HVAC newbies, Learn from our mistakes.

[key]

My guy went on a call yesterday. the customer says it was not cooling.

asked customer to turn unit on and he immediatly saw frost on suction line.

He had customer shut unit off. He checked for leaks and found that the access valve on the suction was leaking. He checked the indoor filter and it was clean.

He asked the customer if the airflow in the house was OK and the customer responded by saying the she hears the indoor fan going, but there is no cool air.

After turning the system on again he proceeded to charge the unit, the pressures went nuts,
350 and 60. He shut outdoor unit down, went into house and found that the G wire was disconnected from the air Handler (no fan, no air flow).

He reconnected the G wire and found that he now had overcharged the unit.

He then reclaimed the refrigerant he added and had to start charging unit over again.

What was Learned.

NEVER TAKE A CUSTOMER'S WORD FOR ANYTHING.
Check things out for yourself.

THERE CAN BE MORE THAN ONE PROBLEM WITH A SYSTEM.

A 20 minute service call shouldn't take 2 hours...

[R12rules]

this is only a serious problem IF ... the service manager or company owner assumes the service man will never learn his craft PAST this one error!

This would be a fantastic opportunity to make a good impression on that service man.
Invest a hour and take this guy out to dinner. Tell him about a simular incident where you did the same type of mistake. Laugh it up with the guy.
Demonstrate that you were able to move past your error in judgement and have become the great service man that you are today.

If you do this, you will not only endear this man to your employ, but you will also demonstrate to him that you know something about managing people too.

[R12rules]

...oh ... I left out the part about how you probably wont have to ever bring this subject up again with the guy. Since he has probably already engraved it into his mind


I can count on one hand how many people I have known in this trade who actually agree with what I just posted and they practice it regularly with others.

The rest ... they run scared all the time.

The techs, they run scared of anyone finding out about what they do wrong ocssionally.
The managers run scared of not being able to "control" their people and keep them from making mistakes.


errors in judgement are not going away. They are with us for life. What matters most is how we face our problems once they have occured.
As a manager, we can either be part of the problem or part of the cure.

The rule of thumb is to beat people up over the simplest of errors. Treat em like a puppy dog; "Rub their noses in it!"
"Make an example out of em!"

"Give em negative feedback so they never repeat what they just did!"
Trouble is, in reality this will only make a person afraid of being found out they are not perfect. And this builds a mistrust between managers and mechanics.
"Them & Us".

[srmfsr]

I used to have a young electrican that worked for me and didn't know the theory that well. He had worked all his time on construction. He was a hell of a worker and could run conduit like an artisian. Every time he came across something he didn't understand he would come to me. I would go with him to the job if possible and explain how it worked. Sometimes we would build a simulator on the bench in the shop and he would learn from this. Today he has opened his own business is doing well. I'm proud of him as if he were my son.

[oroy54]

It took me a while over the years to trouble shoot, then ask questions. Roy

[beenthere]

Then he was checking charge by pressure only.

Its up to you to make sure he learns the correct way.

[srmfsr]

Another thing newbies, don't,repeat DON'T open the door after you've had a shower on a 100 degree day with 99%humidity. I just did and an elderly neighbor had condenser fan out on his unit. So after putting on work clothes and calling out my distributor, cause I didn't have the right one, here it is 9:00pm and back wringing wet with sweat and going to shower again.

[Diceman]

He didn't check the indoor air handler??
ReallY?
When ya go on any a/c call, first thing is turn it on and check the furnace, then go outside and see whats up.
Live and learn.