Callum Coffin HavMain Apprentice

“I’ve been here nearly a year now working for HavMain and have gained some good experience working with the people here. They’re all highly experienced at the job and brilliant to learn from. I never thought when I first started for the company that I would be working on three inch iron pipes and big commercial boilers, but I’ve really enjoyed it!

My aim is to become a qualified commercial gas and oil service engineer because I’m very interested in working on large commercial boilers and water heaters. Currently at college I’m working towards getting a NVQ level 2 plumbing certificate, but when I’ve finished this I want to go move on to working on my gas qualifications. Working for HavMain you get to travel not only around the Torbay area but down to Cornwall and North Devon working on the many contracts that HavMain have.

Being a first year apprentice meant that I came out of school when I was 16 years old and straight in to looking for an apprenticeship and being a plumbing and heating engineer really caught my eye. I first went about getting my job at HavMain by gaining a place at South Devon College. They then helped me get in contact with Stephen Havill the Managing Director of HavMain, who was impressed with my GCSE grades, and arranged an interview.

It’s been good this past year working for the company as I have gained the skills to pass practical exams in college. I have worked on a few big jobs now and my favourite was a job at a major high street retailer in Bridport Dorset. We had to renew a 3 inch gas line which was about 65 meters of threaded steel pipework and I got good experience putting clips on walls and working with an electric threading machine.

I had also been on a job in which we had to strip down a commercial boiler at a senior citizens care home and soak the modules of the boiler in an acid mix to remove the lime scale and rust build up. I really enjoyed doing this as it was different to a normal service on these types of boilers.

Overall I have really enjoyed my first year working for HavMain and I look forward to the many years of learning and experience that I am going to gain working for this company. My aim is to become fully qualified to be able to go out and complete jobs on my own. “

G59 Testing for Solar farms

G59 Testing is an essential step in connecting solar farms now established across the UK to the network. Engineering recommendation G59 sets out the standards required for the connection of a Generating Plant to the Distribution Systems of a licensed Distribution Network Operator (DNO). It states the requirements that you must meet before your local DNO will allow your Generating Plant to be connected to the network.

If your connection doesn’t fall under G83 then it classes as a G59 connection as it will be for generation of over 16 amps per phase.

G59/2 Testing
G59 witness testing and commissioning with DNO (Distribution Network Operator) presence for G59 relay and system approval has to be carried out across the whole UK. These tests are applicable to PV (photovoltaic) solar panel installations, wind power installations and CHP (combined heat and power) installations greater than 50kW 3-phase (16A per phase).

Engineering Recommendation G59/2 states include 2-stage over/under voltage, 2-stage over/under frequency, vector shift or ROCOF (rate of change of frequency), LOS (loss of mains) and control supply failure.

The best companies will issue tailored result sheets signed by test engineers and the DNO protection engineer representative which consist of all parameters required by the DNO according to Engineering Recommendation G59/2. These sheets represent the recordable test data required by the DNO to enable connection.

We also offer a pre-commissioning service where we can assess the operation of the G59 panel interface with the dual energy system prior to the DNO witness test visit.

Howler Fire Alarms

Fire protection on construction or temporary sites, marquees for instance, wouldn’t require a permanent system or the labour required to fit it. At the other end of the spectrum are an air horn or rotary fire bell, which although allowing some sort of alarm are perhaps not suitable for larger applications or where there are many members of the public.

There is one solution that can be used by anyone needing to protect a temporary site, be it construction site, exhibition, buildings under construction or refurbishment, camp-sites, small business premises, special event marquees, temporary Accommodation, small industrial premises or even to warn of incoming enemy fire on military bases!!

Howler fire alarms are battery operated, rugged and weatherproof meaning they can be installed in most environments and with an output of 118dB will be heard above most other noise. The big and in your face design means that they can be identified easily from distance and simple to operate. Howler alarms are IP65 rated and have some additional options that mean they are as versatile as they are rugged.

Red Strobe – making them useful in locations where ear protection is used usually above 85dB although at 118db the Howler will still be heard above that noise level.

Buy Howler Fire Alarms Here

Howler Fire Alarms

HM1 Push Switch Howler Fire Alarm    £85.95 ex. vat	HM2 Large Palm Push Howler Fire Alarm £93.95 ex. vat	HM3 Key Switch Howler Fire Alarm £102.95 ex. vat	HMCP Call Point Howler Fire Alarm £88.95 ex. vat
HO1 Push Switch Howler Fire Alarm £70.95 ex. vat	HO2 Large Palm Push Howler Fire Alarm £75.95 ex. vat	HO3 Key Switch Howler Fire Alarm £82.95 ex. vat	HOCP Call Point Howler Fire Alarm £70.95 ex. vat

The advantages of a two wire system dramatically reduces installation times and costs in addition to reducing the overall disruption to a buildings fabric. Over and above this the twinflex devices (multiopoint detectors and detector sounders) can be configured to have 16 different modes of operation, including both smoke and heat detection. Meaning that once the points for detection and alarm have been identified the same multipoint devices can be used throughout.

Fire Alarm Zones

Twinflex 2 zone panel

In a HMO it is crucial that when the fire alarm is triggered and the fire service attend they can quickly identify the source of the fire and react accordingly. This is one of the main reasons for separating a fire alarm system into different zones. The number of zones required is stipulated by a fire risk assessment for that particular building but BS5839-6 also stipulates the maximum floor area allowed per zone and the minimum number of zones by floor area. For instance in a building with an area of less than 300m² a single zone system can be installed regardless of the number of floors, although this will depend on the risk assessment.

