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Re: Testing or Bypassing Door Interlock
Baron re-read this please :
Of Course Baron you are right in so much that beginners have to learn and that we can assist where need be.
This is taken from my previous comments and is clear for all to see.
However I have taken a closer look at what you have said and also I have now reliased that you are loacted in Romania which may explain you pattern of thinking.
I would imagine that things are very different in Romania as compared with England. I don;t know about the laws in Romania but here in England we have many laws and safety standards and as such we have to not only be aware of these matters but also adhere to them and although I am making this statement myself I am sure that many here would also subscribe to them.
Any comments I have made must be taken in context of the UK and I cannot speak for your situation as I know nothing about it.
I wish you luck with your new business and hope that it is sucessful, 😀
Re: Testing or Bypassing Door Interlock
Of Course Baron you are right in so much that beginners have to learn and that we can assist where need be. My problem is not that someone may be a beginner and needs guidance but that these beginners may be working in your home ! When I started out in this trade some 15 years ago I worked at a local repair company but quickly saw that they had very little skill and knowledge of what they were repairing having themselves learnt by the trial and error route. They could not for example even test a pressure swith and their test for such a component was to blow it and if it clicked then it was ok.
I realised that I would learn very little in such a enviroment and was subsequnetly lucky enough to obtain a position with directly with a maufacturer and underwent high quality training for a considerable time after which I was allocated to two fully trained engineers the object of which was to gain the knowledge that they had built up over many years in real world situations, this time was also used as an improving module for me.
I learnt far more in a couple of years than I could have ever leanrt in the old company and my point is that although the manufacturers have cut back on the luxury of my training we were prepared for the everyday challenges that face the domestic appliance engineer and the skills that I procured there have stayed with me ever since.
There is of course no substitue for experience but you need to have the basic skills in place and be competent in there application before being let lose of the general public.
Re: Testing or Bypassing Door Interlock
Fairdeal It was not me who made the comment reagrding the statement that next we will be discussing how to fit a plug ! That was another poster who said that.
I think the point is that this is elementry stuff to the guys here who have with respect been doing the job a long time and are highly experienced and due to this they find questions such as yours somewhat surprising as did I.
I take on board your statement that you are a electrician and that sometimes simple things can be confusing. That may well be true but it is simple to make the necesary electrical tests to ascertain the polarity and correct connections of a door interlock using very basic electrical knowledge which you should have along with a VOM.
As a point of interest my brother in law is a Senior Electrician with no end of paper qualifications including HV qualifications and works on very large electrical projects such as making sure the new high speed international rail link has the correct electrical resources available along its entire length. He oversees a large force of sparks and has to have eyes in the back of his head. Why do I make mention of this ? Well recently he attempted to repair his dishwasher and ended up completely confused over what was a simple series and parallel circuit i.e a adavance timer motor and a heater element ( a case of resistance )
I walked in with a screwdriver and VOM and within two minutes had sourced the fault on his machine. He was gobsmacked that with his HNDs etc that he had missed this point, but it just goes to show that its each to there own and I would have as much chance of doing his job as he would mine !
I meant no offence to you Fairdeal but I would reiterate my earlier point as the others have said that you should really refrain from bypassing door interlocks which can only be described as a dangerous practice. 🙂
Re: Testing or Bypassing Door Interlock
Lokring,
Of course you are completely right in your view of this topic, this is basic stuff at best and to be honest ( hold on while I get my tin hat on ) It both worries and surpises me that there are people who are working as service engineers with this level of knowledge.
A large part of our job is understanding electrical circuits and basic ohms law of course coupled with some further ingrediants such as mechanical appitude, health & safety ( both for yourself as well as your customers )
Public relations, being a good listener, being well organised, to name but a few! and lets no forget some COMMON SENSEMy advice to anyone thinking of taking the route to becoming a trained engineer is to study up with some electrical theory books, and start small perhaps with a company who has openings for a trainee small appliance engineer and gradually work their way up through the trade.
Funny enough about 18 months ago we had two fellas turn up in the shop who started buying spares, they knew very little but asked a lot of questions to various staff. Over a period of weeks we suddenly realised that as opposed to repairing their own appliances or for a relative, they had decided to setup a casual business and were in fact what could be described as competitors, albeit buying their spares from us.
Well needless to say it wasn’t long before they started having problems due to lack of knowledge, training, being out of their depth and most amazingly that people actually let these cowboys into their homes.
I personally would like to see a offical body which offered both support, training and acreditation for our trade and this of course has been mooted here before. Most trades have chancers and cowboys amongst them and our trade is no different but by having a body in place and carrying goverment legislation it would get rid of many of these types and make more work for the rest of us as well as give our profession some well deserved kudos.
Re: Testing or Bypassing Door Interlock
Public Liabilty ? If you were found to be negligent ( Which I expect you Would Be ) what would your insurers view of this be ? of course I am assuming that you do have such insurance ?
Really I have over the years been requested to bypass interlocks but my answer is always the same. No thanks ! I would not want this on my mind and having seen a young child who nearly had an arm torn off when they were able to place their limb into a machine on spin just brings the implications into focus.
