What did we do today?

[paul_h]

The fan motors on these things fail fairly regularly. A HP control saves them a compressor.

[alan 07]

working in local zoo got Fujitsu inverters in animal enclosures stripped down and cleaned indoor in boa constricters room. Keeper stood behind me with a broom to keep the snakes back set a new world record for complete strip down and rebuild. When i was finishing snakes were getting fed up i turned around and my apprentice had legged it

[glenn1340]

Removed a 7.5kw fan motor from an Ingersoll Rand compressor with my son (he`s great fun to work with by the way). We had to erect a gantry as the motor was four foot up and three feet inside the cabinet on a bracket. What a sodding job, half the cabinet in bits. Why don`t the design engineers make stuff so it can actually be worked on. Back tomorrow to fit the new bearings and do it all again in reverse. Aaaaaargh!!

[charlie patt]

alan have you found your apprentice yet. makes my day sound boreing

[Brian_UK]

Was walking around with some penguins yesterday, when fixing their food freezer, which was kinda cool.

Today was on an IPAF mobile boom and scissor lift training course.

Finally proved to myself that I don't do heights; stopped the mobile boom halfway through and just took the scissor lift.

The idea of being 65 - 70 feet up in the air whilst driving backwards does not hit the feel good button for me.

[monkey spanners]

Was walking around with some penguins yesterday, when fixing their food freezer, which was kinda cool.

Today was on an IPAF mobile boom and scissor lift training course.

Finally proved to myself that I don't do heights; stopped the mobile boom halfway through and just took the scissor lift.

The idea of being 65 - 70 feet up in the air whilst driving backwards does not hit the feel good button for me.

I think the only reason i passed my magic carpet test was because the instructor was too busy chatting to the other trainees and didn't see me crash it into the fence

Jon

[lawrence1]

Alan07,
I hope you pay your apprentice 'Danger money'

[lawrence1]

Weather is warming up now to 30c+ so heaps of ac calls...retired Dutchman calls,,,and asks for help to get ac to work,,,,feel sorry for him and go straight there,,,another Gecko suicided on the pc board,,,19 year old Panasonic is condemed to scrap.
Love those Geckos.He was shocked to only get 19 years out of his ac.are dutch like that?

[mad fridgie]

Weather is warming up now to 30c+ so heaps of ac calls...retired Dutchman calls,,,and asks for help to get ac to work,,,,feel sorry for him and go straight there,,,another Gecko suicided on the pc board,,,19 year old Panasonic is condemed to scrap.
Love those Geckos.He was shocked to only get 19 years out of his ac.are dutch like that?

The Dutch are renound for it, in NZ

[binti]

Today i worked on the biggest bucket of bolts to date.
A set of 8 Matsu air cooled chillers located on the roof of one of Sydney's tallest buildings. (views of the harbor and out to the heads, Magnificent)
These matsu chillers are only 2.5 years old and out of the 8 only 2 are running
Problems are many. leaking evaps, leaking conensers, incorrectly piped condensers and faulty compressors (some locked up some burnt out)
We where asked to make recommendations to solve the issues. needless to say we recommended to replace to chillers.

Replace an 800kw chiller plant that is 2.5years old........and they agreed.. Like i said biggest bucket of bolts i have ever worked on.

New Power pax chiller are going in...

[lawrence1]

Gutted out 3 coldrooms that were flooded last week in Brisbane ,,,everything to be replaced,,,the smell was something i will remember for a long time.This whole shopping centre i was at today was under 3 metres of water and it's so depressing to see first hand the damage.

[monkey spanners]

Called back to a site to change a rusted through suction valve on a 4hp prestcold recip on one system and replace a faulty L'unite TAG4561Z on the other one.

Apart from my rcd plug on the extension lead having died everything went ok, which made a nice change from the usual 'get to site, look at system, remmeber thingy i was supposed to get from stores last night....'

I've had lots of compressors fail lately, more than usual, just wonder if any of you guys are seeing an increase in failures too?

Jon

[Quality]

Called back to a site to change a rusted through suction valve on a 4hp prestcold recip on one system and replace a faulty L'unite TAG4561Z on the other one.

