Most common call outs

[Obi Wan]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to RE but am starting to get the hang of this.

I am interested to know what is the most common call out you are attending to. ( ignore the installation and maintenance visits)

In percentage terms how do you rate the items below:

1, “I am too hot / too cold” problems %
2, “I don’t understand how to operate this system” %
3, Setup problems. %
4, Installation problems %
5, Design / application problems %
6, Training the end user %

The above is not in any particular order.

If you have any particular sites, manufactures, or product groups you have or had a problem with, post them too.

Thanks for your time.

Regards

Obi Wan

[NoNickName]

May I add: "this system is noisy".

[Slim R410a]

Most of my callouts are condensation problems i.e - leaks!

All down to installation, people not using solvent weld on overflow joints, not being bothered to armaflex tape joints in insulation, using 9mm wall instead of 13mm, putting the drain off wall mounts on an incline instead of a fall, using 1 1lt tank pump for 3 cassettes, shoving overflow into cassette drain outlets and 'sealing' it with insulation tape, been to sites where I've ripped out mini orange pumps because it would of taken a bit of thought for the subbies to put the drain on a fall, heat pumps not being fitted with drip trays, instead just a drain taken off the plug when the whole casing condensates anyway!! the list goes on....

[thebigcheese]

my units not working.... attend site and its set on heating for 18'c

[slingblade]

Where is the "all of the above" option?

[Obi Wan]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I was recently called out to a 3 phase Daikin inverter outdoor unit. Installer complained that the system failed on 1st start up. The fault code was referring to insufficient power supply. We asked him to check the power supply on the outdoor unit which of course was just fine. On arrival the 1st thing I checked was the power supply and found all three phases were the same phase. In fact the outdoor unit was wired to a single phase distribution board.
£500 for a 15 min visit + the 2 hours travelling time each way

Obi Wan

[monkey spanners]

Water leaks, dirty filters, old batteries in the remote, unit turned off at switch (which results in a I didnt turn it off, you turned it off arguement , as if ive got nothing better to do than sneek out in the dead of night drive 20 miles climb up a roof turn it off drive home and wait for the call out ), bad smells (ac unit, not me)

Jon

[Obi Wan]

More votes please. We are looking to reorganise our training program and your comments will help us to focus on the problems you face the most.

[Andy]

Hi

Commercial guys tell me it's water leaks and short of gas

Most of the Industrial callouts is froze up coolers due to coldstore doors left open followed by electrical faults

Hope this helps, Kind Regards Andy

[Andy AC]

Not working / no power due to our good friends the smart ass, Know-it-all, over paid electricians who come along afterwards and make a total balls up of their side of things such as not actually clamping down conductors properly in isolators, not managing to get the wires in the correct poles etc. Why is always us that gets called back to fault find and sort their problems, the machines worked fine when tested until the sparkie arrived!

I got called back to a couple of a/c units fitted recently, which again were both fine when run on a test lead. Mr sparks done his bit and left, but i got called back because of no power. I went to the distribution board and spotted the problem straight away - 3 phase board but only 2 phases coming into building nothing unusual there but the idiot sparkie thought he would be clever by putting the a/c's on the least loaded phase - well done , but you think he might of been a bit suspicious of the fact that there was absolutey nothing else on the phase that he connected to!
He didn't check anything at all.
It turned out that he was the site sparkie for the job I was supposed to be on if I wasn't looking/laughing at his **** up, When I left to go to this other site he passed me doing about 90 to go and sort it out. He got some stick when he eventually got back to the building site that we were on

[Makeit go Right]

Had one call-out not mentioned above.

Customer complained that the system was not cooling properly and the room was too warm. When it was checked out we found nothing wrong with the system at all.

Tracing it all back, seemed the customer pointed the infra red remote controller away from the wall-mounted Room Unit, lowered the desired temp from 22 to 19, and then complained that the room was warmer than it should be. Well, the Room Unit was happily trying to provide a room at 22degC, per the last instruction it received, while the controller showed 19degC as the desired temperature.

Corrected the customer on that and he could see that the unit was actually working perfectly when that was sorted. (later put in the invoice for the visit, which he paid.)

[THERMOACC]

Hi all,
I had a call-out for a well known chain of banks a few months ago...."air con not working".
150 miles later...in north wales to find it was switched off on the control panel!! Switched it on checked operation and left. 8-hours call out charge for no fault at all!!!