Never, Never, Ever subscribe to this practice is my strong advise, just lke another practice of leaving appliances with earthing faults with potential to cause injury or death. I have seen engineers working without any kind of insulation tester ( i.e Megger ) and they have the same sort of attitude that it will probably be alright .
In this age of litigation this worries me that there are those who subscribe to this dodgy practice.
Re: Customer removed parts? some advice from the wise
I have learnt over the years that there is one advantage working for yourself which is its YOU who makes the decision if you want to do the job and not the client. The others are correct walk away from this one it has a bad vibe.
What happens if you get the module PCB repaired or supply a brand new one and return and fit the part and it go’s bang, hows this big fella gonna react then ? meantime its you that has paid out for the part and in addtion have to face this guy.
Sometimes you have to get to the point with these types and tell them straight that you won’t be doing the job and you don;t have to give a reason either. Get the part he’s left with you and take it back to him and tell him that unfortunately you cannot proceed with the repair due to insurance reasons or the like and get rid of him !
Re: New megger required – where and how much?
My mate’s megger’s knackered. He’s borrowed mine and won’t give it back !
If I were you andy why not try connecting the test leads of this megger to both your mates hands. I am sure that he would be much more ameanable to giving it back !
😀Re: Partfinder II Display
Hi,
With a 17″ widescreen I have the same bother can you forward the details of the fix please. 🙂
Re: How many calls a day?
I find that it is a question of Balance, once an engineer is given his workload for the day he should have a fair chance of being able to complete 86{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of that days workload the rest of the percentage taking into account spares not available etc.
Over time you acheive a balance between profit and productivity with a better relationship with the people who count ( The Engineers ) I of course speak from the point of having been an engineer and still a hands on engineer and I undertand how the game works. You cannot expect someone in a call planning centre to understand the mechanics of the engineers working day and the many variable problems faced by us.
Eventually if you let these call centres run the show it will fail for the reasons I have put forard and they are only too eager to wanna backpaddle with the engineering workforce once that occurs.
My view is that its better to have work completed to a high standard by allowing the engineers to have Time to do the jobs properly and there is no commercial sense in sending engineers out with an impossible workload to have it aborted, bodged and returned the following week !
Re: How many calls a day?
I can remember my days with Philips/Whirlpool when we were all doing on average 12 – 13 jobs a day. Travelling my area could notch up between 100 to 170 miles per day. That was normal and was the modus operandi of the call planning office, on top of this when Whirlpool got hold of Philips Service they had the bright idea of offering a 48 hour service pledge.
All of the engineers new at the outset that this would never work and it never did. The real mechanics here are that once engineers are driven hard by idiots in an office planning the impossible something has to give. Firstly engineers will start cutting corners to get the workload done, Secondly mistakes will occurr or bodge ups wil be made, Thirdly jobs will become returns, fourth, The call waiting times increase due to work being issued along with return work being regenrated, Then customers start complaining to the Service Centre.
The result is that the call centre starts applying pressure to the engineers, ( yes the good one’s as well as the bad ones) There are now more calls in the system than can be performed by the available engineering force.
The call centre then want the engineers to tae more call per day ! same workload plus a couple more and with more miles to cover.
Engineers become tired others off sick! factor annual holidays into this and the whole thing becomes completely unworkable for the Customers, Engineers and the company.
My personal policy is that I require quality service with realistic workloads and travelling. I don’t want engineers rushing every day, day in and day out as it will end up costing me more money and grief.
Engineers have a life too, and are professionals who deserve a little respect and are ambassadors for you company to boot. Happy engineers make happy customers, stressed engineers make stressed customers,
How you program an engineer is interesting, perhaps their engineers have removable eprom chips which are inserted where the sun don’t shine and thats an area which many a call centre should be placed in !Re: DSG “Techguys”
What hope is there ! Having spent the last two weeks buying a new laptop from DSG Group commonly know as Dixons and PC World I can reliably confirm that they are as incompetent as ever.
The outlets are full of staff who know nothing but are more than willing to talk S*** , they treat customers as an inconvenience and I was told that to draw a laptop from their store room would be a lot of trouble ?
As I was spending over a grand I told them what I thought of there modus operandi. They also treid to sell be PC Peformance at thirteen quid a month, what would they give me for that I asked ?
Not a lot was the upshot of that and when I told them to stick that as I maintain all my own IT hardware and software as well as a complete network and two websites they were dumfounded.
Tech Guys will be no better and the bad days of masterpart spring to mind.
DSG , Mm forget it!
Re: Diplomat Washer Dryer Model APM8702
Well finally got the bottom of this mystery today having finally got the chance to sit down with it.
It transpires that the Dryer Fan motor is the culprit and will be changed tomorow. These models run for a period of time before the Fan Motor and Dryer Heater circuit kick in. The fault was not appaearent as we expected it to start as soon as the dryer mode was selected and we were not leaving it long enough.
Guess in future I will just sit and have a brew while the thing waits to spring into action! 😀
Re: Diplomat Washer Dryer Model APM8702
Yeap Its the same machine like the old whirlpool series, in this case that button is not the problem.
I was already aware at the outset of this and have even tested that switch to no avail.
But thanks, tow heads are better than one ! 🙂
Re: Diplomat Washer Dryer Model APM8702
Sorry that first line should say, would not dry the clothes, Fingers moving faster than the brain syndrome.
