Week 2 of Practicum

I've been visiting around and checking out what people are doing on their practicums. Everybody seems to be getting a chance to work on a wide variety of things. Employers have been pleased with the skill and commitment levels. Everyone is reporting that they have been able to put their new skills to good use.

Week 30 Day 2 Welding workshop

Bill Plett from ACC conducted a one-day welding workshop. 

Oxy-acetylene cutting, pipe welding and braze wedling

Week 30, Day 1

Prep for welding workshop.
Welding theory and Welding safety.

Week 29, Day 5. Last day of class work for Pipe 0012 and 0013.

Here is a link to one of the systems that recovers heat from DWV piping systems, Might be a thing in the not too distant

http://www.renewability.com/power_pipe/how_works.html

Roll your own! You have the technology.




Bidet toilet seats. https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.white-elongated-heated-bidet-toilet-seat-s900.1000726864.html

Week 29, Day 4

While we are talking about septic tanks it is a good time to review the requirements for confined space entry in the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulations. See Section Section 15. 

Week 29, Day 3

Field trip to ACC!!
BBQ lunch,
Tour of facility shops and classrooms.
Meet with In
Meeting with apprenticeship instructors and
Ken Falloon the apprenticeship coordinator.

In the meantime watch this video on the issues around water borne wastes and the notion that there is no such thing as downstream. We are all downstream of something.

National Film Board presents Crapshoot: The Gamble with our Wastes

Week 29, Day 2

Onsite Wastewater Management systems Manitoba Regulations

Onsite Wastewater Management Installers Program
September 25 - 29, 2017 -- 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Fee: $1000.00 (No taxes)
Location:
Red River College
2055 Notre Dame Avenue

Homeowner’s Manual for Onsite Wastewater Management Systems

Week 29, Day 1.

Field trip, across the yard. Interlake Water Supply are working on new housing units setting holding tanks and setting up pumps.
Individual septic tanks will be used as holding tanks for the time being  but may eventually have the effluent chamber hooked up to the sewer main. A modified forced main system.

They were installing a 1 hp submersible pump down an adjacent 120ft well to supply all three units. The system will use a single 20 gallon pressure tank with a cycle stop valve. Check out the operation here.

Week 28, Day 5

Working up a price for the Peguis Infrastructure Building. Very basic plumbing with a WC, lav and KS.
Also want a section of radiant floor heating.

Designing radiant floor heating systems

Using the 30 day trial version of LoopCAD program

http://www.avenir-online.com/AvenirWeb/Store/Purchase.aspx




for an area 24 x 80 with 15" spacing for 1/2" pex pipe.

Week 28, Day 4

Programming the Fleck 5800 LXT Softener head
K45 Drain Gun


 

K50 Sectional Machine

 


Next size up drain cleaner for municipal systems.

Week 28, Day 3

A couple of videos about circuit venting and wet venting. These videos are more about commercial rather than residential settings but they provide a good summary of the general rules for applying, designing and sizing these piping arrangements. Refer to the NP C sections 2.5.2 Wet Venting and 2.5.3 Circuit Venting.

Circuit Venting Circuit Venting vs Wet Venting

Week 28, Day 2

After a lovely long week end. Two weeks left. Last week will be practical testing, then practicum.

Now on to drain cleaning tools.

Ridgid Drain cleaning tools and related equipment. 

Week 27, Day 5

Electric Water Heaters

How do they work




Scehmatic

How much resistance should you read on a water heater element. 

Week 27, Day 4

Best resource for submersible pumps is the Franklin Electric AIM (Application, Installation and Maintenance) Manual. 

If you work on pumps once in a while you will want to download this to your phone or keep a printed copy behind your truck seat.

Most residential submersible pumps are single phase 240 volt pumps with a three wire control box.

Franklin Electric YouTube channel is very useful.

For Application



For Installation





For Maintenance

Week 27, Day 3

Open House with Pizza and visitors checking out the condos.

