How do you like your job as a refrigeration technician?

[Tycho]

Just wondering how everybody else thinks of their job.

For me, it is a lifestyle, the pace, the technology, the development of new technology, it's just facinating.

How I can wake up every morning and not know what I will face during the day, really feels good. One day I might be pumping down a system, making it ready to replace pipes, the next day, or later that day I may be working with an electrical roblem, or programing a PLC or a touch screen for another customer, the next day I may be Flying to africa or south america for a job there.

This is my experience, I have been 17 years in the same company tho. When I was an apprentice and a junior technician, it was the same, I loved refrigeration, because you never knew what would be thrown at you, and I loved trying to figure out what was wrong with a system, or if the fault was with the system or with the operator
Some times you may come up on a system where the operator has huge problems with how it runs, and you go around and find everything in order, and then you go into cro magno mode and do everything you can to operate the system in the worst possible way you can (think plate freezers, defrost cycles etc) and still the system performs as it should, and then you have to find a way to delicately tell the operator how to run the system... Every day is a new thing.

Some times it's a system that performs exceptionally while you are there, and the second you go back on land it starts working bad, and you have to milk the operator for information, to try to weed out what is happening. I have spent 12 hours staring myself cross eyed on gauges that looked perfectly normal. Only to have the operator call me 2 hours after I went home to tell me the system shut down, and now is the time to ask the correct questions to get as much information as possible

Yeah, I love my job, 3 times, I have applied for operator jobs on large land based installations, when I was down in a rut from all the work, all three times I have been offered the jobs, all three times i turned them down after considering the life of taking care of one single plant, instead of having the challenge of servicing hundreds of plants every year

[monkey spanners]

I really enjoy the work. I like the fact i'm not based on one site and get to travel around. I can be working on a brand new system one day and then like this week i had three systems that were new in 1972! There is a good mix of electrical and mechanical and refrigeration based problems to keep me thinking.

There is always something new to learn as technology moves on and even new problems present themselves on time served equipment.

The thing that spoils it a bit sometimes is the customers... Often times price is the only thing they can understand so you end up trying to do an ok job for not much money or competeing with people who will dissapear when a warranty call is made. Its easy to become jaded.

[r.bartlett]

Just me then :-)

[Josip]

I'm on the road since 1985. Need to say something more? Change job, no thanks.
Due to my job I traveled almost all world.

Best regards, Josip

[RONB]

Got to agree with you all. I've been in the trade since I was 16 and I couldn't think of a better job. Yes you have your " what the f. .k am I doing this for at stupid o'clock in the morning"with an irate store manager giving you major grief,but you also get the times when you have had a nightmare of a job and you have put it right and everyone is happy. The best parts of the job are the freedom,being out and about in different places and you have no one looking over your shoulder all the time.

[yinmorrison]

Best job ever :-) Just wish I was back on the tools full time.

[Jeremy Martin]

I like the challenge of troubleshooting and getting stuff to run well, though I get the occasional job that makes me doubt my career choice. I used to do installation as a helper, but I got bored of staying at the same job for days on end. I like the pace of service work.

[Magoo]

Love my job, wife hates it, but spends the money irrespective. My job is more like a rather well paid hobbie

[RusBuka]

By training I in general customs officer. At first it was a hobby, then developed into work with which I am occupied every day, even during week-end.

[Grizzly]

Depends what day you ask!
Most days are good though, Just the spin that comes with it all.
I am lucky I have good colleagues and bunch of knowledgeable chaps happy to help when necessary.
Even RB!
Most of us will bitch etc especially to the wife / Partner.
The best answer I ever heard to that was a very experienced colleague who "trouble shoots" all over.
When he arrives home "She" will ask "Was it broke dear." Yes! "Did you fix it?" "Yes! "That's nice."

About sums it all up really!
Grizzly

[jdunc2301]

Love it wouldn't change it...

[jess luquin]

Supermarket Refrigeration is the best. I don't know if it's because I like working with my hands or I enjoy the mechanical troubleshooting side of it, maybe both.
Every service call is like a story with clues that need to be solved with the small details that are given. I look forward to investigating the reasons as to why the failure occurred and how to prevent it next time.
I take pride in cleaning up the crappy supermarkets and walking out of the store knowing that I could shop there if I wanted to because I know the refrigeration is working correctly.
Refrigeration has some good times and every technician has a story that is far fetched of their own, that's what makes refrigeration interesting.
You don't have to make it up, it's unbelievable from the start sometimes.

