When did the manuals get so long?

There are lots of professionals that know nothing about boilers installing them too as we constantly see here.

I think the main problem is that good technical writers cost money and there is an obsession with doing everything possible to avoid spending money in producing a product now.

As for the plans, if we don't detail out every way you could half **** something when building it we get it half ****. Of course most of the time we still get it half **** in the way we specified not to anyhow.

I have a 2022 Hyundai Santa FE.

MY GF drives it. I have a 2007 F-150 6cyl, 5 speed stripped with crank windows and am perfectly content driving that

The Hyundai has a back up camera, navigation etc.

I can get in it and drive it but don't ask me what half the buttons are for

The Manual (I think there are 2 or 3 of them) is too thick to read.

What they are doing with cars is crazy. Interference engines so if you lose a timing chain and the engine goes out of time the piston will hit the valves and you have a crashed engine.

If you want some chuckles sometime go to U tube and watch "South Main Auto Repair". They guy is pretty dam good with car wiring and computers.

A recent video was a 2012 Chevy Impala where the car couldn't start due to a dead battery. He gets most of his work from other shops and dealers who can't fix the problem.

Long story short he finds out that the "radio module" which is separate from the radio is draining the battery.

Not a simple fix as the radio controls the blue tooth and a myraid of other controls. He disconnected the 12v to the module and the problem stopped. Gave the car to the customer and they drove it for two weeks with no issue (except no radio and a few other things dependent on that module)

GMs answer is "buy a new car" module unavailable and not supported. He called two radio guys that GM uses and one told him the same thing.

The second guy told him get a module at the junk yard and send me the module and the vin# of the car your putting it in. If you put the module in without changing the vin the car will not run.

All fixed now.

It's the legal boiler plate and government regulatory stuff. Lawyers want to warn you about every possibility so the company won't get sued. Thank God for QR codes. As @dko said: that way you can digitally search for the stuff you really need to install the boiler.

And @EBEBRATT-Ed. I have a Hyundai Santa FE and, boy, are they chatty. All your driving habits (speed, lane discipline, etc.), as well as your phone contacts and music preference (if you authorize it by allowing remote engine start) go right into Hyundai's servers to sell to insurance companies and other marketers. I have a standing offer on Freelancer.com to find someone to disable that garbage on an otherwise nice car.

@RayWohlfarth What I have found equally annoying besides looking through some of the incredibly long manuals is not finding the answer. After all of that searching and the answer is not there. Then having to call tech support to get to the bottom of a problem. Not to mention the lousy on hold music.

Failure to Warn litigation is the hottest area in law. It relies on subjective information, sensibilities and emotions. When you do a job, if you don't document out the whazoo and there is an Oops!, the plaintiff's lawyers will have dozens of kids pouring over every word of every manual, code, standard, and ordinance to find where you committed a breach of duty. This is a transfer of liability from the mfr. to you, the sucker at the end of the line. That includes the sucker service tech who follows you and assumes much of your risk(not all). When you fail to read and follow every word of every std., there is an assumption of risk on your part. Documentation and warnings gets you out of the party sooner and cheaper. You'll still be in the room with the briefcases, suites and ties, but good SOPs, supervision, post-work Q/A inspections, metrics, and training get you out quickly.

Do good work, then document what you do. Make good choices. Get certifications and training to know what good choices look like. Attend workshops.

Remember those kids reviewing the case files? They have months to pour over your case with a microscope. They can look up references, call in SME's, or any other resources they need and it's all billable. You have minutes wrapping up a service call or installation to document. It's a stacked deck against you. To make it worse, you are not only fighting the boss- you're fighting the clock. That's where training and education on proper documentation, proper forms and procedures can reasonably cover you and minimize risk.

Everyone wants mfrs. to filter out the essential information from these manuals. Due to lawyers, the whole document is now essential. If you're ever deposed, I can assure you that's going to be a question. They're goign to ask if you read ALL the relevant instructions to trip you up. They're going to ask if you always read everything. They may ever ask if its company policy. It should be. Yes, employers have to pay employees for a lot of reading and documentation time. It's the world we live in.

And after all that… who reads the manuals anyway? A lot of people don't. Even simple ones. There is an attitude of plug and play, and if it doesn't work it's the manufacturer's fault.

Ran into an amusing one myself just recently. A rather simple outdoor weather station — the kind which has a contraption outside and sends the information to an inside readout. Don't know why, but I did. The manual is actually commendably simple — but there is a paragraph in there about removing a shipping lock and another one about making sure the outside widget was level. Looking back on the reviews on line, it became quickly apparent that all of the negative reviews related to problems caused by not removing the shipping lock or not levelling the widget. Real men don't read directions?

First electrical code book I tangled with was 1978. The book was like 1 1/2" thick and was maybe 8" x 5"

I keep a 1925 NEC next to the fusebox "for emergency use only". I know it is under 3/4" thick and 3.5" wide (truly pocket size) because I housed it like a fire alarm pull in a repurposed PC drive enclosure with "glass" panel.

"I think there should be a law saying the smaller font allowed is 10"

(why did they change the quote function here?)

That and no printing in pale grey on a yellow background.

(why did they change the quote function here?)

@Erin Holohan Haskell had her IT Department upgrade the software.

The old editor allowed partial quoting. It was possible to respond to pertinent details that were buried within a mass of blah, blah, blah. It was also possible to misquote people, and quote out of context. Maybe the new editor is designed to prevent that?

The old editor was not WYSIWYG, so there was a "Preview" button. I see that is gone now.

There is probably a manual for the new editor somewhere but like the topic of this discussion, is the manual helpful?

I love change. NOT! Think I'll go out for a joy ride in my 24 year old V8 car and turn dinosaur juice into CO2. It's good for the plants.

One of our business' website was sued for not being ADA compliant. Has to be screen reader software friendly for the legally blind among other things. https://www.accessibilitychecker.org/ shows heatinghelp.com at risk of lawsuits. Don't know how accurate that check is or just fear mongering, but one thing for sure is that there are people going around filing lawsuits at every website they can find. I looked the guy up that filed for our website and he had plenty of other similar cases pending.

Can probably sue your insurance company for lack of effective communication per ADA. That'll get them to increase the font size!! Land of the lawsuits.

I noticed the quotes within quotes thing.

@EdTheHeaterMan Wishing you many more years of burning rubber.

Rep. LaFave talks about House passage Tuesday of his legislation that
updates the sign designating disabled parking areas to a more modern
image that conveys motion and action.

https://gophouse.org/posts/rep-beau-lafave-r-iron-mountain-audio-on-house-passage-of

Funny story, a co-worker and I was working the midnight shift and we had to replace the captain's sliding glass window on an MD-80. It weighs about 80 pounds. I printed the ten pages of instructions from the mainteance manual from a microfiche and handed it to my buddy was sitting in the captain's seat. He looks at the paper and goes "blah, blah,blah, who has time to read ten pages?" and tosses it over his shoulder. The old window came out in two seconds but the new one wouldnt go in at all. Seven hours later, the sun is rising and it was near departure time. My friend picks up the paper, reads it twice, looks at me and says, "Oh.". Turns around, picks up the window and installs it correctly. Two seconds. He looks at me and said, " I guess there is always time to read the manual after you **** up.".