Rigging up the submersible pump and building a flow inducer sleeve. Submersible pumps should not be installed in open water because water needs to flow past the motor to cool the motor.  The Franklin Electric AIM manual describes how it is done.

Flow inducer sleeve. 

Week 27, Day 2

ELECTRICITY!!

We paid darn good money for those Milwaukee Multimeters. ($129.00)
we better figure out how to use them.



The woman in this video sounds like the GlaDOS robot woman from Portal.

Week 27, Day 1

New assignment on Wet Venting.

This site has some good technical explanations of plumbing principles. Like the proportion of water to air flowing in vertical gravity drainage pipes. 7/24ths is an interesting fraction.


Lots of interesting and well done YouTube videos available illustrating all sorts of drainage and venting arrangements. Many reference US and international plumbing codes but quite a few refer to the National Plumbing Code of Canada Like this video from the plumbing department a SAIT in Calgary.


And this video from Camosun



See also this play list from Camosun

Condo Projects

Three out of four condo projects set up and running today.

Sheldon and Clay Grundfos 240v specialists

Gil and Walter make it water tight

Nick and Matt Early birds

Week 26, Day 4

Pumps 101

How do you know which pump to use?

First figure out how much water you need and at what pressure.

Water demand measured in fixture units. See NPC Table 2.6.3.2 A " Sizing of Water Distribution Systems"

Then figure out how much resistance your pump will have to overcome to deliver that amount of water at that amount of pressure.

Feet of static and dynamic head.

Then look for information about pump performance usually expressed in a graph that plots head and volume.

Look at the pump manufacturers'  performance information, usually illustrated in a pump performance curve chart.
 eg. Grundfos MQ pump. 

Week 26 Day 3

Pam will talk to class Thursday 1PM about plans for graduation.

Lunch and open house next Wed. Pizza and veggies.

Week 26, Day 2

Materials for water lines arrive.

Setting up a variety of water distribution arrangements using various forms of pex pipe, fittings and manifolds.

Aquapex is popular in some areas. Sometimes called Wirsbo, Uponor or Propex,or pex-a it is specialized pex pipe and fittings where the connections are made by expanding the pipe and expansion ring over the fitting. A specialized tool is required to expand the pipe and expansion ring. Some tools are manual, some are electric.


Power tool




Installing pex-a systems, manual tool.

Week 26, Day 1

Water systems
Pumps, water supply, water service, water distribution
Code: 2.6

Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality 

Pumps Manual

Week 25, Day 5

Wrapping up the  DWV portion of the condos.

More Drawings getting use to visualizing and representing the patterns of DWV arrangements

Quiz on DWV Identification, Dual vents, flat vents and residential storm drainage.

Interesting plumbing history here. What happens when your city is too low for gravity drainage systems?

If you are like Chicago, in the late 1800s, you raise the whole city so you can install DWV systems.





More plumbing history as we begin to study water supply. Interesting engineering experiment.




How to test a TPR  valve.

Week 25, Day 4.

Assignment: Dual vents, flat vents and Residential storm drainage.

Climate information for sizing stormwater drainage systems.

Environment Canada chart. http://users.encs.concordia.ca/home/x/xiaom_h/Study/References/Appendix%20C%20-Climatic%20Data.pdf

Week 25, Day 3

Getting pretty much wrapped up on the DWV portion of the condos with a nice selection of various designs and installations. Many ways to do it right, the considerations are code first but then time and materials.

Doing some drawings. Try these as traps. Insert into your drawing and resize accordingly.

Week 25, Day 2

Got 3 back ordered tubs, one with concealed damage.

Always inspect the carton very carefully before you accept delivery (or load it on your truck to go to a job). Save yourself a time consuming process and the chance that you will get the blame.

Remember, wholesalers like to ship their damage goods to the farthest ends of the earth hoping you will accept it and make it work.

This tub ding didn't really even show up on the carton but it would be noticeable once installed.

Week 25 Day 1

Drawing DWV riser diagrams.
Many right ways to design a system.

