On the subject of cowboys!

[Simon Butler]

I could'nt get to a customer of mine this morning who was panicing over an A/C failure in their server room, so he got out the yellow pages and phoned the nearest guy who could come straight out. After he had left, the customer phones me back and tells me that the "engineer" who came told him it was short of gas, but he did'nt have any with him because it was an unusual one and would need to come back later. I told him i would be there in the afternoon and i would have the unusual gas with me (R22)!!:rolleyes:
Once i got up to the unit, not easy, i could hear the compressor trying to start and cutting out as it had seized (checked relay and capacitor later).
Not only had this cowboy completely misdiagnosed the fault he had'nt even put his guages on it, as when i did the schraeder was stuck in and covered the previously dry and clean valve in oil.
How can people like this call themselves engineers?:confused:

[botrous]

Those are the best engineers working in todays market didn't you know that ????

The problem isn't with them , but with the system that allows such (people) to work . . . .

I repeat my question , who gives the engineer title ?

[Abe]

self proclaimation

[Simon Butler]

And how many times has a new customer said to you
" the other guy just put some gas in it every couple of months". They are amazed when i tell them that if it's lost gas it's got a leak, and very happy when i fix it and save them a small fortune.
I might not make as much money out of them as the cowboy who was ripping them off every time but the job satisfaction and knowing i have a new loyal customer is better.

Simon.

[US Iceman]

Here is one to add to your reading enjoyment.

I just got back from reviewing a large ammonia refrigeration system. Customer complaining of warm cooler storage area that should be ~4.5C. The room temperature was running about 8.9C.

Here is a quick list of items I noticed:

three coils off on defrost at one time (there are 10 coils in the room). (none of them had frost on the coils)

7 coils had almost a solid coating of wet dirt on the entering coil faces (this area is used as a storage cooler and shipping dock).

One coil was located next to a wall (air entering side). Not uncommon, but the distance was 0.3 meters! This should have been at least a 1.5 meters due to the size of the coil. Oh yes, the 0.3 meter dimension was occupied by piping underneath and a coil next to this one, so no air could flow into the coil (very little).

A coil of the same size was located immediately to the left of this one. The coil ends were almost touching. This coil was located farther from the wall, but the air flow space was occupied by drip pans for the valve trains. Not too good either.

Next problem: Very little liquid refrigerant flowing to the coils. Strainers plugged and hand expansion valves almost closed. This is a pumped liquid system. (Yes, the pump was working correctly)

Contractors solution: We need to add more evaporators.:mad:

Cost: about $40,000 USD.:eek:

If engineers do this kind of work and get away with it, I want to be called something else!

[wambat]

The answer is INTEGRETY,(moral soundness)
Some people have none