A quick question to sparks here

[securespark]

I work with a team of (mainly) young lads .... early 20's.

Most shy away from fault-finding, and prefer installation work. Me, I'm the other way round - I love a good problem to get my teeth into....

How about you lot? What sort of work do you prefer/hate?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Fault finding every time - I like a good challenge me.

Hate fault finding when the customer hasnt told you the full story (usually emerges after you've been on site for 3 hours:
- oh I forgot to say, my Dave changed the light fitting upstairs a couple of days ago (half of lights not working)
- we've just had the loft boarded (none of the lights working)
- that dishwasher is brand new (source of RCD tripping)
- that kitchen fitter was such a nice man (everything else!)


Hate house bashing but it earns the £££, I suppose

TTC

 

[crystal ball]

Fault finding on logic systems, cant beat it when that machine springs to life. Operator usually asks what you did, you give a knowing wink and stroll nonchalantly away.......

Come back in 5 minutes when it breaks down again looking sheepish

 

[Spark123]

Fault finding on logic systems,

When you bring out the book of magic spells and fix it

BTW, about 50% of what I do involves fault finding (mainly programmable controller sequences), the other 50% fixing stuff and maintenance. I don't really get the choice, I just get the work given by priority.

 

[didthathurt]

Agreed, fault finding everytime - keeps the mind fit even though the limbs are feeling the pace more than they used to . Mind you, you are spot on, Taylor, how many times have you got a couple of hours in when the pearl that leads you straight there is delivered as an aside - even on commercial work when you hope they'd have a better idea?

 

[JohnD]

I'm in a different line of work, but being an experienced old lag I often get given the problem jobs that have been cocked up by some incompetent halfwit who's take a very long time and got nowhere. In my last job I took on something where both the previous people had been unsuccessful and "left the company." I tend to get a bit annoyed by the wasted effort and time.

But the experience of having seen so many things done badly helps me to avoid repeating the same errors when I'm running something from the start.

 

[ricicle]

Industrial everytime.Huge swa's,big switch panels,complex control panels,programming plc's,seeing that 700kw motor spring to life,adjusting those troublesome limit switches etc etc

Ricicle

 

[RF Lighting]

I prefer to do industrial installation work, but I worked with an old electricain for a fair bit of my apprenticeship and alot of our work involved fault finding on machines in a large factory. If he couldn't sniff out a fault and put it right then no one could. I have never learnt so much from one person.

I think the problem may lie with the fact that apprentices often don't get chance to go to fault finding jobs as they are often seen as a one man job, so they are not getting the experiance to learn the art of tracking down a welded contactor or a motor with a phase missing.

 

[simon_d]

i often get the awkard fault finding jobs. and its usually after everyone else at my company has been and i go in and find it

 

[securespark]

Yeah, know the feeling.

Had a job 3 guys had been to. Ended up scratching their heads. I went with one of guys who had given up. It turned out to be a combination of knackered transformer, loose connection & blown lamps.

Never assume anything......!!

 

[ricicle]

You know what assuming did

 

[securespark]

Indeedy!

 

[jeepmadmike]

mmm industrial stuff is much more fun, i do enjoy design and site management, but odd ball PLC faults are such fun to solve.

 

[simon_d]

last week at a different job the lads were testing the new lighting circuits and gettin all kind of fault. L-E crossed open phase or neutrals, 100V etc etc. all scratching their heads. could not find a fault anywhere. 4 of em spent best part of a day removing fittings and checking wiring, testing resistance between 1 light and the next etc (this is at the end of a big job). so i got a call to go help em out. found fault in less than 5 minutes. faulty tester. (they actually had 3 testers on site, but didnt bother trying another tester)

 

[Paul Barker]

More than once I've searched high and low for gas leak, only to find it was my guage tube in the end. It's sometimes hard to see the log in your own eye when trying to fix a splinter in someone elses.