Keeping van organized

[cavalieri85]

I clean my van then about a week later it looks like a tornado hot it and stuff is everywhere. I guess I'm disorganized overall but wondering how people set up their trucks to stay organized. Maybe I carry to many parts but its tough. We do so much. I need parts for air conditioning from a 2 ton split to a 100 ton package and refrigeration from 1 door reach in cooler to racks. Then throw in ice machines and parts for multiple manufacturers and we have a hot side department so I got a few things for when I'm on call.

[akelesis]

Trust me dude. this is a day to day thing. I clean my van daily, but on those busy days where we are all flying from job to job i end up cleaning up my van either at the end of the day or the beginning of the next day. the only thing i can suggest is... to put the stuff back the first time and your truck will never be messy. which is never the case!!! and the gf hates it when i come home and my pockets are full of little things like marrets or small pieces of wire or even a tool. dumping it on the counter at home is never a good solution laf. Now i have a little box at home where i dump all my stuff into and sort it out later.

Most cases i clean my van every saturday morning. while finishing off the paper work to hand it in first thing monday morning. so when i arrive at work on monday everything is cleaned and ready for the boss to look at.

[Gunslinger]

I put everything back in its place when the job is completed. It is the only way I can work.

[cavalieri85]

anybody wanna share some pics i need ideas on where to put stuff.

[tech45]

I discussed this with myself earlier this week , a clean van requires a helper , lol. When I was in management I gave my guys a paid hour every Monday morning to clean up ...no one appreciated it , lol ( damned if you do ).

So , I'm back in a truck now and I refuse to do this on my time ( different company however ). I set the van up on my time I have gone over and above. When I can't find what I need the van gets cleaned ...and it's never a convienent time.

[Mike19]

I have racks to hold my torch, nitrogen, bottles of oil, and refrigerant tanks. I have a bar to hang my gauge manifolds on, and I have a bin hanging by the door to keep small parts in. Keeping that stuff in its place takes care of half the battle.

[zw17]

An old timer told me once...

"They pay me to take my tools out of the truck, they will pay me to put my tools back in the truck"

If it takes me into overtime I am keeping my truck tidy, it's the cost of doing business.

[Kevin_1963]

Between hot and cold side, its nearly impossible to keep it organized.

I need a box van.

[Mike19]

anybody wanna share some pics i need ideas on where to put stuff.

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[markettech]

I clean my van then about a week later it looks like a tornado hot it and stuff is everywhere. I guess I'm disorganized overall but wondering how people set up their trucks to stay organized. Maybe I carry to many parts but its tough. We do so much. I need parts for air conditioning from a 2 ton split to a 100 ton package and refrigeration from 1 door reach in cooler to racks. Then throw in ice machines and parts for multiple manufacturers and we have a hot side department so I got a few things for when I'm on call.


Trust me dude. this is a day to day thing. I clean my van daily, but on those busy days where we are all flying from job to job i end up cleaning up my van either at the end of the day or the beginning of the next day. the only thing i can suggest is... to put the stuff back the first time and your truck will never be messy. which is never the case!!! and the gf hates it when i come home and my pockets are full of little things like marrets or small pieces of wire or even a tool. dumping it on the counter at home is never a good solution laf. Now i have a little box at home where i dump all my stuff into and sort it out later.

Most cases i clean my van every saturday morning. while finishing off the paper work to hand it in first thing monday morning. so when i arrive at work on monday everything is cleaned and ready for the boss to look at.

It's a continual work in progress the way I see it. I'll try to be as diligent as possible and put everything back where it goes, but inevitably I'll pick up inventory at URI one day and not put it away - or neglect to properly replace a tool.....next thing you know I've got stuff falling out the door when I open it.

The vans are loaded to the gills as it is and it doesn't take but a couple things being out of place to avalanche into an outright mess.

I just try to stay on top of it as much as possible and take the time to rot it out when necessary.....which I should be doing right now instead of hanging out here.

[ryan1088]

It's a continual work in progress the way I see it. I'll try to be as diligent as possible and put everything back where it goes, but inevitably I'll pick up inventory at URI one day and not put it away - or neglect to properly replace a tool.....next thing you know I've got stuff falling out the door when I open it.

