on in the general plumbing section of this forum.
I had to find this out on my own, and so many years later I've never heard anyone suggest that forums have the answers to your service plumbing questions.. Be a new construction plumber for a few years while learning service plumbing from you tube videos and plbg.com forum is the best way as far as I'm aware.
Maybe you guys had a different experience of plumbing school than I did, but for me I was the best student out of the 40 in my class. I mention this because a lot of you were suggesting I was the problem because I'm lazy and disinterested. Over 5 years, no service plumbing was taught. it was overall a very slow pace, and had a very we are here to hang out vibe to it. Lots of remedial math, welding, other things that don't have to do with plumbing etc. But in 5 years of school no service concepts what so ever.
In conclusion. Plumbing school is a waste of time. Riding along with a service plumber is a waste of time. The best use of time? Spend your first 2 years working new construction, listening to you tube videos on your mp3 player and also recordings of plbg forum on your mp3 player while being productive as a new construction plumber.
And then from the perspective of the brand new apprentice plumber, in my experience it is a waste of time compared to what he could be doing. I get that riding along with a journeyman service plumber is better than watching day time soap operas at home. I'm trying to make the point that it is not the most efficient use of time compared to other options.
What I tell any apprentice that wants to know about service plumbing I would recommend reading/ recording from the plbg.com forum, There you will find everything you need to know about the intricacies of service plumbing also watch you tube videos. If you want to learn about the business of plumbing, read everything from the business section of this forum. The reason plbg.com is better for service is because too much joking around goes on in the general plumbing section of this forum.
I had to find this out on my own, and so many years later I've never heard anyone suggest that forums have the answers to your service plumbing questions.. Be a new construction plumber for a few years while learning service plumbing from you tube videos and plbg.com forum is the best way as far as I'm aware.
Maybe you guys had a different experience of plumbing school than I did, but for me I was the best student out of the 40 in my class. I mention this because a lot of you were suggesting I was the problem because I'm lazy and disinterested. Over 5 years, no service plumbing was taught. it was overall a very slow pace, and had a very we are here to hang out vibe to it. Lots of remedial math, welding, other things that don't have to do with plumbing etc. But in 5 years of school no service concepts what so ever.
In conclusion. Plumbing school is a waste of time. Riding along with a service plumber is a waste of time. The best use of time? Spend your first 2 years working new construction, listening to you tube videos on your mp3 player and also recordings of plbg forum on your mp3 player while being productive as a new construction plumber.
I and most of the service guys at my company were trained on the job, doing residential and commercial service work. I've done new construction on a grand total of 4 buildings for 3 weeks, and I'm doing just fine running a service truck.
No disrespect intended, but you seem to have a mindset of perfection. Anything less than most efficient is a waste of time. In service there has to exist a "good enough." I never meant to insinuate that you're lazy, entitled, etc. There's just a few things you've said that don't jive in my head, like having many years of experience and yet asking how to estimate how long a job is going to take.
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Apparently we have a reporter from The Onion mascarading as a plumber in our midst. You seriously didn’t realize that the PZ was never intended as a learning source for service plumbers? 🤣
This is the most intricately woven post of BS I‘ve read since the Ice Cream Meltdown, and Chained Kitchen Table posts from years past.
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61 Posts
Seriously? Plumbing school and working under a journeyman are a waste of time? Really? You should just skip all that and advance to super plumber status and go on your own immediately. GTFOH
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I'm using "waste of time" as kind of a figure of speech. As I pointed out above, I'm not comparing sitting next to a service plumber for 40 hours a week compared to sitting at home watching cartoons. Obviously when comparing those 2 things, sitting next to a service plumber is better for learning plumbing than doing no plumbing at all.
I'm saying there are much better ways of learning service plumbing at a rate like 30 times more efficiently and that is by plbg.com forums.
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I'm using "waste of time" as kind of a figure of speech. As I pointed out above, I'm not comparing sitting next to a service plumber for 40 hours a week compared to sitting at home watching cartoons. Obviously when comparing those 2 things, sitting next to a service plumber is better for learning plumbing than doing no plumbing at all.
I'm saying there are much better ways of learning service plumbing at a rate like 30 times more efficiently and that is by plbg.com forums.
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61 Posts
Wither it was "intended" as a learning source is irrelevant. Message boards are the best way to learn any subject in my opinion. This is a message board, and it's a great source of learning. I don't understand why that is offensive to you.
I am simply stating what I recommend to a person who is interested in getting into plumbing. I was curious to get others feedback and what path they would recommend to say.... maybe a nephew or neighbor kid who was interested in plumbing. Maybe you don't ever look back on any of your life experiences and think.... hmmm if I knew what I know now, back then, I would do things differently.
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61 Posts
I don't understand why it's a bad thing to ask how long various service jobs take on average. The majority of my apprenticeship was spent in new construction, so to me it would make sense that I don't know how long service jobs take. Even if someone is a seasoned vet in service, they can still ask how long others take to do various jobs. I would think it would benefit an owner of a company to ask around at how long various service jobs take. Maybe he has a very fast or very slow employee. He doesn't realize until he asks around that his slow employee is taking twice as long as the average plumber to do his work.
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61 Posts
Maybe your school was nothing like mine? I would be curious to hear about that. I'm just one guy that went to one school at one point in time. Maybe your experience as a helper was very positive and you would do nothing different. Alright I would like to about that.
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