Must be:
-code compliant
- economic
- functional
- doable

More fixture related things
Bidet Toilet seats.

Week 24 Day 5

Listing ABS still needed.
Quiz in PM.

Week 24, Day 4

Finishing up an assignment on identifying and sizing DWV components and  working on condos.

Excellent work in progress.

Week 24, Day 3

Piping arrived, let the DWVing commence.
Unfortunately, some of the fixtures and fitting are back ordered so our progress is limited somewhat.

Week 24, Day 2

After a nice long week end.

Looking at residential plumbing fixtures:
Typically these include lavatory basins, water closets, bathtubs and showers, kitchen sinks, laundry sinks and laundry standpipes, residential floor drains.
Less common but still sometimes installed in North American residential bathrooms are bidets and urinals.
Recently, waterless urinals have been developed.

Other cultures and other parts of the world have hygiene practices that influence residential bathroom fixture design.

A couple of illustrations are the squat style or pan toilet and the German shelf style toilet. Bidets are very common in European bathrooms. Squat toilets are very common in Eastern European and Asian bathrooms.

Resources for qelding

https://www.cwbgroup.org/services/certification-and-qualification

4 condos

Waiting for pipe, fittings, fixtures and directions.

Week 23, Day 5

Still waiting for materials and specific directions regarding the course outline. ( Update: materials will be shipped today, Friday, Aug 4)

 Quiz scheduled for 1 pm information in assignments relating to

Building Drains and Sewers, Individual vents, Roof terminals, Fixture Traps, Cleanouts, Floor Drains, and Manholes.


What is rodding? The code uses rodding as a generic term to describe a number of trade practices for drain cleaning but it actually involves using flexible rods with various tools on the end. Rods can be used manually or machine driven and are usually for large dimension drain lines.

We will be using some of the ACC tools for drain cleaning, many of them made by Ridgid.

Week 23, Day 4

Field trip day to various construction sites in Fisher River. Pics to follow.

Week 23, Day 4

Field Trip Day

 to various projects in Fisher River.

 New ICFS building in the AM

 Lunch at the Pow-wow.

After Lunch Trevor will show us around the First Nations Builder's housing plant.
 

Check them out at Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/First-Nation-Builders-1056608064377542/?fref=ts

Check out the American Standard virtual show room where you can plan a bathroom and price it for a customer. You can switch fixtures and see them in place.

https://www.americanstandard-us.com/professionals/virtual-room-designer

You need to sign up for an account with your gmail . Fun to check out.

Week 23, Day 3

Getting creative with stairs in the condos. 

Week 23, Day 2

Materials for condo projects arrived at noon, by 4:30 the pony walls and floors were up. 

Week 23, Day 1

Some confusion over course outlines. The outlines that were officially approved for the course are very limited in scope addressing only drain, waste and venting with no discussion of pressurized water systems, the water supply. Neither to the official course outlines provide direction for the practical, applied part of the course, like the condo project.
We can proceed for a while but we will need clarification before we get too far into things.

Apparently, the materials for the condos will arrive tomorrow morning. Happy day.

Week 22 Day 5

Re-test day. Classes canceled for other students.

Week22, Day 4

More code
-flow in pipes,
-Table 2.4.9.3 Fixture units table.
-Table 2.4.10.2. Permitted flow based on trap size
-Table 2.4.10.6 Hydraulic load drained to a Building drain or Sewer


Planning finished plumbing.
Delta fixtures
Tub with surround
Double compartment stainless steel sink

-Pricing fixtures and trim
Water supply and distribution
 Pex manifolds and home run system
1 4 outlet and one 6 outlet.
Grundfos Pump
Electric water heater

Week 22, Day 3 More code

Waiting for purchase orders, opening a window in the shop turned into a bigger project than expected but will let some cool river breezes in for when we get working on projects.

Week 22, Day 2: Plumbing terminology

Deep into plumbing terminology. Look for illustrations of terms in the NPC Appendix. Lots of good illustrations online

For example: Air admittance valve; old style mechanical types only permitted on RVs.

