Any one else made to feel a fool by technical helpline's

[wilder74]

I was made to feel a total idiot,by a ariston technical engineer.

I rang and explained how the euro mffi 23 combi wasnt working,all i had was pump running,no c/h or h/w. I was pretty sure it was a pcb fault. It would go to lockout after 20 secs,no sign of anything except pump running,then lockout.

I explained this and his first words "circulation",so i said"but,its not firing at all,for a overheat proplem,due to poor circulation". Then he asked me to check the "IONISATION ?" i admit i dont know what or were it was,and asked him to help me,find were it was,he told me "you are joking,give me your corgi details,you should know that,i am not giving you one more bit of advice".

I said "it's likely the pcb isnt it?","no,its not" he replied,i told him he was the first technical person,ever to be rude and so unhelpful,and if we all knew everything about boilers,he wouldnt be needed".I was really angry and upset,by his attitude,so i got a pcb and its fine now.

I asked in hrpc if they knew what this ionisation part is,"no" they answered.

 

[gas4you]

I think most of them are just reading a 'crib sheet' on the PC and it is them that haven't a clue

Did you get his name? I shall be seeing Aristons tech director hopefully at the end of this month.

 

[wilhelm]

tut ,tut, g4u . Dropping someone in the shyte, is unethical.
And not really cricket. Especially from a freekin forum.

Let op deal with his problem

 

[wilder74]

Im not looking to cause anyone hassle,but thanks anyway G4U.I felt it more as i was in the customers house,and she was there when i said to him "listen mate,i work on all makes of combi,so i neeed your help,to find certain parts to check" and to be honest i always speak politley as i find,being a scouser used to change the other persons attitude towards me,but that was years ago,i hope he contacts corgi and i get to put my outlook on this,he is from down south,maybe he is jelous of liverpool being capital of culture. (ha ha)

 

[Gasguru]

Are you really telling us you haven't heard of ionisation?....it has been a primary safety system employed on boilers for at least 30 years but the technique dates back over 60 years.

 

[Nixt]

i always speak politley as i find,being a scouser used to change the other persons attitude towards me, he is from down south,maybe he is jelous of liverpool being capital of culture. (ha ha)

Now he's London Mayor, Boris Johnson has to watch his p's & q's otherwise your statement may give him excuse to accuse you of wallowing in victim status. As for rude helpine the old f***wit at Trianco - deserves to have his genitals attached to his HT leads.

 

[namsag]

Gasguru . i have been in business for 29 years and worked with guys who had been in it up to 50 years and nobody refers to it in every day terms as ionisation. You only see it in tech documents. Guy was prob trying to sound a smart a#s.
You wont even find that term in vast majority of manufacturers instructions

 

[gas4you]

tut ,tut, g4u . Dropping someone in the shyte, is unethical.
And not really cricket. Especially from a freekin forum.

Let op deal with his problem

If someone talks to a customer or treats him like shyte then he deserves to be dropped in the same, what an ar*eh*le.

If I ever employed anyone with this attitude and found about it, out he'd be out of the door straightaway

 

[namsag]

Speaking of alphas has anybody fitted one with that gas saver device fitted. how dear are they and what is opinion of them

 

[scatmanjohn]

Speaking of alphas has anybody fitted one with that gas saver device fitted. how dear are they and what is opinion of them

Alpha

Back to the OP.

Most of the tech lines have at least one knobhead, gob*hite who aint got a clue what they are on about.

 

[Agile]

Are you really telling us you haven't heard of ionisation?....it has been a primary safety system employed on boilers for at least 30 years but the technique dates back over 60 years.

Perhaps I can explain all this!

Boilers detect the presence of the flame using a technique called ( in a boiler ACS context ) "flame rectification".

Flame rectification uses a probe inserted into the flame about 10 mm above the earthed metal burner. The probe has an ac voltage from a high impedance source applied to it and when a flame is present electrons will flow in one direction only and this causes a DC voltage to be produced from the AC and the DC is detected by a circuit on the PCB.

The flow of electrons results from the ionisation of the flame. It only flows in one direction because the flame is moving away from the burner at a little under the velocity of flame propagation in gas/air mixture.

Since the colleges and ACS training and assessment centres teach how things work from a practical perspective then they only talk about flame rectification which is the industry standard term.

So the Ariston fellow was wrong to have used the term ionisation because it is not the industry standard term. Of course what he said was not factually incorrect but it was not the right term he should have used. I dont see it as a very serious demeanor as there is considerable skill in describing technical matters clearly and many people are not very good at this.

As for knowing what the fault really was, in that kind of situation it is totally impossible to determine the real fault over the telephone. Whilst it might have been the PCB, as in this case, there are several possible causes. If a tech help line gets it right then thats more often luck.

Chris R had a problem with a non operating flow switch recently and called me for some suggestions. I listed about five possible causes but it was up to him to follow them through. In the end he found which one it was and it was something quite rare which I encounter hardly once a year.

Tony


Mods should move this thread into the CC

****
No facility to do that
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Mod 10

 

[wilder74]

I am grateful for the replies boys,i feel better knowing i wasnt just upset due to my lack of knowledge. I like to learn of other engineers who are able to carry out boiler fault finding,at a higher level than myself.I am twenty four now,so i admit i am a newcomer,but i carried out c/heating breakdown's for a major home insurance firm,them 2 1/2 years gave me the chance to learn about all makes of boilers,but i never came across ionisation. I work for myself now and it hurts more when a stranger questions your ability. I wont bore you anymore lads,thanks

 

[gas4you]

If, that is if I understand the OP correctly, the boiler was not firing at all and only had the pump running, why would a tech guy suggest checking the flame rectification (ionisation) when he had been told the boiler wasn't firing at all

 

[wilder74]

Gas4u,excellant point. He also blamed circulation,i explained in detail to him,what was happening.I made sure i had multimeter handy,so i could go through the correct proceedure's,as agile says "it might not have been the pcb",thats why i will ask for advice if im not certain what the fault is.

 

[namsag]

On lynx mk1 when they first come out the flame rectification probe used to slide down inside the ceramic and touch the burner thus stoppng the ignition sequence starting, So he could be justified in saying check it to make sure a bit of carp was not bridging the gap.
But he went about it the wrong way and attitude