Contracting versus Maintenance Electricians and on into the future

[Pete999]

There has been a lot of debate regarding differing types of Electricians, I have nothing else to do so I thought you would like to read about my sojourn in this trade of ours, if you don't then tough. here goes.

I started as an Apprentice with a small contracting outfit in Bath, in the early 60s 1960s that is for you comedians out in forum land.

Said firm went bust during the building boom and I was transferred to one of the large building consortium's after several years of house bashing, cold building sites and having just got myself engaged to my now Wife ( yes people did get engaged in those days ) Mortgage to pay, I thought ---- this for a game of soldiers, I need a proper job.

I had all my qualifications, and a lot of experience of building sites, and applied for a job as a maintenance Electrician with the then Department f the Environment (D of E) on an RAF base near my home, got the job, but it was a bit of a cultural shock, you see the rest of the Sparkies came to work in a collar and tie, get the picture? and their tools consisted of an old Army bag with a few bits and bobs inside, pliers etc. the hardest thing they did was change a few lamps, I did learn a lot from them though which stood me in good stead for the rest of my working life, I went from there to two overseas postings, and finally a job with the big boys in central Government, I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you get the chance to try different aspects (maintenance and Contracting)of being an Electrician, go for it, I did and it worked out well for me.

Sorry if you find this boring, wait til I publish my book.

 

[GMES]

Pete not meaning to dampen your thread mate but I am sure there was a lengthy thread exactly the same as this, very recently started by Mdj or someone of is stature.

 

[Pete999]

Pete not meaning to dampen your thread mate but I am sure there was a lengthy thread exactly the same as this, very recently started by Mdj or someone of is stature.

Missed that one then

 

[shanky887614]

Pete not meaning to dampen your thread mate but I am sure there was a lengthy thread exactly the same as this, very recently started by Mdj or someone of is stature.

instead of just saying there was one recently can you post a link?

there are still 100+ unread threads on here for me on tapatalk



very iinteresting, i might have to have a look at maintinence or similar in the future

 

[7029 dave]

Central Government A, sounds good Mr Bond.

 

[GMES]

instead of just saying there was one recently can you post a link?

there are still 100+ unread threads on here for me on tapatalk





very iinteresting, i might have to have a look at maintinence or similar in the future

What am I your Mother
Only kidding mate I will try to find it but that doesn't mean Pete can't continue his thread and that members can't contribute!!

 

[GMES]

Also this thread has had 117 views with only us replying so I presume I'm right!!

 

[Pete999]

Central Government A, sounds good Mr Bond.

That's right Miss Moneypenny is M in

 

[7029 dave]

No seriously Pete, how long have you worked for them, bet it has been interesting.?

 

[Pete999]

No seriously Pete, how long have you worked for them, bet it has been interesting.?

D of E from 73 until I went to Cyprus for a year without my Family, came back did several stints at UK MOD bases, 84 got headhunted to serve in the USSR (Moscow Embassy) by the FCO 4 years out there back to the UK transferred to the FCO in Milton Keynes, went all over the world on short trips 5, 6, weeks or so, back part time flying a desk now, and yes it has been very interesting, from a humble house basher to a desk jockey Electrical Safety Officer, you will probably ask where I have been, America,South North and central, Europe all over, far east middle east and near east,Africa south,East, West and North Asia, India Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, China,

 

[7029 dave]

Tin hat on now, I have been an installation sparky all my working life, (bit of a break at times), but it has gained me vast experience , maintenance is only half cocked.

 

[Pete999]

Most of the theory I was taught at college was underpinned during my time doing maintenance so don't knock to much

 

[Knobhead]

Tin hat on now, I have been an installation sparky all my working life, (bit of a break at times), but it has gained me vast experience , maintenance is only half cocked.

Installation lads just follow a drawing without knowing how anything works. When it doesn’t work, who has to sort the mess out?

Commissioning and fault finding are an integral part of maintenance work.

As for vast experience, a trained monkey could do the job.

 

[Engineer54]

Tin hat on now, I have been an installation sparky all my working life, (bit of a break at times), but it has gained me vast experience , maintenance is only half cocked.

Go and work as a maintenance electrician in a production based environment, and i can assure you that you'll never come out with a statement like that ever again!!