New style diaphragm that are permitted by NPC

What happens if you accidentally glue up a $17.80 4'ABS DWV "y" fitting? Make a trip back to town for another fitting? 

Term 2, Pipe 0003 and 0004

New term focusing on Plumbing systems. 0003 is DWV systems and 0004 is Venting Systems.
Same process, reading is still critical especially reading of technical language -- codes, regulations, specifications etc.

Clean up today, getting reading to ship some tools back to ACC.

Increase your learning power

Interesting article here. Feynman Technique

Last day of practical testing

Nice work being done.

Hilti Presentation

Allan Catteeuw, Hilti representative did a demonstration of various Hilti products including the DX 450 Powder Actuated anchoring tool, the Hilti core drill, hilti cordless hammer drill and various related products. He left us with some drop in anchors and spare shots for the tool we have on hand. 

Cutting ID

Fine selection if fittings

Week20E01

Clean up and prep for practical testing.

Week19E05

Not sure if I would call it cheating but it certainly is a powerful tool for many situations.

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-is-making-it-extremely-easy-for-students-to-cheat/

Wolfram Alpha, get the phone app, ask it anything.

Week19E04

Wrapping up shop projects and practicing for practical test. Quizzes tomorrow, Drafting and Blueprint reading in the morning, Math in the afternoon.

Hilti Man coming

Bringing some neat tools like a core drill




And some anchors




And some explosive actuated fastening tools

Surviving the Robotics Revolution

So what kind of middle class jobs will survive the robotics revolution?

Autor and Dorn argue that jobs requiring some modest combination of technical skill and flexibility:

Following this logic, we predict that the middle-skill jobs that survive will combine routine technical tasks with abstract and manual tasks in which workers have a comparative advantage — interpersonal interaction, adaptability and problem-solving. Along with medical paraprofessionals, this category includes numerous jobs for people in the skilled trades and repair: plumbers; builders; electricians; heating, ventilation and air-conditioning installers; automotive technicians; customer-service representatives; and even clerical workers who are required to do more than type and file.

Business Insider  

Week19E03

Counting down the days till the end of term. Two days to wrap up shop projects and practice for the practical exam. Check your mail for your Practical test times.

One final "homework" assignment on blueprint reading. Drafting and Blueprint Reading Quiz on Friday.

Week 19E01

Last week to wrap up up projects. Math quiz on Friday AM, Drafting and Blueprint Reading quiz in the PM. Check your math assignments, some people have assignments due and some have assignments that need finishing.

Inclined Manometer gauge takes Red Oil

We have one of these on the wall in the back. It measures pressure in inches of WC but it only goes up to 3" of WC maximum. They put it on an incline so that they can measure finer pressures, fractions (decimals) of an inch.  They also put a lighter fluid (not lighter fluid) in it, an oil that won't evaporate and one that has a specific gravity of .826 which means it is easier to lift than water, which means it can measure a much smaller pressure in the same space.

Week18E04

Winding down, 3 quizzes to go. One general science and math this week, a more specific quiz on Math next week, and then one more quiz on Drafting and Blueprint Reading the week after that. Then final tests and practical testing.

Still working out the final details but it looks like we will do practical testing in groups of 4 starting on July 12 from 1:00-5:00. Second group will be on July 13 from 9-1:00. Final exam will be Friday, July the 14, 11:00- 2:00.

Oxy-acetylene

We need to order more oxygen and acetylene. How do you figure out what to order? Mostly it is by CF or cubic feet of gas in refilled bottles. Just ordered a 150 CF bottle of oxygen for  $15.71 and a 100CF bottle of acetylene for $96.70.

http://www.tricowelding.com/cylinder_sizing/hp_sizing_chart_1-10-11.pdf

Week18E03

Simple Machines and Mechanical advantage.

Inclined Plane Screw

Three Classes of Levers

Mechanical Advantage

Week18E02

A little more Drafting and Blueprint Reading, sketching and drawing.