In a building with a floor area above 300m² it is necessary to install a system with multiple zones. The maximum area for each zone is 2000m² and stairwells go beyond a single floor they must be designated a separate zone.  Zones cannot be shared between different occupiers of a property and zone boundaries should follow fire compartment boundaries. Finally the distance required to search for the location of a fire shouldn’t go beyond 30m.

2 zone twinflex panel in a HMO

A four floor HMO occupied by one or two families with no floor greater than 200m² would be designated a grade B dwelling. The appropriate level of  fire alarm system in such a building would be LD2. This is obviously not a strict rule and the primary point for assessing the appropriate level of protection required would be the risk assessment specific to an individual building. For use of this article we shall assume that our building requires an LD2 system.

An LD2 system means hallways/stairwells used as escape routes from dwelling areas and areas at high risk from fire (living rooms, kitchens) will require detectors. In our building we could separate it into 3 zones – the two separate accomodation areas and the stairwell that covers 4 floors and each floor having an area of 120m² giving a total of 480m². A 4 zone twinflex system would then be suitable.

An LD2 system needs detectors in stairwells and hallways that are escape routes and more detectors between sleeping areas and other high risk areas. Obviously the sound level needs to be sufficient for each detector and the twinflex multipoint detectors provide 3 output patterns and 2 levels with 90dB. Detection speed  and type of fire need to be taken into account when selecting detectors for rooms like the kitchen or living room to avoid false alarms. A Multipoint detector can provide 7 modes of detection which include a combination detection and the following:

Heat: Rate of Rise, Standard Fixed Temperature – 58°C approx, High Fixed Temperature – 90°C approx

Smoke: Ionisation detection, Optical detection, Reduced Sensitivity

Detectors can be fitted on ceilings at least 300mm horizontally from any wall or light fitting and no point should be further than 7.5m from the nearest smoke detector, 5.3m from a heat detector. No bedroom door should be further than 3m from a smoke detector.

With added call points that can be activated before a fire is automatically detected a Twinflex 4 zone system would be ideal for for our hypothetical building.

An M&C spokesman hit back saying: “This is quite a well-trodden path. MU Data Services is already doing it for Hilton hotels and the practice is common in other sectors, like construction.”

Unfortunately this is a poor example. Yes pre-qualifying for contracts in the construction industry is common and also the reason there are so many qualification standards already in existence. These qualifying bodies have at least some understanding of the need to reduce the burden of red tape and the majority are now members of Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSiP). This list includes CHAS, Altius, Construction Line, SAFEcontractor and EXOR.

Prior to their demise Connaught owned SAFEcontractor. The profitable areas of the business were ring fenced, this included Connaught Compliance which acquired EXOR. Remarkably, although both being members of SSiP, if you were registered with EXOR you still had to complete very similar registration processes for SAFEcontractor even though they had the same compliance team!

Although this highlights the problems with SSiP it also supports the fact that there exists a compliance industry which rather than reducing the overall cost for customers, increases it and burdens small business under a mountain of accreditation paper work. What M&C and Hilton Hotels have done is recognise the profit making ability of these pre-qualification databases and brought them in house.

This sets an almost apolcalyptic precedent for suppliers, especially start up SMEs. Imagine if 50% of a small electricians’ customers, larger organisations and the main opportunity for growth, established such a charge. Suddenly the implications of working with these larger customers becomes crippling at best and at worst has the potential to decimate that business.

This is obviously not the environment for growth that the Chancellor is hoping to nurture. These prequalification charges in reality serve to increase income and their effects reduce competition and stifle small business or any business with aspirations for growth. The only companies for whom this will have little impact are those PLCs with the resources to complete them and easily absorb the increased overheads.

The Telegraph recently exposed the £10,000 charge MITIE levied on some of their suppliers in order for them to become preferred suppliers. When asked about the charges, Ruby McGregor-Smith, chief executive, initially said it would be “against group policy” and its “values”.

“We have never, ever asked anyone to give us any money to be a preferred supplier,” she said. “We were an SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] once and know what it’s like to manage cash flow. We are not people that would want to do that to SMEs.”

However, an hour later John Telling, MITIE’s corporate affairs director, confirmed that payments had been received. “Unfortunately it’s right,” he said. “We are completely shocked by it.”

He added: “All monies will be returned. We are viewing all areas of our business to make sure that they are acting in accordance to group policy and to make sure this is not happening elsewhere.”

The government needs to react fast to prevent this becoming more common place as a means of income generation and all examples of this need to be exposed. To continue nurturing an environment of growth for small business the following must happen:

• Any company already affiliated with an SSiP scheme should be legally excluded from another paid pre-qualification registration.
• Prequalification databases that are run by end users which suppliers are required to pay for should be made illegal.
• No more prequalification bodies should be established.
• Companies with more than one scheme registered under SSiP should be forced to merge them.
• The existing bodies should be merged in order for one centralised database of qualifying contractors to be established.
• To register on Contracts finder you must be a member of a single scheme subsequently government contracts would only require pre qualification in exceptional circumstances.

Local councils, public bodies and private enterprise could then focus on getting value for money from reliable contractors without having to spend millions on compliance schemes or drafting and redreafting prequalification questionaires.

A tender could then be awarded on merit via suitable questioning and price rather than the size of the form completion departments in larger organisations or Directors in small business.

Should M&C want us to go to their hotels we will now require payment to view their website, but we will also reserve the right not to make a booking.