I started off in the industrial sector, and with my old company a maintenance electrician was expected to undertake installation and maintenance duties on a day to day basis. The only contractors we had in, was in the case when large strip outs and replacement plant went in, and normally only seen on plant 3 week summer shut downs....

 

[Knobhead]

Out of interest E54, who commissioned the new kit?

 

[Engineer54]

What new kit are you referring too?? lol!!

Oh are you referring to any new plant that was installed?? If so, it would be the manufacturer and their representatives, under the supervision of our company Engineers who would be responsible for initial/preliminary and final signing off/handover of the system....

 

[Knobhead]

We set up and commissioned all our new gear. But as it was nearly all designed in house it was the really the only way.

Some gear would be bought in but we had a habit of using it for something it wasn’t designed to do. It’s a bit tricky when what you need isn’t readily available.

 

[Engineer54]

We set up and commissioned all our new gear. But as it was nearly all designed in house it was the really the only way.

Some gear would be bought in but we had a habit of using it for something it wasn’t designed to do. It’s a bit tricky when what you need isn’t readily available.

The RD on all new major plant could be in our design office for over two years, as everything had to work perfectly on the first shift after installation, with no exceptions. There were super penalties to be paid out by the manufacturer and auxiliary contractors if it didn't.

Some of the processes were rigged up in large warehouses and tested to prove the system prior to acceptance and installation on the factory floor. Much of the auxiliary installation was installed by us and others long before the plant came to be installed, a 3 week shutdown isn't very long, and if you were to have seen some of the plant that went in in those short 3 weeks you'd have been amazed it was even possible.

Needless to say, they worked 24 hour days, some workers never left the factory!! lol!! There was money to be made on our companies 3 week shut downs!! lol!!

 

[Pete999]

My TWS job in Moscow was the best 17-23 Russian Tradesmen to supervise absolutely brilliant guys, a bit rough around the edges but totally loyal I made some good friends there, when I taught the Russian Sparkies the three plate wiring system they thought I was a magician, best time in my working life, nearly 35 years ago but it seems like yesterday. The Russian Electrics was a bit odd at times but nothing to difficult, one thing sticks in my mind, we had to strip out some redundant A/C gear and convert it to purely ventilation, the Sparky was a bit green and I told him to come and let me know if he had any problems, well he came back dinner time and mumbled something about the magneto (contactor) I went and had a look, it was a 220v coil and Ivan had stuck it across 380v wondered why it was getting hot, explained the situation , he soon sorted it out.

 

[Engineer54]

My TWS job in Moscow was the best 17-23 Russian Tradesmen to supervise absolutely brilliant guys, a bit rough around the edges but totally loyal I made some good friends there, when I taught the Russian Sparkies the three plate wiring system they thought I was a magician, best time in my working life, nearly 35 years ago but it seems like yesterday. The Russian Electrics was a bit odd at times but nothing to difficult, one thing sticks in my mind, we had to strip out some redundant A/C gear and convert it to purely ventilation, the Sparky was a bit green and I told him to come and let me know if he had any problems, well he came back dinner time and mumbled something about the magneto (contactor) I went and had a look, it was a 220v coil and Ivan had stuck it across 380v wondered why it was getting hot, explained the situation , he soon sorted it out.

I was brought in on a new British consulate building in Poland (before becoming independent) The partially finished original new building had to be knocked down, as MI6 security did a security sweep during construction and found the place literally riddled with listening devices and the like within all the walls and ceilings. So they got rid of all local hire contractors/tradesmen and brought the entire crew in from the UK. Must have cost an absolute fortune at the time....


The one thing i do remember of that time, we walked around as if millionaires... We were getting 240/250 swotty for our pound on the black market, when the official exchange rate was something like 16 swotty to the pound!! lol!! Only downside was that there wasn't much to spend it on, anything of any real value had to be purchased at the so-called dollar shops, where foreign currency was all they would accept. But as for going out on the town, everything cost peanuts even staying at the best hotels in town was around equivalent to 4 to 6 pounds a night!! Had always had rolls of Polish swotty in every pocket. ...lol!!

It was bloody cold there at the time (40C below) so i did buy a full length sheepskin coat and rusky hat at a dollar shop for around a 150/170 pounds, which were good quality and above all Needed!! lol!!