Apart from my rcd plug on the extension lead having died everything went ok, which made a nice change from the usual 'get to site, look at system, remmeber thingy i was supposed to get from stores last night....'

I've had lots of compressors fail lately, more than usual, just wonder if any of you guys are seeing an increase in failures too?

Jon

Funny you should say that about compressors I have replaced 3 already this year.
All heat pump stuff (ground source)

[monkey spanners]

Funny you should say that about compressors I have replaced 3 already this year.
All heat pump stuff (ground source)

And long may it continue so long as they are out of warranty

Jon

[Brian_UK]

Had a day of failed condensate pumps today.

Went to a site on Monday which had a sump pump with a sticky float switch so a kind of hot motor too. Adjusted the float stops and left it all working.
Guess what, it stopped again today. Looking at the float switch I noticed that the spindle wasn't quite vertical. The micro-switch which is operated by the float switch is fixed to a small piece of sheet plastic which simply slots into a gap in the pump base. Age is allowing it to sag and jam on the float spindle. New pump to fit on Monday; heh-ho.

The other one was an AC unit not working, got to site, flashing light but no action. Could see that the signal wire was passed through the high level switch of the pump so went to the pump to check it.
First time that I've found hot water in an AC condensate pump tray.

Motor was not quite melting but, geeez, it was cooking the water well. Had a spare pump for that one so did a swap and left one happy customer.

In between these two of us were servicing some boilers in a sports centre. One boiler room knocked us back when we walked in, too damned hot and the air thick with carbon monoxide.

Checking around we found the air intake grille to the fanned flue was smashed and assorted rubbish laying in the ductwork. A closer look at the boiler flues explained why the bad air. One had a plastic Coke bottle in it while the worst one actually had a well cooked football sitting on top of the flue outlet.

The fun we have.

[monkey spanners]

Those boilers sound dangerous Brian!!!

Spent the day installing stuff on a council site, which translates to having a meeting with the surveyor, the electrician, the manager, and no actual work, which would be good if it wasn't on a fixed price

Jon

[Brian_UK]

Can't even afford to walk off for a coffee can you?

[paul_h]

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: "how old is the a/c?"
Them: "3-4 years"
Me: "well it's under warranty, call a service agent" - This happened 4 times in a single hour yesterday


*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there next week
Them: Can't come today?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there next week
Them: Can't come today?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there next week
Them: Can't come today?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there next week
Them: Can't come today?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there next week
Them: Can't come today?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I can be there TOMORROW
Them: Can't come today?


*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I'll book you in for x day first thing/mid morning/noon/early afternoon/between 1-3 etc etc
Them: What exact time?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I'll book you in for x day first thing/mid morning/noon/early afternoon/between 1-3 etc etc
Them: What exact time?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I'll book you in for x day first thing/mid morning/noon/early afternoon/between 1-3 etc etc
Them: What exact time?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Me: I'll book you in for x day first thing/mid morning/noon/early afternoon/between 1-3 etc etc
Them: What exact time?

*ring ring*
Blah blah blah
Them: I made a booking a few days ago, and you're coming tomorrow, can I change the time?
Me: Well no, as everyone else is booked in and expects me at an exact time.

Where's the smilie for gunshot to the head?


edit: Besidesg etting SOME work done, I have these phone calls 30x a day each

[mikeref]

LOL, Don't ya just luv it! At least the phone works. Had a/c job for you today but customer didn't want to fly you over from West Australia PERTH? An old split had kept the compressor running o/night when office staff turned it off, block of ice and noisy fan when turned on today. Barrel fan bushes shot ages ago, been running on luck for years and now compressor relay fused. Wrote it off but have to make it work untill its replaced...Good on ya...

[chemi-cool]

Saved a Williams blast chiller today, all electronic boards burned out, cost of new ones is the same as a small car so had to replace it with a Dixell XB570, cute controller, striped all the wires and rewired to the new controller.

As I was about to finish and start the first cycle, a blast of hot steam covers me and the blast chiller.
Apparently, just behind me was a big steam cooker and every time they opened the door, the cloud of hot steam covered all the area. Realized thats was the reason for the burned electronics, didn't leave any warranty for the new controller until they solve the steam problem.