[kefah]

For me, it is a lifestyle, the pace, the technology, the development of new technology, it's just facinating.

nice answer
that also my answer

[cadwaladr]

i love it as most of my customers are like family,the ones who are not nice dont get my 10% but i charge them 200%

[Tycho]

Supermarket Refrigeration is the best. I don't know if it's because I like working with my hands or I enjoy the mechanical troubleshooting side of it, maybe both.
Every service call is like a story with clues that need to be solved with the small details that are given. I look forward to investigating the reasons as to why the failure occurred and how to prevent it next time.
I take pride in cleaning up the crappy supermarkets and walking out of the store knowing that I could shop there if I wanted to because I know the refrigeration is working correctly.
Refrigeration has some good times and every technician has a story that is far fetched of their own, that's what makes refrigeration interesting.
You don't have to make it up, it's unbelievable from the start sometimes.

I love your answer, you say Supermarket refrigeration is the best, but what you say after that is applicable to so many parts of the refrigeration trade

I love working with my hands too, but I work in industrial, the principles are all the same, and while you take pride in walking out of a supermarket knowing that you would shop there because you know the refrigeration if working properly and that the groceries are safe, and that it will stay open in the future and provide a workplace for many people, just because the refrigeration is working, so they can sell fresh groceries.
I take pride in jumping ashore from a ship, knowing that I can send them to fishing with a system that works, and that I have provided 10 persons on that ship with a solid working place

We may be fighting between commercial and industrial, but we all work towards the same goal

[mikeref]

There was a time when i looked after a specific supermarket in another town and eventually never had to show ID to day staff or night fill crew. Then the store went through a major overhaul of all the refrigeration kits.
There was a crew up from the capital city doing the work and they were camped at one of that towns motels.

During that 12 + week period, as newly installed kits, monitoring and alarm systems were being commissioned, one or two tripped during the night after the crew left the store. Silent alarm went to head office and then the call went to me. Not knowing the ins and outs of this hight tech processors of the time, (20+ years ago) i had no choice other than to go and bang on their doors at the Motel and get them out of bed...
Their usual response at 3AM cannot be written here.

Yes, plenty of overtime with little to do other then travel to the site, (40 minutes, avoiding wildlife) check out which cabinet is at fault, and 9 times out of 10 drive over and hammer at the install crew's doors. Wakey Wakey!!...

[chillerman2006]

Just me then :-)

Nope I want to move to Monte Carlo too

[THE DUDE]

I Love doing the work!
The Procedures/Polices/Paperwork absoulty F#&*ing suck.

[install monkey]

new job- been doing it for 2wks, same stuff fixin allsorts, paid weekly, no office chimps trying to tell you what to do, no tracker-getting a new van next week, no stickers on it- last 1 had more stickers than alonso's ferarri and new boss actually knows about a/c- couldnt be happier

[Kurra fridgie]

Nice, I feel the same way mate

[Tycho]

Bump to the top

And:

Depends what day you ask!
Most days are good though, Just the spin that comes with it all.
I am lucky I have good colleagues and bunch of knowledgeable chaps happy to help when necessary.
Even RB!
Most of us will bitch etc especially to the wife / Partner.
The best answer I ever heard to that was a very experienced colleague who "trouble shoots" all over.
When he arrives home "She" will ask "Was it broke dear." Yes! "Did you fix it?" "Yes! "That's nice."

About sums it all up really!
Grizzly

"that's nice dear"
hahahaha

My better half loves to cheer me up when I have had a crappy day at work and my brain is fried

When I call her to tell her I'm on my way home she's ask me how my day was, I'd be giving her the same answer I'd give a non fridgie "same old same old, spent all day looking for an electrical fault *pufff*"

And she'll ask me "so what turned out to be the problem?"

And this is my cue to go all technical and say something like "the on site technician complained that one of the compressors would shut down on low pressure when it was running as the master compressor, but when it was running as a slave compressor it was no problem, so last time I was there, I ran the system and checked the regulation by altering the setpoint, to make sure the compressors were decreasing the rpm and capacity and stopping when they should, and that time it all seemed fine. however once they got back to fishing they experienced the same problem, and this time I spent all day running the system and going through the freezing cycles they would do with the plate freezers, and using hotgas on the cargo hold to keep both compressors running, and finally as the pressure was getting down to the setpoint and as I was going through the settings menues on both compressors, I noticed that the compressor that would cut out on LP alarm had the LP setpoint at -47, while the other compressor had the setpoint at -50, and I saw that the compressor that had the setpoint at -47 was working with a suction pressure of -46.8 while it was in minimum speed and minimum slide capacity, so I changed the minimum LP to -50 and the system worked fine through five cycles... so, yeah, that's my day..

the she will make some shivering sounds on the phone and say "grrrr... get home... get home right now"

so she helps me get my mind away from my ****ty day

[Burger]

Love my job dearly, will not change it for any thing. Don't love the company.

[suha52]

I just started .. its realy good......