[Larry2]

I'm surprised.... I see no mention of the lonely housewife complaint where the thermostat is discovered switched over to heating during summer and the misses answers the door in a see-through gown. This should be in the poll.

[sinewave]

I've had a few callouts to 'Systems not working' especialy at this time of year, only to find that the wet central heating is on full bore and then someone's switched the A/C on to compensate!

[Aussie Fridgie]

Switched OFF
Some one else has switched it off and left the building, my most common call out.
Then to not look to silly, the customer say's "oh I think it was making a bad noise the other day can you check it over since your here"
Sure no probs I'm on double time you dumb ass.

[verstep]

I think almost of the respondents post where common problems but in my company, the common problems is the leaking mostly happend at the flare connections, pipe bend and scratch everytime the unit move from its place.2nd is compressor won't start everything has power. I am trying to check the capacitor it was shorted.Changed the capacitor 10 % +/- the farad and voltage. So that's all I could shared.

[laf100]

I can not believe nobody has mentioned "my unit smells like cats wee"!

[NH3LVR]

I'm surprised.... I see no mention of the lonely housewife complaint where the thermostat is discovered switched over to heating during summer and the misses answers the door in a see-through gown. This should be in the poll.

I envy you guys.
I do Industrial work almost exclusively, and I always am greeted by a impatient maintenance guy who does not wear perfume. And as of yet, no see through gowns (thank God).

[LRAC]

Don't forget the early morning call when the customer gets in @ 5am, you turn up and realise somebody has nicked the outdoor unit.

Lrac

[Obi Wan]

So it seems that we are all getting the same type of call outs.
My next question is how well do you understand the problems.
laf100 mentioned "cats wee" smell comming from the unit. Who knows what is the cause of this?


NH3LVR you should come over to the UK, there are lots of A/C guys who wear perfume and a see through gowns. Just kidding!! By the way what is your nickname all about, I thought it might be a type of missile... But could not find anything on it on google.

[NH3LVR]

Obi Wan
Sometimes I regret that choice I made.
NH3=the Chemical name for Ammonia.
LVR=Lover
Or put another way-Ammonia Lover.
Nothing Prurient about it.

May the Force be with you!

[Obi Wan]

NH3=the Chemical name for Ammonia.
LVR=Lover
Or put another way-Ammonia Lover.

Alas my lack of knowledge illustrates my point, you are only as good as your training.

[Karl Hofmann]

I'm surprised.... I see no mention of the lonely housewife complaint where the thermostat is discovered switched over to heating during summer and the misses answers the door in a see-through gown. This should be in the poll.

Ha Ha in all my years of repairing domestic heating, I've only had one bird dressed like that but bearing in mind the house was full of plasterers, kitchen fitters and me, and she was an exotic dancer, I would say that it was quite normal for her, the plasterer fell of his ladder when he first saw her which was compounded by a beating from his girlfriend when the customer sent him a text to tell him where the house key would be located as she would be out for the day, and added a couple of kisses on the end of the text

I must add for the record that the customer was a wizard chef.

[SteveCass]

Where is the box for " It was installed a few years ago and no, we do not have a maintenance contract".
How many places have i been to with all sorts of faults and they can be directly attributed to lack of maintenace? Currently have a 16 cyl machine in bits because customer was unwilling to spend 3 or 4 grand on minor repairs. Current guess is 30+ grand to get it running again. Muppet!

S

[inverter]

[quote=Obi Wan;52734]Thanks for the input everyone.

I was recently called out to a 3 phase Daikin inverter outdoor unit. Installer complained that the system failed on 1st start up. The fault code was referring to insufficient power supply. We asked him to check the power supply on the outdoor unit which of course was just fine. On arrival the 1st thing I checked was the power supply and found all three phases were the same phase. In fact the outdoor unit was wired to a single phase distribution board.
£500 for a 15 min visit + the 2 hours travelling time each way

Obi Wan [/quote
Your day rate costs seem to be the same as mine and i work for a distributer?
are you shore you don't work out of Guildford?

[Obi Wan]

Your day rate costs seem to be the same as mine and i work for a distributer?
are you shore you don't work out of Guildford?[/quote]


Your day rate may be the same, but the question is are you worth it?

[inverter]

Oh yes! may the 407c be with you

[Cuppy]

I can not believe nobody has mentioned "my unit smells like cats wee"!

One of my favorite tasks is explaining to female shop assistants that no!, the smell from the A/C is not being brought in from outside..... It just sucks it in and blows it back at ya.....he he.