I was amazed by the amount of wires Williams use on such a simple machine, no wonder why they charge so much to replace parts, well.... I wasn't cheap either

[CHIEF DELPAC]

Chemi Its good to hear that your not a cheap date. C.D.

[glenn1340]

I had the same problem last year, customer reported a burning smell from his blast chiller. I switched it on and smoke and small flames issued from behind the panel. New touch panel and board were over £700. Like you I fitted the Dixcell XB750 (mustn`t get mixed up with the CB750, first of the Japanese superbikes, lots more fun though). It took a while to wade theough the manual with all those options. Works like a dream now.

[chemi-cool]

[QUOTE=glenn1340;223145] New touch panel and board were over £700. QUOTE]

They asked for..................£ 3400!!!!!
I took only £1000.

[MikeHolm]

Went on the roof at -10 to see why the solar system wasn't working. Squirrels ate through the wires. Fixed it up and went to picked up a York 4 ton HP. Gonna turn it from a "monobloc" to a split system, everything else but the evap and fan goes inside. fun, fun, fun.

[mad fridgie]

Rolled about the workshop, ducked and dived falling parts, but I am lucky, my thoughts to the families who lost loved ones.

[mikeref]

Tragic event today in New Zealand!! I was travelling to my next job when i heard that Christchurch had suffered another earthquake. The radio was full on with real time interviews. Arrived onsite and the TV coverage was dramatic to say the least. In Queensland, we've been blown away and drowned but as Mad says, our thoughts go to the families who have lost loved ones..... Mike.

[Tesla]

Even as a kid in NZ we practiced ducking under the desk for "the earthquake drill". But I look at my astro calendar and it is forecaste for the earth quake with a supermoon this month but watch out for next month as there is an extreme supermoon! there was a supermoon last september too. I would be edging my bets on gold (solid stuff) for the next two months as these extreme weather and quake conditions are common with the moon. In history when we have extreme weather/quake conditions men get a little agitated and conflict occurs. But the news still shocks me (even watery eyes) and my heart and thoughts go out to those who have lost today. My family lives in Wellington where we always/often talk about the big one to come.
Peace to all.

[CHAMBERD]

my thoughts and prayers go out to those that have lost lives and / or family. sad news indeed.

[paul_h]

Apparently I evicted tenants.

Anyone else done that?
I think from memory I've done it a few times before. Tenants moving out because the a/c has been broken for 10 days or so.

I do a lot of work for real estate agents or private landlords, only happened 6 times out of ~1500 jobs, most tenants have waited 2 weeks or more and not moved out.
Waiting for the daikin PCB I ordered on the 18th in this case.

Warranty customers and tenants are the most demanding customers...
Usual huge amount of phone calls for me, went ballistic between 9-10am, started ramping up again at 4.45 (big rush again usually between 5-6pm), but I had enough and turned my phone off at 5pm. I normally get phone calls from 7.30am to 7.30pm, but the hot weather, hot forecast for the next week (35-38C) just made today crazy. Trying to remove all advertising I may have out there.
Bad day.

[frank]

Spent the last 3 days in the office doing drawings for the new contract.....

Rather be out there getting down and dirty...

[monkey spanners]

Re wired a milk tank control box that had caught fire, with flames and everything! Tested the wash system after and found dump valve leaking, replaced. Trip to gloucester RPW to get new motor, you'd think in this day and age they'd have a coffee machine
Called in at another customer who had called saying their acid/alkali knob was broken and had ordered a replacement, found it had fallen off as the switch had rusted through! so needs new switch....

Drove about like a tw@t as everyone seems to have been anoying me today

[Andy AC]

Spent a lot of time clearing slime & unblocking drains on counter fridges. Found the chef and asked which one had the water leaking, he said all of them - eeeww I'm glad I've got a gallo gun.

[Brian_UK]

Sadly today went to the funeral of a work mate who succumbed to the Big C last year.

He was a lovely man who will be missed but I was heartened by the fact that even some of the wholesalers that he used to frequent also came to pay their respects. Now that's a man who made happy contacts.

We will remember his happy times and move forward.

