Industrial Electricians Only:

[Knobhead]

As a follow on from Mike’s ”electricians only” thread, I’m interested to find out how many of us are industrial and maintenance electricians.

Most of the forum members seem to me to be domestic. I know there are some purely industrial lads, but just how many?
Sorry to say we seem to be a dieing breed. The way things are there’s not a lot left for us to look after.

I said who are industrial electricians, suppose I should count myself out now. I’ve thrown the towel in, I reluctantly retired early due to my health.


Please don’t take this thread the wrong way. I wouldn’t have the confidence to undertake a rewire nowadays, it’s changed so much since I last did a house to the 14[SUP]th[/SUP]. My grand total in 40 years is 5 houses, one my own, the others reluctantly for family.

 

[Pete999]

Hello, yes I spent about 10 years as an industrial / commercial maintenance Electrician just after I came out of my apprenticeship. Working mainly on RAF and MOD installations, Airfield lighting, large boiler installations, can't tell about the rest Id have to shot you afterwards lol

 

[GMES]

Yep I am industrial Tony and wouldn't have it any other way, I have worked on everything from Cranes, Tyre shredders, in foundries, heat treatment factories, logistics freezer's at minus 36 Degrees,large Engineering company's, The list goes on.
I can't imagine doing Domestic as my main Job, But I feel quite safe that our side of the industry is safe from Electrical Trainee they wouldn't have an Idea where to start seeing as most of them can't get passed a tripping Rcd.
So a Resounding YES and Hello from me.

 

[Daveash123]

I served my time as an industrial electrical / instrument apprentice. I have since done over 20 years in various industries from food , petrochem, aluminium recycling and pharmaceutical This has included installation and maintenance of various types of process control systems. I am now off the tools managing commercial projects, but could till get back into it if required.

 

[7029 dave]

Tony, yes industrial for quite a few years, in the days when one month it was domestic, 6 months could be on site in hospital or factory, hotels, schools. The days when being an Electrician meant just that.!!
Hello

 

[GMES]

Talking of which I'm off to work to meet GlennSparks at a Industrial unit we are testing, see you all later.
It will be Interesting to See how this thread develops as I can't imagine there being as many Industrial lads as there are Domestic.

 

[Guest77]

I served more than half my apprenticeship as a maintenance trainee spark at a factory and did nothing but machine wiring and control systems, I then moved onto commercial work and light industrial when qualified, I have worked in 3 or 4 factories over the years installing heavy duty trays for machine supplies and distribution as well as wiring up many smaller machines and some cranes, I have also worked on industrial welders and lost count of the amount of lighting I have installed in factories and also have worked on several large plant rooms, I would consider myself a commercial/ light industrial Electrican, I certainely am no Heavy duty Industrial spark but know my way around a factory floor.

 

[UNG]

Done a fair bit of industrial over the years. As a contractor I've experienced quite a varied range of industrial work did a lot of work in various glass plants around St Helens and also some of the pharmaceutical and chemical factories in Merseyside and Cheshire. Had a number of spells on loan to cover maintenance when companies had guy's on holiday or covering other absences, it was a steep learning curve when you had to hit the ground running and hadn't been on that site before.
Always remember one site going on loan I was shown the drawing cabinet in the workshop and told any problems with a machine the drawing is in here what they didn't tell me only a fraction of them were in English soon worked out what stop, go, in, out etc etc was in about 5 different languages. While I was there they had their first PLC controlled machine go live which was why I was there as a few of the sparks were being trained on how to fault find and set up the machine there was some head scratching as they got their heads round it

 

[Brightspark2]

Commercial and industrial here too...that's all I've ever done since being an apprentice and I really like it too...

Don't really touch domestic unless it's on my own house or helping a friend out...

 

[D Skelton]

Commercial/light industrial here. Control systems, motors, small machines and cranes I work on. Never really got involved with heavy industry though and I certainly wouldn't want to go playing in foundries or on mega cranes without a very experienced lad by my side. Commercial is my main source of work, then light industry, then domestic, which I still do mainly through word of mouth custom and emergency call out.