A little bit of math, Rolling offsets with 45, 60 and 221/2 elbows.

Looking for information about plumbing permits and inspections. Coming across a few things specific to the interlake. Eastern Interlake Planning District

For on reserve housing the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council provides inspection services.

Week18E01

More shop, more homework, more quiz prep.

Pressure and Atmosphere.

We live at the bottom of an ocean of air.

Week 17E05

One more Friday, one more quiz. Some math, some science questions.

Crosby Online training.

Take a look at the panels, videos and the quiz questions but don't answer the questions on the Crosby site, we have a google Form for the questions, it was sent in your email.

The login for the Crosby Online training site is
login =ggatin
password = fUw)pZS1C7

Week17E04

New math assignment jumper offsets.

Week17E03 Aboriginal Day

Longest day, spend it with family.

Week17E01

Ridgid Presentation.

Changing chasers in the Ridgid Universal die heads. Paul pointed out that the universal head can be used with through-the-head oiling systems that pump cutting oil in a steady stream onto to the chasers. In this case it is important to assemble the universal die head properly with the Ridgid logo to the top to ensure that the oiler works. Watch this video of the 535 machine which is popular in some shops. The ACC shop in Brandon has a number of these.

Paul Beaupre Paul.Beaupre@emerson.com

Propress Megapress

Hazards of Cross bores. Compact SeeSnake

What happens if you run a root cutter  in a sewer

See Manitoba Hydro's recommendations for rotor rooters.

Do not begin clearing the sewer with rotating equipment or water jets until inspection has ruled out the presence of a cross bore. Even if you do not use natural gas, natural gas lines could be nearby. https://www.hydro.mb.ca/safety/natural_gas/blocked_sewers.shtml

Fire Watch/Safe Watch

Week16E05

Ridgid rep visit rescheduled to Monday 10:00.

Week16E05

Ridgid rep visit rescheduled to Monday 10:00.

Week16E04

Formula Triangles (not triangle formulas, that's trig) Catch up on homework day. Working on assignments for perimeter, grade, volume, area. Also working on assignment about temperature and heat.
Prep for quiz tomorrow.

One assignment we worked on introduced the formula triangle, a useful tool for rearranging formulas. Especially where the formula involve two things multiplied to find a third thing. Or where some thing equal two other things divide by one another,

Watch this video.





We also watched a couple of videos on Heat and temperature,




and one by Sal Khan on total heat calculations.

Grading scheme

Bringing this to the top of the pile. 

...(y)our mark for the Pipe 0001 Pipe Trades Theory class. The overall grade will be based on assignments (30%), quizzes (30%) and final exam (40%).
Your lowest quiz mark will be excluded from the final calculation-- everyone has an off day.

The practical mark Pipe 0002 is based on a document like this.

Week16E03

Pepsi Challenge, 

Rope Rodeo, Fittings Bingo, Crane Signal Extravaganza

Timed events,

Huge prize money 

(we make our own, and it is big )

Week16E02

Brazing, bending, flaring.
Cutting, threading, grooving, beveling.
Fusing, solvent welding.
Tying knots, identifying fittings, doing a little math.
Math related to grade, drop, percent grade, elevation. Converting between builder's measurements and engineer's measurements.

Week16E01

Wrap up practical projects and get ready for practical testing.

Ridgid Sales Representative will be here this week, 15th.

Here is an example of an old practical test score sheet.

More knots..

Zepplin Bend



Carrick Bend

Brass fitting blow out

What happens when you concentrate the heat too much on an alloy fitting? It is possible to melt right through the metal and wreck the fitting. In this case it is a $5 adaptor but it could be a customers thousand dollar piece of equipment. 

Why would this happen? Because piping fittings are made of brass or bronze, which are alloys of copper and other materials, mostly tin or zinc but also manganese, iron, lead, silicon, bismuth, antimony, aluminum and others. Because some of these materials have a much lower melting point than copper they melt much more easily. 

