When Good Techs Go Hack

So theme of today, what were they thinking?!? Sometimes when I go out on a service call, to get the customer up and running, I have to bypass parts. This is done so the faulty part can be ordered and the customer can still have AC or heat while waiting for the part to come in. This doesn't always work in every case but if it's possible we always try to do this. 

When we bypass parts, this is NOT meant to be a permanent situation. It is meant to be temporary to get the customer by. What I came across today was the motherload of bypass hacks. What I could make out from it is some parts most likely went bad,  probably control boards, and instead of ordering new and just bypassing temporarily, there was a lot of hot wiring and moving around to get this unit to just run in cool mode. That may have been okay except we are having record cold weather here in Florida and this was a heat pump that had no heat. It was a fun one. By the end of it, I did make it so they had heat pump heat and heat strip heat. 

Things like this, though trying as it may be, are some of the reasons I love my job. It is really fun to work through things and try to figure out what is wrong, what caused it to go wrong, and how can it be corrected. And not only do we have to look at mechanical errors, we also have to look at the possibility of man made faults and errors. Situations like that makes the job that much more intimidating but also much more rewarding when it is corrected and sorted. So, remember, don't take short cuts or the easy way out, put forth the work and effort to do it right and don't "hack it". Be proud and confident in your work, and never be afraid to say I don't know or ask for help.



T.M.G.

Beacon Air & Heat, Inc. | Beacon Services & Appliances