The vans are loaded to the gills as it is and it doesn't take but a couple things being out of place to avalanche into an outright mess.

I just try to stay on top of it as much as possible and take the time to rot it out when necessary.....which I should be doing right now instead of hanging out here.

Completely agree. You have to put it up as you go or whenever you get a chance that next day.

The best times to do a reorganization project is while pulling refer out of something or while the vacuum pump is on.

[ascj]

I gave up along time ago. I try my best, but I always seem to have to much stuff in my van. I just try to be vigilant about garbage and trash.

The worst is......nice slow pm day. You stop and pick up 9 cases of filters at the supply house. Your half way to the job site and you get pulled to run a service call. 3 days later, you're still riding around with 9 cases of filters.

[Joehvac25]

I think your either a person who keeps there van clean or your a person who can't. I for one can't, I clean it when I can but I steadily turns into a trash heap. I clean it then the cycle continues.


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[cavalieri85]

We got a guy at work his van is spotless not one thing even on the floor. It baffled me, maybe I'm a slob I thought. I just took like everything I own out of my truck and started to put it away 4 hours later Its neat and tidy then I tealize the stuff I pulled out of the back is still sitting there and I don't know where to put it.

[ryan1088]

We got a guy at work his van is spotless not one thing even on the floor. It baffled me, maybe I'm a slob I thought. I just took like everything I own out of my truck and started to put it away 4 hours later Its neat and tidy then I tealize the stuff I pulled out of the back is still sitting there and I don't know where to put it.

There's a guy I work with armor-alls the back of his van. How he manages that you ask? He doesn't work.

[Joehvac25]

There's a guy I work with armor-alls the back of his van. How he manages that you ask? He doesn't work.

Hell id be lucky to find a spot to armor all


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[ryan1088]

He's got tons of used parts on his van too.....he's a major parts changer. I don't know how he has any room for anything either. On the other hand I do, he ONLY works on boilers.

[wicat3]

You can have time during jobs or at the end of jobs here and there but that can be hard too. When I was working for an oil company I did mostly tune ups and had the time. But we were given a good amount of time to come to the shop and get parts and clean our trucks something like 45 mins and to me that was to long to try to kill time. One thing I found that was helpful was having a good size garbage can. I use to use a 5 gallon bucket but that sucked I later found these drums they had to be like a 10-15 gallon metal drums, perfect size to hold garbage tall skiny great. They had them for something like automotive fluids or something.

I think it depends what your working with as well. I had another company and they gave me a ford ranger. The truck was so small and you had to carry so much it was sad to call a service truck. Orginize that was a joke.

My suggestion is spend time on the weekend orginizing it or do it every morning at the shop. The shop I work at now, I dont have a van, but we come back from the job to set up for the next day about a half hour before its time to punch out or a half hour in the morning for me these will be my key times to clean my van and get it ready for the next day

[Joehvac25]

He's got tons of used parts on his van too.....he's a major parts changer. I don't know how he has any room for anything either. On the other hand I do, he ONLY works on boilers.

That's how you keep clean "specialize". I can't fit everything I need to fix/install everything. Sometimes I wish I didn't do so much.


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[OBogue]

That's how you keep clean "specialize". I can't fit everything I need to fix/install everything. Sometimes I wish I didn't do so much.


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This is where I'm at too. Being versatile goes a long way towards keeping me busy during the slow season. But it's a lot of parts.

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[Mike19]

You can have time during jobs or at the end of jobs here and there but that can be hard too. When I was working for an oil company I did mostly tune ups and had the time. But we were given a good amount of time to come to the shop and get parts and clean our trucks something like 45 mins and to me that was to long to try to kill time. One thing I found that was helpful was having a good size garbage can. I use to use a 5 gallon bucket but that sucked I later found these drums they had to be like a 10-15 gallon metal drums, perfect size to hold garbage tall skiny great. They had them for something like automotive fluids or something.

I think it depends what your working with as well. I had another company and they gave me a ford ranger. The truck was so small and you had to carry so much it was sad to call a service truck. Orginize that was a joke.

