Talk to the equipment you service?

RayWohlfarth

I was speaking with my good friend, a retired boiler tech, and he revealed that he sometimes talked to the boilers. I laughed and said I used to do it all the time but never told anyone about it before.

Being a boiler tech is a lonely job and in most instances, you are alone inside a room with a machine that could wipe out a city block, so sometimes I would talk with the boilers. If it was a problem job, I would say, "Hey remember me Im your friend. We're gonna get through this together. You're going to be nice right?"

If it's a new boiler I haven't seen before, I would introduce myself.

Most of the time, I would say the symptoms aloud. Hearing them sometimes allowed me to find a solution or repair. This would sound like this, "So you have been having intermittent problems. The maintenance person told me he has to reset the temperature limit control every morning. What's going on?" Right about now, you're thinking that I am wee bit nuts and the jury is still out on that but it sometimes helps to talk aloud.

Just curious if my friend and I are the only ones who talked to the boilers.

Ray

Jamie Hall

Yup. Boilers. And almost any machine I work on… I even name some of them, so I can adddress them properly…

Illinoisfarmer

Jamie is right. I talk to all the machines. And animals. Some plants. Really, I kinda prefer talking to all of these things over people a lot of the time.

This is pretty timely. I climbed in the combine this morning and said 'Did you miss me girl?'

I think she did…

Greening

I think it is a great technique for everything.

ratio

Oh, I talk to them all right. Can't really repeat what I say in polite company.

Sometimes I talk with a hammer, too. Or a really big cheater bar.

DCContrarian

Like a sailor. And I don't mean Popeye.

hot_rod

if you tell us that they talk back to you…🤔

pecmsg

only when they don’t play well

%€|}{*=,2&@/;(5¥>|}!!!

EdTheHeaterMan

I was yelling at my television yesterday from about 1:30 on…..

But the Eagles squeeked out a win with a last minute interception! to seal the deal at less that a minute on the clock.

But I believe just about everyone does that from time to time….. Maybe not football, but sometimes you get lost in the movie or episode on "any given Sunday"

Intplm.

I've had a few choice words to say. I won't repeat them here.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I am with @ratio . I don't bother talking with them but I swear at them all the time.

reminds me of a former co-worker. He talked to himself while working all the time. (I do to but silently). I used to think he was talking to me, and I couldn't hear him. I finally figured it out.

mattmia2

I do a lot more swearing at things than talking but I will sometimes ask stuff to break free or line up when I'm doing something difficult.

DCContrarian

"OK pipe, listen up. You don't like me and I don't like you. How about you let go of that union so I can get out of here and we can both start forgetting we ever saw each other."

pecmsg

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1811477#Comment_1811477

try being a J. E. T. S. fan!

RayWohlfarth

You all made me smile. I thought I was the only one who talked to the equipment and yes I have on occasion, swore at the equipment or piping. Thanks everyone

DanHolohan

I always talked (respectfully) to the Dead Men who put it all together.

RayWohlfarth

@DanHolohan I never thought of that. It makes sense. Thanks for still teaching me

mattmich

What has often been useful is talking a about work problem to a colleague, and as I'm explaining the context, and laying out what's working and what isn't, a lot of the time I figure out a solution before the poor guy has even really registered what's going on. I then thank them profusely for their help.

This has happened a few too many times to be just a coincidence, so what I think is happening is that in laying out the facts, we have to order them in our mind, and that provides another look at the whole of the problem and can provide an answer.

Talking out loud is helpful, even if nobody is listening. Not crazy.
The swearing is just generally helpful.

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
Mark Twain

neilc

the equipment and I sometimes discuss how and why engineers and architects stuff boxes where they can't be serviced

Rocky_3

"Under certain circumstances, 

profanity

 provides a relief denied even to 

prayer."


Mark Twain

MattMich…I'm going to co-opt that one! Too true!

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I swear at them when they don’t work with me and then apologize when they’re fixed. Depending on which words I used, they don’t always forgive me.
I only swear at the boy boilers.

Intplm.

I usually have the most to say when I turn and hit my head. (But that's more of an issue of talking out loud to myself.)

STEAM DOCTOR

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1813198#Comment_1813198

Padded baseball caps (also called bump caps) save the day. Was working all day in a boiler room this past December. Must have hit my head on the same gas pipe 12 to 15 times. Was right above my line of vision. Was okay the next day or two but started feeling woozy afterwards. Presumably I had a mild concussion. Now, I do not go on a call without a bump cap. Went back to that same Boiler room a few weeks later to skim. Whack my head again on the same pipe. But no troubles, because of the bump cap. Sorry for the digression.

PRR

Steam Doctor> Padded baseball caps (also called bump caps) save the day.

https://www.amazon.com/Protective-Baseball-Factory-Carrying-Protection/dp/B0CHWM4BW1

Cheaper than an actual baseball cap (you can pay more), ships free, 4 colors. You can also get stiff inserts for your favorite cap.