Arcus Engineering

[theyelk]

Hi guys this is my first post so be gentle I am air con biased NVQ2 F-Gas, Daikin Mitsy courses to give you my background real quick. I have been in trade for 8 years now and although i enjoy working on bigger A/C stuff like VRV and VRF and smaller chillers i believe that i will be happier doing fridge. I am a bit sick of either install work in refit houses in rich parts of London where all units are completely boxed in and hidden so much so that the filters are not accessable! And they wonder why i am struggling to commission it!!??
Anyway i went for an interview at Arcus Engineering yesterday and thinking it went well, they gave me a multiple choice test to complete on arrival which they said i did really well at. They asked me if i would be an improver or just shadow another engineer for a couple of months to show me the ropes... Am i getting into something i will regret bearing in mind i have no supermarket experience, not much fridge at all all my experience is from A/C
Thanks in advance

[install monkey]

give it a go, you can always go back to what you know if its not what you expected
install monkey (male)

[martinw58]

nothing ventured might be a good move

[theyelk]

Anyone know what they are like to work for? I know that they are owned by Sainsbury's so know worry about shortage of work. If i prefer the technical side/ fault finding then am i right in thinking that fridge is a good choice? Like i said i find i enjoy fault finding on bigger kit....

[Tayters]

If you prefer the technical side of things then it would be a good choice but there'll be a fair bit of hoovering out drains as well! I found the electrical side of things interesting and also a lot more rerfigeration based problems (Low head pressure, TEV stuck closed, SV passing, valves on comp passing..) as opposed to AC where refrigeration stuff seems to go as far as short of charge normally.
I would advise to start as an improver and get to work with some of the experienced techs for as long as you can. Could drop the odd clanger otherwise.

Cheers,
Andy (Geezer)

[theyelk]

Cheers for feedback guys, I realise there will be quite a bit of cleaning involved also same with AC after all filters drains coils etc. Hoping I get the job now, I suppose the main difference will be working till 530 ish every day rather than job and knock which is how it is at mo... I don't have any kids (yet) so do have loads of spare time so longer hours, working Saturdays on a rota and standby is a small sacrifice for gaining fridge and packs experience.
I have read on here that Arcus have a 5 year contract with JS but they told me that JS owns them so surely the contract would never run out...?
Anyone know what they are like to work for?
Saw an Arcus engineer at Dean and Wood yesterday and had a chat with him and he said that after working at Tesco maint and M & S and Morrisons doing fridge JS were the best
Cheers

[Rob White]

.

Coming from the commercial fridge background myself (especially supermarkets)
I would recommend giving it a go and worst comes to worst you will still have
your AC knowledge to fall back on.

The work will be quite diverse and there will be a lot of electrical issues, so brush up
on your electrical fault finding....

Good luck.

Regards

Rob

.

[theyelk]

Cheers guys for your inputs i am hoping that i now get the job! Am i right in thinking you can earn more with fridge than A/C? Seen some vacancies for fridge engineers ranging from 25 to 40k whereas A/C only goes up to 32k...

[r.bartlett]

Cheers for feedback guys, I realise there will be quite a bit of cleaning involved also same with AC after all filters drains coils etc. Hoping I get the job now, I suppose the main difference will be working till 530 ish every day rather than job and knock which is how it is at mo... I don't have any kids (yet) so do have loads of spare time so longer hours, working Saturdays on a rota and standby is a small sacrifice for gaining fridge and packs experience.
I have read on here that Arcus have a 5 year contract with JS but they told me that JS owns them so surely the contract would never run out...?
Anyone know what they are like to work for?
Saw an Arcus engineer at Dean and Wood yesterday and had a chat with him and he said that after working at Tesco maint and M & S and Morrisons doing fridge JS were the best
Cheers
Kelly ( about the male comment, I didn't want you to think I was a bird he he! Kelly is rarely seen as a guys name :-)

My understanding is that the Directors bought Sainsbury out so they are now a private company

[theyelk]

Little update - I got the job!! Now just gotta hand in my notice and break news to current employer

[install monkey]

its all about the hours you do- I do ac occasionally- usually work miracles,and pull others out the ****- and I wouldn't get out of bed for less than 40k a year- cheers steve - still a dude,even at weekends!!! haha

Cheers guys for your inputs i am hoping that i now get the job! Am i right in thinking you can earn more with fridge than A/C? Seen some vacancies for fridge engineers ranging from 25 to 40k whereas A/C only goes up to 32k...

[theyelk]

its all about the hours you do- I do ac occasionally- usually work miracles,and pull others out the ****- and I wouldn't get out of bed for less than 40k a year- cheers steve - still a dude,even at weekends!!! haha

So do you do mostly fridge then Steve?

[theyelk]

Sooo i told my current employer that i have been offered another job and he asked who they were, how much they offered etc. then he said he would pay me more money and give me a newer van if i stayed... I said i would think about it and let him know. The next day i told him thanks but i felt this was an offer i couldn't refuse. fair play to him tho he said i am always welcome back if it didnt work out or if circumstances in future change. So now i am starting on monday with Arcus and am a little nervous if im honest as its going to be a lot different ie working 1 in 4 saturdays, working 8 till 5pm mon to fri with tracked van and standby for a whole week! I am also excited too of course, i just hope i made the right choice, cheers for you input guys
Kelly

[install monkey]

do air con occasionally, also get calls to heating plants,fault finding and installing heaters,pipework and general dogsbody!

So do you do mostly fridge then Steve?

[bernard]

Hi,

Youve made the right choice, work hard show a little passion with a can do attitude and you,ll be fine.

[theyelk]

The last year or so i have been more bored at the weekend (dont have kids) so i am looking forward to this new job partly so i will be less bored at weekend LOL and obviously more money and future prospects!
Cheers Kelly

[monkey spanners]

The last year or so i have been more bored at the weekend (dont have kids) so i am looking forward to this new job partly so i will be less bored at weekend LOL and obviously more money and future prospects!
Cheers Kelly

Good luck with the new job

[jdunc2301]

do air con occasionally, also get calls to heating plants,fault finding and installing heaters,pipework and general dogsbody!

multi skilled monkey

[jdunc2301]

The last year or so i have been more bored at the weekend (dont have kids) so i am looking forward to this new job partly so i will be less bored at weekend LOL and obviously more money and future prospects!
Cheers Kelly

good luck at the new job....come back in the middle of summer when you miss weekends off

[theyelk]

Cheers for your replies chaps, going well with plenty of breakdowns on a daily basis am paired with another engineer at mo, also managed to diagnose a Mitsy A/C unit which is short of gas in the office of a store so gonna sort that out soon to give me some brownie points!