SS MAYFLOAT
Admiral
- Joined
- May 17, 2001
- Messages
- 6,372
While I was off work, my company called in an outside reputable contractor to get the heat working on a commercial HVAC unit. This unit is a bit over 20 years old and considered to be obsolete.
Within 3 years ago, I put new condensor coils, 2 new compressors, condenser fan motors, and a new heat exchanger in it. So basically it has been rebuilt.
The problem with this unit is that there isn't any available schematics. So their tech kept calling me all last week on what to do. I told him that the old style circuit board needed to be taken out and the unit completely re-wired. He worked for 5 days on it and never got it to light off. Friday he called and said he had everything working, but the spark on the ignitor wasn't strong enough to make it light off. He said that it should have the original manufactures ignition module put on it. Cost of nearly $350! The replacement that is compatable is only $189.
Monday was my first day back at work and my boss wanted me to see if I could get it going. I studied his work for 3 hours and then I got my wire snips out and got rid of all the control wiring. There was a lot of wire to cut out! I carry an extra igntion module and relays on my truck. So I went home monday night and stayed working on a setup that would work on my work bench. I drew up a schematic and headed up to the store today at 1:30 pm. I installed my relays and wired it up with new wire and had it light off before 3 pm. It was real cold, ice everywhere and still had some wiring to finish for the air condition and blower. I'll do that tomorrow and the store will have heat again.
I called the boss and told him that I got it to light off, but won't finish it until tomorrow. Its surpose to be above freezing which will make it a bit more bearable. He said no problem that they have done without heat in the lobby for 2 weeks that they can wait another day. He then told me he got the bill for the job that they couldn't fix,,,,,,,,,,48 hours labor/parts came to $3,000! Yeah, he was PO'd. He said he would pay them for installing a new stat and stat wire (which wasn't necessay that took them 8 hours to run).
I don't consider my self completely knowledgeable on some things, but my boss has lots of confidence in me. I really didn't think I could do it.
This isn't the only thing that was like this. Another company sent someone out to fix one of our grills. 3 days of phone calls, and parts, they finally said it couldn't be fixed. I put in a new ignitor and adjusted the gas/air mixture and it works now.
Now the good news,,,,,,,,,I GOT A RAISE! however it might buy me an extra case of beer a week......It all adds up though..............Sorry for the rant, but how do these places expect to get paid if they can't fix what they were hired to fix?
Within 3 years ago, I put new condensor coils, 2 new compressors, condenser fan motors, and a new heat exchanger in it. So basically it has been rebuilt.
The problem with this unit is that there isn't any available schematics. So their tech kept calling me all last week on what to do. I told him that the old style circuit board needed to be taken out and the unit completely re-wired. He worked for 5 days on it and never got it to light off. Friday he called and said he had everything working, but the spark on the ignitor wasn't strong enough to make it light off. He said that it should have the original manufactures ignition module put on it. Cost of nearly $350! The replacement that is compatable is only $189.
Monday was my first day back at work and my boss wanted me to see if I could get it going. I studied his work for 3 hours and then I got my wire snips out and got rid of all the control wiring. There was a lot of wire to cut out! I carry an extra igntion module and relays on my truck. So I went home monday night and stayed working on a setup that would work on my work bench. I drew up a schematic and headed up to the store today at 1:30 pm. I installed my relays and wired it up with new wire and had it light off before 3 pm. It was real cold, ice everywhere and still had some wiring to finish for the air condition and blower. I'll do that tomorrow and the store will have heat again.
I called the boss and told him that I got it to light off, but won't finish it until tomorrow. Its surpose to be above freezing which will make it a bit more bearable. He said no problem that they have done without heat in the lobby for 2 weeks that they can wait another day. He then told me he got the bill for the job that they couldn't fix,,,,,,,,,,48 hours labor/parts came to $3,000! Yeah, he was PO'd. He said he would pay them for installing a new stat and stat wire (which wasn't necessay that took them 8 hours to run).
I don't consider my self completely knowledgeable on some things, but my boss has lots of confidence in me. I really didn't think I could do it.
This isn't the only thing that was like this. Another company sent someone out to fix one of our grills. 3 days of phone calls, and parts, they finally said it couldn't be fixed. I put in a new ignitor and adjusted the gas/air mixture and it works now.
Now the good news,,,,,,,,,I GOT A RAISE! however it might buy me an extra case of beer a week......It all adds up though..............Sorry for the rant, but how do these places expect to get paid if they can't fix what they were hired to fix?
