Plumber Essex - Home Page

Essex is a county in the East of England. The county town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches 482 feet (147 metres).

The name Essex derives from the East Seaxe or East Saxons. The Kingdom of Essex was traditionally founded by Aescwine in 527 AD, occupying territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating much of what would later become Middlesex and Hertfordshire, though its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lee. It is through this origin as one of the 'Saxon' kingdoms that Essex is specifically not part of the region known as East Anglia (the latter comprising Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire), settled by tribes calling themselves 'Anglian'. Colchester in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunon, and was sufficiently well-developed to have its own mint.

Essex County Council was formed in 1889. However, the County Borough of West Ham, and from 1915 the County Borough of East Ham, formed part of the county but were not under county council control. Southend-on-Sea also formed a county borough from 1914 to 1974. The boundary with Greater London was established in 1965 when the former area of the East Ham and West Ham county boroughs and of the Barking, Chingford, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Ilford, Leyton, Romford, Walthamstow and Wanstead and Woodford districts was transferred to form the London boroughs of Barking, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest; an area similar to that known as Metropolitan Essex.

Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part of the South East England region. In 1998 the districts of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock separated from the shire county of Essex becoming unitary districts.

A Plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, sewage, drainage, venting, heating and air-conditioning, or industrial process plant piping. In most jurisdictions the piping for HVAC, fire protection, and industrial systems are installed by 'steam-fitters', 'pipe-fitters', or 'gas-fitters' tradespeople. Many in these trades are members of organized labor groups, while many are nonunion. Years of training and experience are needed to become a skilled plumber; most jurisdictions also require that plumbers be licensed. A Master Plumber is one who has demonstrated mastery of the trade of plumbing, has worked in the field for many years, is certified in different areas of plumbing, typically trains new plumbers in the trade, and oversees large plumbing projects.

Plumbing codes are strict, and need for quality plumbing work is high because of the historical health and safety problems associated with poor water supply and sewage removal. Unusually, in the United Kingdom the plumbing trade still remains virtually ungoverned; there are no effective systems in place to monitor or control the activities of unqualified plumbers or those home owners who choose to undertake installation and maintenance works themselves, despite the health and safety issues which arise from such works when they are undertaken incorrectly. Furthermore, despite having in place an infrastructure dedicated to formally training plumbers and various Statutes, Regulations and Bye-laws designed to dictate and control how and in what manner plumbing works are undertaken, there is nothing to stop anyone without any training whatsoever working as a plumber, safe in the knowledge that it is unlikely that their lack of technical know-how will ever be found-out. Such people are referred to as Cowboys.

Plumbers in the United Kingdom generally undertake the installation of domestic internal hot and cold water pipe work, sanitary fittings and related soil and waste pipe work systems. Domestic, commercial and Industrial gas-fired (central) heating installation, servicing and repair works, and works related to all other gas fired appliances, although undertaken by plumbers, also involves the use of other 'sub-trades' such as pipe fitters, gas fitters etc and (in the case of gas fired appliances) is ineffectively regulated by by an organisation called CORGI (with whom such individuals and organisations are supposed to be registered before working in this sphere), which although entrusted by the UK Government to control works related to this field, have no direct means of controlling or policing such works and are generally only involved in issues arising after the works are completed (and invariably, an accident has occurred). As a consequence there is a large quantity of work undertaken by unregistered, unqualified individuals, which is invariably a risk to the health and welfare of the user.

Oil fired heating appliance installation, servicing and maintenance works must be undertaken by OFTEC registered individuals and Companies in order to operate in the UK and due to the complexity of this type of installation and the relatively small number of oil burning appliances (compared to gas usage) this type of licensing is generally effective in this instance, despite OFTEC generally operating in the same way as CORGI.

Furthermore, due to the fact that air conditioning design and installation is perceived to be too complex for plumbers to undertake and legislation related to the use and correct disposal of refrigerant for use in the air-conditioning field, air conditioning is considered to be a separate trade in the UK.

Plumbers install and repair pipes, fittings, fixtures, and other plumbing equipment used for water distribution, waste water disposal, and venting in residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings. Plumbing is a traditional field that typically pays well, has good job security, and currently has need of qualified individuals in many locations worldwide. Many plumbers begin their careers in plumbing as helpers to established plumbers, while others enter formal training institutes.