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John Matrix

Hello this is my first post. I have been an Electrician for 19 years. Most of my experience is in commercial and industrial, places like hospitals, schools, offices, warehouses. I have always been an Installation Electrician on the books. But lately I’m getting fed up with it all. I fancy going into maintenance in aafter speaking to a friend who has done it. But I’m not sure if this is something that would be straight forward or not. I obviously only have limited experience with motors and control panels etc. No experience with machines. Is it something I can pick up quite quickly ? Any feedback from anyone who has made this transition would be great. Or just general feedback.
Thanks in advance
 
Hi Gary

I work in electrical maintenance and lot of what we deal with is fault finding and general maintenance. The general maintenance side of things is pretty straight forward to pick up. The fault finding may be a little trickier as there are a lot of components in the control side of the circuit that could be causing problems. Once you know how the equipment works and what components stop it from running then that's half the battle The electrical side I think is the easiest bit
 
Hello this is my first post. I have been an Electrician for 19 years. Most of my experience is in commercial and industrial, places like hospitals, schools, offices, warehouses. I have always been an Installation Electrician on the books. But lately I’m getting fed up with it all. I fancy going into maintenance in aafter speaking to a friend who has done it. But I’m not sure if this is something that would be straight forward or not. I obviously only have limited experience with motors and control panels etc. No experience with machines. Is it something I can pick up quite quickly ? Any feedback from anyone who has made this transition would be great. Or just general feedback.
Thanks in advance
Gary, honestly I can't see what all the fuss is about, moving from installation to maintenance is part of the learning curve of being an all round Electrician.
I went from working on housing developments to Maintenance at an RAF base, it was a bit of a bind at first, but worked out well in the end, listen to the older guys if you are any good it will come naturally, I went from House bashing to Foreman M and E, worked overseas at Embassies all over the globe, ended up in charge of 17 Russian Tradesmen in Moscow, so if I can do it anyone can, good luck.
 
Gary, honestly I can't see what all the fuss is about, moving from installation to maintenance is part of the learning curve of being an all round Electrician.
I went from working on housing developments to Maintenance at an RAF base, it was a bit of a bind at first, but worked out well in the end, listen to the older guys if you are any good it will come naturally, I went from House bashing to Foreman M and E, worked overseas at Embassies all over the globe, ended up in charge of 17 Russian Tradesmen in Moscow, so if I can do it anyone can, good luck.
In fairness Pete

He is talking about maintenance in a factory working with PLCs, proximity sensors and pneumatics etc not maintenance on buildings.
 
Well yes, I thought they might have stretched it to the odd commando socket as well.


It's just a big shed to keep planes in, isn't it?
Airfield lighting, Boiler House control, HV distribution LV distribution, Petro Chem installations, UPS installs, Radar, lifting gear etc etc etc commando sockets, and a big shed to keep airplanes in my backside, do your homework before you criticise.
 
I have seen maintenance having to work flat out all the time doing call out at all hours with pressure to get things up and running, but then seen others spending most of their time hidding in the plantroom drinking tea, If your good and enjoy fault finding then yes I would say maintenance is a good job for you , just need to find a good company
 
Airfield lighting, Boiler House control, HV distribution LV distribution, Petro Chem installations, UPS installs, Radar, lifting gear etc etc etc commando sockets, and a big shed to keep airplanes in my backside, do your homework before you criticise.
Where's your sense of humour Pete
 
Airfield lighting, Boiler House control, HV distribution LV distribution, Petro Chem installations, UPS installs, Radar, lifting gear etc etc etc commando sockets, and a big shed to keep airplanes in my backside, do your homework before you criticise.
Is that it?
 
Where's your sense of humour Pete
Not the sort of response when someone is asking for serious advice mate, but if you are enquiring where my sense of humor is from basically changing a way of life I don't have one because it was no joke. hard work yes.
 
Well yes, I thought they might have stretched it to the odd commando socket as well.


It's just a big shed to keep planes in, isn't it?
Might be like that in your neck of the woods.
 
Not the sort of response when someone is asking for serious advice mate, but if you are enquiring where my sense of humor is from basically changing a way of life I don't have one because it was no joke. hard work yes.

Pete, what would I know about the goings-on of an RAF Base. I assumed you were a civilian contractor, you said you went from house bashing to working as a foreman over electrical and mechanical and then onto embassies

I assumed that plant and machinery would have been left to the actual enlisted Royal engineers or whatever the correct title is. I've worked with a wet back and a stoker before from the British Navy. That was their lingo not mine.

The OP is looking to move into a manufacturing environment

I'm working 70 hours a week in a factory, I know what hard work is.

If I can't get a machine fixed in time, people get sacked (the abuse of agency workers is a disgrace)

I'm doing this single handed, I don't have other sparks for back-up. I'm paid well for this, I enjoy my job and I'm not complaining.

But if I didn't maintain a casual sense of humor I'd crack up.
 
I’ve been a maintenance electrician for 24 years now (in the RAF until last year funnily enough). As has been said the pressure really comes on when something’s down. I work on wind turbine lifts now and the pressure to get it fixed when it’s down can be quite high. Nobody reports the little problems that are the indicators of something bigger happening because they don’t want to lose the equipment. That means when it does break it’s always a huge drama for the users. I enjoy the fault finding but I miss having another electrician to bounce ideas off like I had in the RAF. That can increase the pressure for some reason.
 
Your new employer will know your background and cant expect you to 'hit the ground running'! they will need to at least provide some basic training in the areas/machines you are expected to be working in and if it is a big company there will be others there to help!
 
Your new employer will know your background and cant expect you to 'hit the ground running'! they will need to at least provide some basic training in the areas/machines you are expected to be working in and if it is a big company there will be others there to help!
 
Hi Gary

I work in electrical maintenance and lot of what we deal with is fault finding and general maintenance. The general maintenance side of things is pretty straight forward to pick up. The fault finding may be a little trickier as there are a lot of components in the control side of the circuit that could be causing problems. Once you know how the equipment works and what components stop it from running then that's half the battle The electrical side I think is the easiest bit
Thanks mate
 

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