Check out the bronze and brass alloys in this chart and not the percentages of different materials and the melting points. 

Week15E05

Lifting frame is set up, all sorts of labour saving gadgets. Some rigging techniques are older than the Egyptian pyramids, some are as modern as virtual reality.

Wally plays with blocks.

W15E04

Kevin is bring a rigging training aid today. Looks like the vinyl flooring might get moved too.
Update your blogs, lots of details, pic and links. Your practical grade is largely based on your documentation. The job is not over until the paper work is done.

Training aid is a  Spanco 1 ton Portable Steel Gantry Crane with attachments.

Spanco 1AW1010 Gantry Crane 

Renfroe Lifting Clamp

Campbell Lifting Clamp

Ingersol RAnd 1/2 ton Beam Trolley

CM Shopstar 300 lb electric chain hoist

Kleton Chain Hoists

Week15E03

Where are you at in your projects? What do you need to finish? What do you need to document?

Week15E02

More shop work. Prepping for a Friday quiz. Some questions from fall arrest and scaffolding workshops.

New assignment on Air-Acetylene Torches

My wife is on holiday

W15E01

Cast and copper assemblies for DWV. Soldering large dimension copper with 95/5 solder.

 Why would you use copper DWV?

 "The smaller diameter of DWV tube and fittings makes it possible to install copper drainage systems where other competing piping materials would be impossible, difficult or more costly. For example, a 3-inch copper stack has only a 3-3/8-inch outside diameter at the fitting and can be installed in a 3-1/2 inch cavity wall." Copper Development Association 

osi

Why do we ream copper pipe ( or any pipe for that matter)?

Erosion corrosion.

W14E05

Tube Bending added to the mix. See page for projects. Complete math assignments.

Pipefitters need to bend all sizes of pipes and tubes from the smallest sizes used for medical gas or instrumentation, through 1/2" 3/4" and 1" steam tracing lines to heavy duty pipeline pipe bending up to 60" in diameter.

Ridgid makes tools for  hand tube bending copper or stainless steel. Tools for making bends in larger pipes, especially steel pipes for steam tracing are done with electric or hydraulic motors.


Check out this bending tool.



Here is an example of tube bending for steam tracing. The tubing is laid over the pipe, under the insulation to keep systems from freezing up.

W14E04

Framed up a little concrete form for practice drilling holes and setting anchors. Thanks to, construction foreman, Randy Thomas for generously making it happen.
 

W14E03

Working with Cast Iron Pipe

The Math
The Tools
The Code
The practice

Plumbing & Related Careers

Glen reminded me this morning that Plumbing is not your only option in terms of career choices after you complete this Year 1 program.  There are related careers that you might want to do instead of or in addition to plumbing.  Some of them are:  Pipefitting, Steamfitting, Sprinklerfitting, Gasfitting, or even work in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration field. 

If you have questions about any of these trades, Glen has extensive knowledge and experience.  Make sure you take advantage of his expertise while he is here.  Ask lots of questions and take lots of notes.  Learn all you can. 

Another resource that I have pointed out to you before is the Career Cruising website. 

Career Cruising - Click on this link - the username and password is on the whiteboard in the classroom. 

Career Cruising will give you specific information on each career - a job description, working conditions, earnings, educational path, sample career path, related careers, and additional links to websites related to that career.  There are also interviews with real people who are in that career - you can read or listen to them describe their work. 

If you have any questions about using the Career Cruising site, let me know and I will assist you. 

W14E02

More math. Solving for other angles. This unit draws on your trig skills. Most of the time we work with only a few fixed angles depending on the fittings we use-- 22-1/2, 45, 60 and 90 degree elbows. Occasionally, we need to be able to use trig to solve for other angles.

Sadly our T- Drill is broken but this is how it should work.


And this is the sort of thing you might make.

W14E01

Elite Safety Services presentation on scaffolding.

Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation 2014: PART 28 SCAFFOLDS AND OTHER ELEVATED WORK PLATFORMS -- GENERAL REQUIREMENTS