[mikeref]

Well.. what a crazy day Friday was. Local pub had 3 coldrooms go down, and all were run by one compressor. These are kitchen room(food), keg room(storage) and front bar under counter 4 door. Who decided to run this combination? !! All pipework disappears through the floor and snakes it's way under the building with a grapevine of obselete copper pipework..Great. One 3/8 liquid line split into 3 times 3/8 lines to feed the evaps and the nightmare continued on .A pretty, young U.K. girl was the bar attendant who had to step over me while i was working on the under counter chiller. Sort of... took my time... on that part of the job.. Mike.

[mikeref]

P.M sent. Sorry to hear of the loss of fellow Mechanic/engineer, Brian.

[Brian_UK]

Mike, no apologies required but thanks all the same.

I look on the bright side, he is out of pain, and he is remembered as a great guy.

I was thinking back to a recent boiler service that I did which was a right pain. Reading the previous log book entries was one of his which read, bearing in mind that he had been there previously ( annual service only ), - "Deep cleaned this **** boiler, got suckered into this once again. I'm standing back next time."

I love a sense of humour.

[paul_h]

Crazy day, about 100+ phone calls, of them about 60 I couldn't answer, of those 24 voice messages (even though my message left when not answering says booked out for 3 weeks to discourage people leaving messages. Before I did that it was 100% of people leaving messages and took an hour on the phone to hear them all, so I'd rather not so many messages).
Damn busiest time on the phone ever, what the hell? Lost about 2 hours dealing with phone calls.
Going back to Feb 2008, I think I had 5 jobs for the month back then! But it's ridiculous now, I just want to look after my regulars and the contracts I have, but flooded by everyone.
Looked at expanding, but I'd need commercial premises to do that, and it's AU 30-50K a year to lease a terrible unit in a commercial estate near me, let alone employee costs. I don't make that much profit as it is, could maybe with extra help/employee, bu impossible to get that kind on money upfront. So I'd rather not get the extra phone calls/customers at this stage as I can't deal with it alone (and I HATE phones really).

[frank]

Spent a couple of hours helping our friends sort out the carnage after this



Hit me side on as I was negotiating a right hand turn into a side road



And to top it all, I've got to produce my documents within 7 days ......or else.

[monkey spanners]

Ouch Frank! New van time!

I hope no one was injured.

A friend of mine, now retired, was a life long lorry driver and has a dislike of the boys in blue. One of his favourite tales is of the time he was driving a lowloader with a dozer on the back, police car tried to squeeze through but caught on the blade and opened the whole side of the car up like a tin of sardines! No injuries. He had all the over width plates etc on so the couldn't touch him for it.

I had a busy day too Paul, i had two phone calls

[mikeref]

Yeh Frank, its the initial shock of having this happen, then the greater shock of how long vehicle will be out of service. I couldn't have this happen so i have 2 vehicles, my old (1995) ute and the current one. Strange thing is, when i'm in the (owes me nothing) ute, all road users avoid me but my current 3 yr old acts as a magnet for anything and everything... Paul h,... you have to look at it this way, either, you are excellent at your job and word has spread, or no-one else could be bothered doing your line of work, and.. word has spread. Find one or two others that can help you out. I've met trade assistants that can pull their weight, so to speak... Mike.

[lawrence1]

Frank,
So are they gonna book you for that?
Lawrie

[r.bartlett]

Yeh Frank, its the initial shock of having this happen, then the greater shock of how long vehicle will be out of service. I couldn't have this happen so i have 2 vehicles, my old (1995) ute and the current one. Strange thing is, when i'm in the (owes me nothing) ute, all road users avoid me but my current 3 yr old acts as a magnet for anything and everything... Paul h,... you have to look at it this way, either, you are excellent at your job and word has spread, or no-one else could be bothered doing your line of work, and.. word has spread. Find one or two others that can help you out. I've met trade assistants that can pull their weight, so to speak... Mike.

Or he's cheap....

[frank]

Frank,
So are they gonna book you for that?
Lawrie

No, I'm not at fault, but if I don't provide my doc's to the Plod Station, I could be done for not complying with the 'Producer' (for our friends across the pond - a document issued by the police)

I was told yesterday by my Insurance company that I may have to foot the repair costs myself (or on my insurance and lose the No Claims) as the Police are apparently blameless in cases like this if they are on a response to a 999 call!! Go figure that one out???