Slowly, I think there will be more call for guys like me to start stepping into the shoes of the electricians in industry. Ultimately, all the old boys will be either dying or retiring with very few people around to replace them! There are a few sites we regularly attend now which used to have an on site maintenance team and now don't. Last week for example I was out at a local biomass production plant installing a control system with PLC for their new pumping area. Myself and/or one of my collegues is there maybe five days out of every month now. The main reason being, the site manager simply couldn't find a guy with the right electrical and mechanical skills to take on. We now do the electrical side, another firm do other bits of non-electrical maintenance and I think they just found a part time dogsbody to help out with little bits here and there around the site.

As an electrician, the decline in skills worries me terribly Tony, but I also recognise as a businessman that it will open many doors for me! It's a hard fight to have going on in your head I tell you. Ultimately, the rise of the Electrical Trainee will make me a very rich man, but I still wish to fight it because I have a conscience and I worry very much so about the safety of the general public!

 

[rapparee]

hello, i'm a maintenance electrician in a factory, i done my apprenticeship there and was kept on after i qualified, only 7 years experience in total so, i'm sure you'll understand there are days that i'm looking into a robot and feel like i know nothing, luckily there is a great fitter who can talk us through the processes of the machine so, when your fault finding it's simple to identify working parts of machine and move on to next problem (check different solenoids etc), i really need to know more about shaft encoders, would like to know more about pneumatics

 

[plugsandsparks]

Left school and went into industrial (manufacturer of Gas cylinders) Tube Investments (Ti) , plcs, panel design and build, but they started me in maintenance as an apprentice. Nowadays, its about 45% pure industrial, 45% commercial and 10% domestic for friends and family. The industrial work is mainly, machine repairs, motors, distribution and testing with the odd plc issue thrown in.

 

[trev]

I've never done anything on the scale of what some have done but I've done a lot of light industrial over the years.
Does that make me an industrial spark, probably not because some of you will have forgotten more about this side of things than I'll ever know.
I certainly wouldn't consider myself to be a domestic only bloke though.

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

As 7029 Dave says, one week wiring houses , 6 months wiring schools , 3 months sewage plants; to be honest I can't think of anywhere i haven't worked. So I would say my main focus was Commercial and Industrial with a bit of everything else thrown in. BUT, I am still learning everyday (although recently retired still keep my hand in, a kitchen in a church at the end of this week ).

Regards.

 

[rapparee]

I've never done anything on the scale of what some have done but I've done a lot of light industrial over the years. Does that make me an industrial spark, probably not because some of you will have forgotten more about this side of things than I'll ever know. I certainly wouldn't consider myself to be a domestic only bloke though.

when you say light industrial would you be working on plant and machinery or installing swa to an isolator for a machine to plug into

 

[trev]

Both mate although it's been a good while since I worked on any machinery.

 

[rapparee]

Both mate although it's been a good while since I worked on any machinery.

well then at times you're an industrial spark.

 

[trev]

Awwww, I'm filling up. I feel like I belong now. Thanks mate

 

[rapparee]

Awwww, I'm filling up. I feel like I belong now. Thanks mate

don't worry somebody else will cut the legs from under you in a few minutes

 

[telectrix]

haha. i'm similar to trev. done a fair bit of light industrial and maintenance, but mostly installing and maintaining circuits, built a few motor set-ujps, but never to the level of, say, tony and darkwood and a few others.

 

[Andy78]

I have done quite a lot of work in light industrial and commercial settings, always in installation. This has involved working with transformer rooms, large power distribution, motors and machines, plenty of small factories, many schools, and hospitals.

I would not however class myself as an industrial electrician. I do not have enough knowledge and experience in control systems, both installation and fault finding, nor machine systems, and have never worked in heavy industry.

The work I have done in factories was generally as an outside contracted installation team to supplement the maintenance team already there. The company I worked for did everything from installing new factory floor areas at BAE systems to changing bathroom fans in council housing.
I just class myself as an electrician, as you could be asked to do any sort of task in any sort of setting.

