Stove Tech Service Call Question

[MarkF48]

Of service calls you make, what sort of problems do you come across that are related to the owner not maintaining or understanding something about the stove?

 

[Bioburner]

When I did Countrysides it was almost 100 percent operator error.

 

[reallyte]

Same applies to the IT industry, more often user error than anything.

 

[BrotherBart]

Same applies to the IT industry, more often user error than anything.

PEBKAC: Problem exists between keyboard and chair.

 

[Mt Bob]

My line of work it was-loose nut behind the steering wheel.

 

[Bioburner]

I can understand why manufactures don't ship manuals anymore. No sense in wasting paper and ink and ship something no one is going to use anyway.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I can understand why manufactures don't ship manuals anymore. No sense in wasting paper and ink and ship something no one is going to use anyway.

That goes double for manufacturing! They want to keep putting robots into assembly lines but won't pay for a decent tech to support them. And the assembly line people are those that demand higher wages but can't read a manual!

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

I willing to bet that most of us here are manual readers.

 

[tjnamtiw]

I willing to bet that most of us here are manual readers.

We have to be if we want to stay warm!!

 

[reallyte]

I willing to bet that most of us here are manual readers.

I believe you would be quite correct. We here like to read

 

[Mt Bob]

Well,to get back to the real point,never worked on stoves professionally,only helping out friends and others.90% problems from not being cleaned.Got tired of cleaning peoples stoves for a few beers,developed a new policy.Had to use it recently,a friend said his neighbors stove was acting up,would I come and look at it.Invoked policy-I said sure,as soon as he does a teardown and complete cleaning,and have exhaust professionaly cleaned,then call me.Has been over two weeks,no phone call.People are lazy and always seem to want something for nothing.

 

[rona]

Truthfully, If I wasn't capable of diagnosing a problem or cleaning and repairing my stove I wouldn't own one. During 3 years of helping a dealer work on Harmans I found that 95% of the problems were due to not cleaning the stove, wet fuel, or dirty exhaust pipe. Basically things the owner is responsible for.
I didn't learn everything from a book but a dealers manual sure helped in comparison to a owners manual. Most stove companies will downplay the dirty part of maintaining the stove until after the check clears.

 

[heat seeker]

I willing to bet that most of us here are manual readers.

It helps if you think of reading the manual as cheating!

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

Of service calls you make, what sort of problems do you come across that are related to the owner not maintaining or understanding something about the stove?

I've had my stove almost three years. I had to call the dealer once because I was having problems. Guess what? Even though I was religiously cleaning the stove weekly and deep cleaning every ton, I was consistently missing one spot on the floor of the burn pot. On an MVAE the stove shuts down every three hours or so to do a self cleaning. During that cycle, the bottom of the burn pot slides sideways to dump the ash in the pot. The build-up was preventing that operation from completing and shutting down the stove. Cost me $150 buck but it was worth it to learn a little more about my stove.

 

[smwilliamson]

1. Most stoves have some type of vacuum error message or fault display. Nearly everyone has to do with dirty venting, stove or a birds nest. Everyone always suspects the switch but rarely is. CLEAN IT!
2. Many people complain that the stove doesn't ignite as quick as it used to, has a very small flame or maybe can only burn on the higher ends of the dial...look in the hopper and you will usually find pellet fines clogging the auger inlet
3. Burn pot in backwards
4. ash drawer not shut or sealed
5. stove set to TSAT mode with no TSTAT
6. Anyone who buys Infernos obviously doesnt know anything about pellets
7. Every single homeowner install I go to I can find something that is out of spec or code....every single one.

 

[rickwai]

Peoples laziness/ unwillingness to learn how to operate stove makes my job as a tech easy. 90% of the time the issue is a dirty stove or the problem was caused from a dirty stove. I always try to explain exactly what I did and why it happened. Some people listen some dont.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Peoples laziness/ unwillingness to learn how to operate stove makes my job as a tech easy. 90% of the time the issue is a dirty stove or the problem was caused from a dirty stove. I always try to explain exactly what I did and why it happened. Some people listen some dont.

This I can believe. Many times I've been explaining a process or procedure to someone and you can see this 'glazed' look in their eyes like they are a million miles away.

 

[smwilliamson]

I took a class about writing procedures. We had to demonstrate on paper how to troubleshoot an electrical wall switch that wasn't turning on a table lamp. Aye aye aye the answers that were read aloud was some good comic relief for an otherwise VERY boring class.

 

[Scott M]

I guess we should be grateful to the lazy people of the world. They provide us with easy money sometimes. What if they all decided to fix their own stuff ?