A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

SS MAYFLOAT · Jan 19, 2006

One of our stores had a bad heat exchanger in the main dinning room unit. The front counter unit also had a bad exchanger as well, but not near as bad as the other one. At least it still worked. I called a company out of town that does all new installs for the main corp. They sent a guy out and he confirmed that one unit above the front counter was working and would be okay for maybe another year. The one for the dinning room was condemmed as being unsafe for use. The gas valve, stat wires, and power was shut off. The out of town company gave their quote on a new unit. To help our local economy out, a local company was called in to give a quote on the bad units replacement. It turns out that they got the job. Come this last Monday, the manager calls me and says it is real cold in the lobby. She said that she went up on the roof and turned on the old unit, but cannot turn the new unit on because it doesn't look hooked up. At this point I'm puzzled about the new unit. Yes I knew we were getting one, but nobody called to say that it was being installed. So now I go up on the roof and sure enough there sits a nice brand new unit................and it is sitting in the wrong place. They removed the old working unit instead of the dead one. Of course I call me boss and he is PO'd to say the least. He calls the company that did the job and of course they insist that is the unit they were told to replace. Anyway, they call the crane back in and removed the bad unit and put the old one back in its place. Well, while it is in the air, I was able to look up inside at the heat exhanger. 4 of the 8 tubes had cracks in the seams ranging from 12" to 32"! Yep, unsafe to operate. The owner now is extremely upset since he has to replace that one now. Of course I get a memo in the company mail. It says from this date on, that all equipment condemmed shall be painted with a big red "X" on all sides and the top. Go figure.......

heycods · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Your saying you didnt get an attaboy?

RPJS · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Good job it wasn't doctor & leg.

SS MAYFLOAT · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

I'll only get an atta boy if I can fix the heat.

I thought about trying to find an exchanger on my own. I did that for another store with the same series and found one. On that unit you can read the identaplate. The bad units identaplate is unreadable. I think that is why the contractor said they were obsolete since they couldn't verify the model or serial. They make their money of new installs, so it is easy for them to say they can't fix it. Heck with the attaboy, I like the idea of a new unit..........less trouble for now.

dogsdad · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Originally posted by heycods: Your saying you didnt get an attaboy?

I think Mayfloat's saying he still has a job. Ain't that good enough??

stan_deezy · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Reminds me of one I was involved with a couple of years ago at a nuclear power station. The company wanted a whole pile of pipework and valve layout redesigned in the basement of the turbine building on one of the two reactors. Long story short: they got an architect in and he did site visits, took photos, poured over drawings and eventually came up with a nice new layout. New drawings went to the fabricators and all the pipework and new valves were built up in sections then sent as one lot to the station........only once the old pipework had been cut away and removed it became apparent very quickly that the new stuff didn't fit

Turns out the guy had been pointed to the wrong turbine in the very beginning. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two: he'd checked the pipe run/valve numbers and taken the drawings for those: which of course were the wrong ones. Mistake number three: the basement isn't symetrical so there were structural supports and machinery in all the wrong places when the fitters came to install the pipes.........Major red faces all around and a few "sideways" promotions for several people

Oh how we laughed

SS MAYFLOAT · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

SD, sounds like that screw up was more costly than ours. I've known this contractor for the last 20 years. He has always done a very good job for us and the community. We never have had any problems in the past with him. Sometimes most mistakes are caused by communication problems. I'm talking about the left and right side of our own brains.

mattttt25 · Jan 19, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

hate to say it, but that red X is going to cause you more problems in the future. demo, mechanical, and electrical contractors all know that 'red' means stop and 'green' means go, as in it goes out the door. better get that memo revised...

Limited-Time · Jan 20, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Originally posted by Stan_Deezy: Reminds me of one I was involved with a couple of years ago at a nuclear power station........

You just know, any statment beginnig like that can't be good.

stan_deezy · Jan 20, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Originally posted by Limited-Time: 

Originally posted by Stan_Deezy: Reminds me of one I was involved with a couple of years ago at a nuclear power station........

Click to expand...

You just know, any statment beginnig like that can't be good.

Several things I hated about working there: 1. Standing in the control room and hearing the words "Uh-ho, that ain't right" 2. Knowing that, like NASA, the whole thing had been built by project managers to the lowest price spec

3. The food in the canteen

Three-eyed fish on Fridays...... The best thing was they gave me an emergency pager: whenever it went off at home the first thing I checked was the wind direction

Nos4r2 · Jan 20, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Welcome back by the way Stan, where ya been?

stan_deezy · Jan 21, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Originally posted by Nos4r2: Welcome back by the way Stan, where ya been?

Hiya Nos

I bin hidin.........looking for a new job. Took (very) early retirement last year and hate it. Thought it would be cool to get the time to do all those jobs and hobbies that we never seem to have time for but...............trust me it's a drag

Plus my home office looked a bit like a disaster relief training ground for a while

You still having fun with the Searider?

Nos4r2 · Jan 21, 2006

Re: A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

Originally posted by Stan_Deezy: 

Originally posted by Nos4r2: Welcome back by the way Stan, where ya been?

Click to expand...

Hiya Nos I bin hidin.........looking for a new job. Took (very) early retirement last year and hate it. Thought it would be cool to get the time to do all those jobs and hobbies that we never seem to have time for but...............trust me it's a drag Plus my home office looked a bit like a disaster relief training ground for a while You still having fun with the Searider?

Not for a few weeks-moving house next week and it's a bit more time consuming that I wanted it to be. Can't wait to get out again. Damn shame you disappeared-there was a hell of a bargain searider just went for £400 with a 50hp merc on it

A Major Mistake (I didn't do it either)

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