My suggestion is spend time on the weekend orginizing it or do it every morning at the shop. The shop I work at now, I dont have a van, but we come back from the job to set up for the next day about a half hour before its time to punch out or a half hour in the morning for me these will be my key times to clean my van and get it ready for the next day


Right on the money, somthing to put garbage in helps a lot. When I clean my van half the stuff on the floor is either empty boxes, used parts, or pieces of paper I don't need.

[wicat3]

I could not do anything service wise with out something like a trash can. I used alot of cement buckets so I kept them and started using them for small things like old oil nozzles, I saved them for extra cash at the scrap yard!

[ga-hvac-tech]

I have a LWB 1 ton Chevy Express... with custom built shelves (wood... yeah it is heavy) in the back. Literally everything has a place, it was carefully thought out when I built it, and when I am through with a tool or anythign else... it goes back in its place (NOT thrown in the van). I bought a bunch of cardboard parts bins (4 sizes) from Grainger, lots of them on the shelves. Every Spring I shift out the heat stuff and add the AC stuff... and in the Fall the AC stuff goes out and heat stuff goes in (well not all, but some).

I do think a combination of on-going effort along with every 3-4 weeks doing an all afternoon clean is necessary.

And STILL I find I want more space... I think space is just one of those thing.

[Jared Fetter]

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Looking good man!

[ryan1088]

I use an old compressor box. The one I have now was a 30 ton scroll and you can fill it with so much stuff that you can barely lift it!

[Sicofthis]

Cleaning after each job is the best way I've found.

Edit - tapatalk upload messes with rotation for some reason

[jnsrose]

My neck hurts.

[kls-ccc]

Put stuff back where it belongs when you are done with it, throw out the trash and restock first thing when you get back to the shop, use a 5 gallon bucket for trash, it come in handy for other stuff besides.

[Freightshaker]

We had a gentleman who's van looked like something on the show hoarders barried alive. He would throw all fast food trash to the passenger side until it could not fit. Once the passenger side was so full that everything tossed over there rolled back in his lap it was thrown into the back through a hole he cut in the rack. Many times he lost parts for jobs in his van and had to reorder them. It was disgusting and he was eventually fired.

My van like all is a never ending battle. Spent an entire day last week just cleaning, servicing tools, and getting everything generally organized to be out of town for two weeks. Gives you a good feeling Monday to look in back and everything is happy.

[ryan1088]

Stanley box with tools in individual pouches
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Order of where things go
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[Lightning_Boy]

I follow a few simple rules;

1) food trash, gets thrown away T the end of each day.
2) supply house receipts get photo scanned, emailed to office then filed straight away. If I'm in a rush I'll file them on a lunch break.

3) Find a logical place for everything, use said item, tool material, put it back before you crank the engine and head to next job. Yes, it's a pain in the arse, but a few minutes after a pm or service call each day means a quick 15-20 minute shake down on Friday night. Ready for action on Monday.

I sympathize with the boxes of filters then pulled to service call, happens to me all the time and filter boxes knock stuff out racks and holders...

[Sicofthis]

Ryan that's pretty good expecially without many shelves. Did you take shelves out?

[ga-hvac-tech]

I follow a few simple rules;

1) food trash, gets thrown away T the end of each day.
2) supply house receipts get photo scanned, emailed to office then filed straight away. If I'm in a rush I'll file them on a lunch break.

3) Find a logical place for everything, use said item, tool material, put it back before you crank the engine and head to next job. Yes, it's a pain in the arse, but a few minutes after a pm or service call each day means a quick 15-20 minute shake down on Friday night. Ready for action on Monday.

I sympathize with the boxes of filters then pulled to service call, happens to me all the time and filter boxes knock stuff out racks and holders...

Good plan!

IMO #3 is the most important... As the Nike commercial says... Just do it... :)

[ryan1088]

Ryan that's pretty good expecially without many shelves. Did you take shelves out?

That's how it came. They wanted to keep that right side clear for hauling big things (the guy who had it before me didn't have anything compared to me) and they didn't want to spend the money. Those Stanley boxes are the big savers.