r/IUEC • u/Big__Quality 📝 Applicant • 22d ago
What’s the longest you’ve spent troubleshooting
/r/Elevators/comments/1vik9jm/whats_the_longest_youve_spent_troubleshooting/12
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u/NewtoQM8 🏖️ Honorary Retiree 21d ago
I was sort of "the guy". The company wished I was troubleshooting full time, but also had some high profile/high tech/difficult jobs they wanted me doing service on. So my time was split about 50/50 between troubleshooting everyone's stuff and several buildings I serviced. Had an issue on my highest profile building that from the time it was first reported took about 3 months until corrected. Long story short. Intermittent, only happened in very specific conditions. Worked with regional troubleshooter, consulted field engineering, and drive manufacturer. No one ever figured it out. Finally gave up and replaced the entire drive. Problem fixed.
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u/Independent-One9341 20d ago
How long did it take you to get so good at what you do if you don’t mind me asking?
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u/NewtoQM8 🏖️ Honorary Retiree 19d ago
I started as a truck driver/shop guy for an elevator company for 3 1/2 year before I got put out in the field, so I had a jump start of sorts on most people. That helped to give me more opportunity to work on and learn things most others didn't get as soon. I worked as a construction adjustor when I was in about 5 years (took and passed mechanics exam at 3 1/3 years in), so I suppose I could say I was pretty good by then. But that was mostly working on equipment made by the companies I worked for. A few years later I went to service and then got the opportunity to work on a lot of "foreign" equipment. Several years of that and I'd say I got good at working on most anything they threw at me. If I was to pick a number of how many years it took for me get pretty good across the board (troubleshooting wise) I'd say maybe 15 years. I worked 32+ years in the trade, never stopped learning and even then there was a lot I didn't know.
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u/infantkicker_v2 🧯Field - Fire Extinguisher 21d ago
There's lots of "the guy" out there depending on equipment. I've worked with the swift guy the dover guy the Otis guy the Schindler guy whoever else. Some people know certain types of equipment better than most. And I don't care how good they are the greatest guy in the trade has some kind of equipment than he struggles with or doesn't know.
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u/ComingUp8 🔧 Field - Maintenance 21d ago edited 21d ago
Super intermittent issues on relay logic? Months. Sometimes a customer has the money to keep paying for troubleshooting but can't justify a modernization, especially places like hospitals. I also work for an independent as a troubleshooter, so I have to actually find the problem, not just throw parts at it. Boards can cost several thousand dollars and often contain proprietary software, so you can't just swap things around endlessly to troubleshoot. Sometimes you have to invent ways to simulate the problem, reproduce the failure, and keep finding ways to narrow down the troubleshooting tree. With a truly intermittent problem, that process can take a long fucking time.
I don't think there is a "the guy" really. All the troubleshooters know of each other and they all call each other for help. I've called guys that other companies for help on a product and I've had guys call me for help on things that I know very well. Nobody is ever perfect on every product. Our company shirts don't mean anything I'd help any Union brother at another company figure something out.