I would not however apply for a job as industrial electrician/maintenance electrician as I would probably be out of my depth.

 

[Sintra]

Mostly commercial work now although I have had a fair bit of light industrial experience in the past. Had a fair few years as a technician working on railway signalling systems including level crossings and points etc which I must say was one of the best learning experiences. As for domestic I have very rarely done any lol apart from my own house and bits and pieces for family etc.

 

[Robotstar5]

Did my apprenticeship at a foundry in the 70's and worked in mainly automotive since, seen the introduction of PLC's, HMI's and Robotics into the industry. Over the years I've probably worked on 24VDC more than any other voltage!.

Where I work now are struggling to find maintenance personnel, although if you can't produce evidence of quals (indentures etc.) you don't even get an interview.

 

[Knobhead]

As I thought, we’re not exactly over run with the heavy lads.

One of the joys of the job was going in to work thinking “I’ve got so and so to do today”. Get there and it’s all hands to the pumps the place is in chaos, any plans you thought you had have just gone out the window.

When I married just before I came out of my time, I warned the wife “don’t expect me home when that shift rota says I should be.” God knows how she put up with me all that time, the company always came first.
My son was seven when we split, I never saw him open his Christmas presents. 14 years on the trot I was at work Christmas and Boxing Day. To add insult to injury, Boxing Day is my birthday.

I’d go back in to the fray tomorrow if I could.

 

[Guest77]

As I thought, we’re not exactly over run with the heavy lads.

One of the joys of the job was going in to work thinking “I’ve got so and so to do today”. Get there and it’s all hands to the pumps the place is in chaos, any plans you thought you had have just gone out the window.

When I married just before I came out of my time, I warned the wife “don’t expect me home when that shift rota says I should be.” God knows how she put up with me all that time, the company always came first.
My son was seven when we split, I never saw him open his Christmas presents. 14 years on the trot I was at work Christmas and Boxing Day. To add insult to injury, Boxing Day is my birthday.

I’d go back in to the fray tomorrow if I could.

There are very few like you around Tony, almost an extinct species, you have my absolute respect Sir, Funnily enough I know another Tony who is 78 now and he was my mentor, he was like you a heavy industrial spark and he showed me things within this industry which the Electrical Trainee of today would never understand, He was the best real Electrician I have ever worked with, I used to think the world of him and used to clean his tools and make him tea every day and enjoy doing it, he taught me properly and yet I never matched his quality even though I think I did a great job compaired to the sparks they turn out today. I still speak to him every so often and he is still my idol and mentor and always will be, I would have loved to have worked for you as well fella, you 2 guys are a dying breed now.

 

[GMES]

Right just got back From the Job and left Glenn down there with my lad to finish off testing etc. so I am going to nominate Glennspark for industrial, he has done 3 jobs for me now and I am impressed ( Trev this is not another love in Mate, by the way)
But I think he is gonna make a good one in the factory's the more time he spends in them, I am going to make it my mission to get him out of the Domestic sector due to the well documented fact that it is Fooked and get him doing the factory's where I think he will Blossom.
( sometimes you just get a good feeling about someone ).

 

[GMES]

Afternoon Mike, how are you this fine Sunday.

 

[Guest77]

Afternoon Mike, how are you this fine Sunday.

Afternoon Glenn, just mowed the lawn again as I do most sunday mornings and I am just pouring a non alcoholic becks blue for a refreshing drink, wish it was alcoholic but there you are, tablets n all

 

[GMES]

Afternoon Glenn, just mowed the lawn again as I do most sunday mornings and I am just pouring a non alcoholic becks blue for a refreshing drink, wish it was alcoholic but there you are, tablets n all

How that all going mate.

 

[Guest77]

How that all going mate.

Slow, see the consultant in 2 weeks time, sorry for crashing the thread Tony, Mods can you move this to the I am a numptey thread please lol