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Talk to the equipment you service?

RayWohlfarth
RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 1,649
edited September 23 in THE MAIN WALL

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

Ray Wohlfarth
Boiler Lessons
GreeningHeatingHelp.com

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,815

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

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • Greening
    Greening Member Posts: 36

    I think it is a great technique for everything.

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • DCContrarian
    DCContrarian Member Posts: 678

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

    mattmia2EdTheHeaterMan4Johnpipe
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,363

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

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    mattmia2EdTheHeaterManGGrossAlan (California Radiant) Forbes
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,290

    only when they don’t play well


    %€|}{*=,2&@/;(5¥>|}!!!

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,364

    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"

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    GGross
  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,193

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

    mattmia2
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,453

    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
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,892

    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
    DCContrarian Member Posts: 678

    "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."

    Larry WeingartenBrassFinger
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,290
    edited September 23
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 1,649

    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

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 1,649

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

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons
  • mattmich
    mattmich Member Posts: 119

    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

    RayWohlfarth
  • Rocky_3
    Rocky_3 Member Posts: 236

    "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
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,214
    edited October 5

    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.

    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,193

    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.)

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • STEAM DOCTOR
    STEAM DOCTOR Member Posts: 2,205

    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.

    Alan (California Radiant) ForbesIntplm.
  • PRR
    PRR Member Posts: 226

    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.

    Intplm.