Each month, HVP readers get in touch to share their views and reactions to the latest news and content, with the best letter winning a £100 Amazon voucher thanks to Resideo. Here are the letters from our February 2019 edition.

A respite from knee pain

I have read with interest your recent article on the issue of plumbers suffering from knee problems [Ed: see p10 of HVP January].

Can I offer some possible help for all those in the trade? I have been a plumber for some 47 years and am still working full time. For the past 10 years I have been suffering knee pain, which causes me to limp and gives significant pain, especially after a day on my knees. I am also unable to go on long walks which I used to enjoy.  

I had a hip replacement four years ago which the consultant thought would probably give me relief as he diagnosed referred pain from an arthritic hip down to my knee, but I still experienced continual knee pain. 

I have always worn knee pads, even when I was an apprentice back in the 70s, but given that we plumbers spend around 50% of our working life kneeling, it is not surprising pain occurs due to just wear and tear, it is the curse of the profession. 

Can I offer a partial solution which I have found beneficial? Turmeric. I take one tablet daily and can honestly say it has reduced my pain by about 50%. 

I take Turmeric+, which I get from a company called Future You, and have been very pleased with the results. It took about a month to kick in, but it definitely has made a difference. I have proved this by not taking it for a month and found the pain increased again.

I hope this may be able to help others who are suffering.

M. Holman, via email

Registered and incompetent?

HVP reports that an engineer installed a boiler after his Gas Safe registration had expired some six months before [Ed: see p8 of HVP January]. 

Another engineer found his work to be of a poor standard, including the flue, which was leaking into the premises. The installation was classed ‘At Risk’.

This engineer cannot have suddenly become incompetent after his registration expired. That beggars the question as to how many boilers he has installed during his career that are installed to a poor standard and are ‘At Risk’. 

Surely, after his conviction, Gas Safe should have been required to access his books and inspected some of his past installations?

Anecdotal evidence from industry contacts indicates that there are many registered engineers out there that need to go back to school. 

An acquaintance who lectures at a long-established training school has said that a number of trainee engineers have the wrong attitude and should not be in the business anyway.

For many, an ill-deserved registration is a licence to print money.

B. Parish, via email