[r.bartlett]

No, I'm not at fault, but if I don't provide my doc's to the Plod Station, I could be done for not complying with the 'Producer' (for our friends across the pond - a document issued by the police)

I was told yesterday by my Insurance company that I may have to foot the repair costs myself (or on my insurance and lose the No Claims) as the Police are apparently blameless in cases like this if they are on a response to a 999 call!! Go figure that one out???

Frank

Ask your insurer to investigate CCTV as we had a similar case whereby one of our vans got T boned coming off a roundabout.. Didn't help us as there wasn't any but our insurers said they would investigate CCTV to look for evidence against the other driver..We ended up 'knock for knock' :-(

[paul_h]

You have to look at it this way, either, you are excellent at your job and word has spread, or no-one else could be bothered doing your line of work, and.. word has spread.

Or he's cheap....

All three probably, but thats not why so many randoms calling me. That's probably because I put a basic web page up (very basic), and tried to get it prominent.

Am I cheap, maybe, probably not though, charge just enough for some people to complain about the price. Was au$60 call out, and $80 per/hr, both plus 10% GST tax. So first hour $154 inc tax. Minimum $88 for call out and 15min labour, most jobs are only 1/2 hr though so $110 because I'm bloddy quick and know what I'm doing most of the time (swampies - evap coolers, and daikins do slow me though)
Raised prices for new customers to $70 call out and $100/hr + tax. Is that cheap for the UK? au$1 is 60p isn't it?
Old prices are kept for the old, big regular customers for now though (price change was 01/02/2011)

I'm also the main service agent of two brands of a/c and fridge in perth as well. Gets me some work when it's not a heatwave, ie spring and autumn.

No one else bothering to do the work I do, yes very likely, that's why I have a lot of regular customers.
Many a/c companies just quote to replace if a unit breaks down, while I fix it. It's a bit of a balance though to know when it should be replaced I'm getting better at that. But a lot out there with diagnose your compressor stuffed and you're better of replacing it, when it's just the capacitor. Or quote to replace your ducted system if the controller is stuffed (while I can get it going with a new controller like I posted in another thread).

Again though, my pricing and repair ability has got nothing to do with this huge influx of phone calls, hundreds of randoms ringing around as there is a lot of work here for people that repair domestic or small commercial a/c, most people in my line of work don't have much advertising (mainly installers or commercial/industrial companies do all the advertising).

[W.Miller]

Today i fitted a 10kw fan on a beer fridge for £60. Only my second solo job and didn't know what to charge. Felt guilty as I felt as though i was over charging.But it's all part of business I guess.

[monkey spanners]

Today i fitted a 10kw fan on a beer fridge for £60. Only my second solo job and didn't know what to charge. Felt guilty as I felt as though i was over charging.But it's all part of business I guess.

Seems about right depending on how far you had to travel and how long it took to fit, don't forget all the crimps and terminal blocks etc you may have used and any cleaner used for the fan blade and even any disposeable glove you may have worn if it was a dirty unit. These things all add up very quickly and if you don't allow for them in your pricing it comes our of your pocket... (i'm assuming you meant 10watt and not 10Kw)

If you are just starting out, best have a sit down and work out a pricing structure, and review it often to see how profitable your company is, and tweak it as needs be.

Jon

[W.Miller]

Seems about right depending on how far you had to travel and how long it took to fit, don't forget all the crimps and terminal blocks etc you may have used and any cleaner used for the fan blade and even any disposeable glove you may have worn if it was a dirty unit. These things all add up very quickly and if you don't allow for them in your pricing it comes our of your pocket... (i'm assuming you meant 10watt and not 10Kw)

If you are just starting out, best have a sit down and work out a pricing structure, and review it often to see how profitable your company is, and tweak it as needs be.

Jon

Sorry I meant 10w. I think the pricing bit is the hardest part. It's some thing that isnt taught by employers. I like the way you look at it though, in regards to rubber gloves, fuel, usage of tools etc. You've given me some things to think about there.

[charlie patt]

whats up with it the wiring can be a little unsettleing at timesif not use to them

[nike123]

I was on graveyard fixing water leaks :