Succeed at your Penn Foster program by learning how to use your program.

Objectives:

• Understand how to use your Student Portal, including your My Homepage and My Courses pages.
• Access the Penn Foster Community and use it to find answers.
• Assess your learning style using Career Cruising.
• Connect with Penn Foster on various social media sites.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the construction industry and the different trades that are a part of the industry. You'll also learn about the critical role of safe work practices in the construction industry.

Objectives:

• Learn about career opportunities and demand for skilled workers.
• Learn about professional organizations.
• Address safety concerns.
• List the licensing and certification requirements for individual building trades.

This lesson will teach you the codes and standards used in plumbing and pipefitting, as well as how drawings are used to represent building components and systems.

Objectives:

• Get an overview of plumbing and pipefitting.
• Learn about basic regulations, codes, and standards.
• Learn about licensing and certification.
• Explore how to interpret construction drawings and specifications.

In this lesson, you'll gain a thorough understanding of the tools of the trade, how to handle the tools properly, and how to use them in a safe and efficient manner.

Objectives:

• Learn about job and tool safety.
• Discover how to identify and use tools for layout, cutting, and boring.
• Explore pipe-joint assembly, finishing, testing, and maintenance.

This lesson will teach you the fundamentals of plumbing, including safety, tools, drawings, and soldering.

Objectives:

• Explore the safe working habits plumbers should follow.
• Compute pipe offsets, pipe slopes, and the volume and area of various objects.
• Prepare two- and three-dimensional piping sketches.
• Read about soldering and welding pipe and fittings.
• Explore water supply and fixtures.
• Familiarize yourself with fittings, valves, and water heaters.

In this exercise, you’ll complete some suggested activities that will increase your knowledge of plumbing drawings, codes, and fittings. You’ll get practice applying plumbing skills through various work scenarios and illustrations.

Textbook: Modern Plumbing

This lesson covers plumbing system design. You'll study minimum requirements for locating fixtures in typical installations, how to locate and calculate the proper size for the drain piping, and planning the vent system.

Objectives:

• Study plumbing-system design and learn the techniques for working with plastic, copper, galvanized-iron, and cast-iron materials.
• Explore the drain, waste, and vent (DWV) system.
• Outline the proper process for installing a hot-water heater.
• Demonstrate proper installation of fixtures and faucets.

This lesson explains how pipe lengths are calculated when working with a variety of pipe materials and fitting types. You'll also learn to work with pipe and fitting charts, which list all the important dimensions for almost every type of fitting.

Objectives:

• Learn how to determine the pipe lengths required to assemble piping systems.
• Learn formulas and equations.
• Read about determining pipe weights, clearances, and fitting allowances.
• Familiarize yourself with plumbing math terms.

Textbook: Mathematics for Plumbers and Pipefitters

This lesson introduces several specialized aspects of plumbing, including service work and repair. You'll study septic systems, which play an invaluable role in water recycling, as well as systems for handling storm water. You'll also study HVAC systems, pools and spas, and irrigation systems:

Objectives:

• Learn about the construction and operation of a simple septic system.
• Explore alternative waste systems.
• Recognize the basic components of swimming pools, hot tubs, and spas.
• Outline the basic operating principles of sprinkler and irrigation systems.
• Learn how to solve common plumbing problems and troubleshoot breakdowns in fixtures.

This lesson describes the steps required to lay out sheet metal objects. It explains how to properly determine the amount of water in any container, find the weight of the contained water, and even calculate the pressure that results from the collected water. You'll also learn how to size heating systems to match the needs of a particular installation and how to size the components within the system.

Objectives:

• Learn how to calculate the volume of cubes, cylinders, spheres, and partly filled tanks.
• Explain the concepts of force and pressure as they relate to water.
• Calculate pipe carrying capacities and examine the “units of flow” method of pipe sizing.
• Understand heat loss and how it relates to radiator size.

This practical exercise will help you apply your knowledge of plumbing technology and water-supply systems to some real-life examples.

Learning Aids: Pipe Deburring Tool

Safety Goggles

Plumbing Project Kit

This lesson discusses installation and repair of residential plumbing.

Objectives:

• Understand the functioning of a residential plumbing system.
• Learn how to install and repair a variety of faucets.
• Troubleshoot common toilet problems.
• Explore repairing and replacing gas and electric water heaters.
• Study how to design and do the rough and finish plumbing associated with installing a new bathroom.
• Examine basement and outdoor plumbing.

Textbook: Stanley Complete Plumbing

This lesson will teach you how to read piping drawings. You'll learn to understand dimensions, symbols, and abbreviations, distinguish different types of valves, and read fluid-power diagrams.

Objectives:

• Explore the fundamental parts of a drawing.
• Learn about reading schematical drawings.
• Read about diagramming fluid-power systems.

In this practical exercise, you'll get practice in reading and interpreting plumbing drawings and plans.

In this course, you'll learn the National Standard Plumbing Code, a collection of regulations determining the minimum safe and sanitary standard required in the design, installation, and repair of plumbing systems. As a plumbing professional, you're obligated to perform your services in complete compliance with all local, state, and national codes. 

Objectives:

• Evaluate the National Standard Plumbing Code (NSPC).
• Read about applying code standards.
• Understand how to utilize tabular data.
• Learn about using code terminology.

This practical exercise will increase your understanding of the National Standard Plumbing Code (NSPC). You'll be presented with real-world situations so you can learn to use the code to your best advantage.

Textbook: National Standard Plumbing Code