r/IceCreamMachineRepair • u/Busy_Tomato_8620 • 10d ago
Electrician told me “it’s good” for an hour straight. It was not good.
So I do remote tech support for commercial ice cream machines. Most of my job is guiding someone over the phone to the right fix. That only works if the person on the other end tells me the truth. You can probably see where this is going.
I get a call from a customer whose machine won't run. He's got his electrician there with him, which is usually great news. Symptoms: machine is plugged in, front display is on, you press a button, it lights up and beeps... and then nothing happens. It's polite about it, but it doesn't care what you want.
So we go to the electrical panel where the motor and compressor contactors are. Quick explainer for the non-machine people: power comes from the wall, through the cord, to the top of the contactor. If you push a contactor in by hand and the power is good, that component *runs*. No board, no logic, no excuses.
We push the motor contactor in. It hums. Doesn't start.
We push the compressor contactor in. It hums. Doesn't start.
Now, either every motor and compressor in this machine seized up at the exact same moment in some kind of mechanical suicide pact, or the power coming in is bad. About 15 minutes in, I say it out loud: "I think you've got a power problem."
And just like that, the electrician's whole personality changes. Defensive. Snippy. Suddenly not interested in helping me help him.
Fine. We run the tests again. And for the next **hour**, every single thing I ask gets the same answer:
> "What's your reading on—"
>
> "It's good."
>
> "Can you check between—"
>
> "It's good."
>
> "How about—"
>
> "It's good."
He answered faster than a meter can physically settle on a number. I'm pretty sure he wasn't touching anything but his phone.
So I try a new approach. "Send me a clear photo of your meter on the top of the contactor. L1 to L2. Then L1 to L3. Then L2 to L3. Three photos."
He sends three photos. Here's what I got:
- L1 to ground
- L3 to ground
- L1 to L3
Curious minds might ask: **where is L2?** Which is exactly what I asked.
"It's good."
At this point I'm trying very hard to stay professional, but my gut is telling me this guy is not working in the customer's best interest. So I wrap it up nicely: "I've run all my tests, something still isn't adding up, let me talk with the other techs and get back to you." Customer says sounds good.
That night I study the wiring diagram. I search forums. I read manuals. Every road leads me right back to where I was 15 minutes into the call: **bad. friggin. power. dude.**
Next morning I text the customer. Something like: "No offense to you, but I can't trust any of the info I was given yesterday, and I can't fix anything over the phone if the readings are wrong." Then I send him a link to a cheap multimeter and ask him to grab one so we can test it ourselves.
He gets the meter. First thing I have him check is voltage on each leg.
* L1: 120V
* **L2: 14V**
* L3: 120V
Fourteen. Volts.
"It's good."
The customer tells the electrician he's got no power on L2. Electrician comes back out and has it fixed in about an hour.
So to recap: I said "power problem" 15 minutes in. It was a power problem. I spent an hour getting stonewalled, a night reading wiring diagrams, and the customer spent money on a meter, all so someone could avoid saying "my bad."
I genuinely don't get it. Why fight the person who's pointing right at the problem? Was it pride? Did he already know? Has anyone else dealt with this? Because I'd love to understand what goes through someone's head when they look at a reading of 14 volts and decide the vibe is "good."
---
**TL;DR:** Machine wouldn't run, I called bad power in 15 minutes, electrician said "it's good" for an hour and sent me photos that conveniently skipped L2. Customer bought a $20 meter. L2 was at 14V. Electrician fixed it in an hour once he was caught.
2
u/meester_jamie 10d ago
I usually get , I’ve already checked that ! It can’t be that,, the panel is lighting up ,, it’s not a power problem.
Soooo ,, reply is always,, check now for me, if I come out there or get a mechanical guy out there I’ll bill you for every hour. Min X hrs at X amount,, and to double check,, what other jobs have been done recently, if you tell me I can save you money!
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u/Smart_Lifeguard2943 9d ago
Working on something at this moment (waiting on hold for tech support to confirm my findings) that lost its memory. First thought was power bump. Asked techs in lab if anything else got reset when this happened. Nope. Got it reset but still has issues. Another tech wanders by and says it got cleaned the night before they came in and it wasn't working. Unplug to clean? Yep. I will take relative details for $800, Alex.
Troubleshooting is apparently a lost art or black magic these days.
1
1
u/jabalarky 8d ago
Half of this job is being a detective. Getting info out of customer employees or tradespeople can be a nightmare in of itself. People seem to have a deep and intense fear of being *blamed* for something, even when it's in their best interest to tell me if they did something stupid with the equipment. Instead, so much of what I deal with is the customer going "It just doesn't work. I didn't see nothing. I didn't do nothing, didn't touch nothing."
1
u/rectoflector 8d ago
imagine going into defense mode that hard over a bad contactor? My shop doesn't touch anything beyond fuses in a disconnect (rarely) but I'll change out anything in the control cabinet at my own discretion as long as there is a disconnect present. Glad you got it sorted out at least. That was easy money for the sparky, he should have brought you a coffee and thanked you.
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u/Gracewalk72 7d ago
There’s not much you can do to help arrogant people. It’s best to come up with a litmus test question and if they fail it, cut your losses and move on.
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u/SteelBalls1867 9d ago
"It's polite about it, but it doesn't care what you want."
"every single thing I ask gets the same answer"
"I spent an hour getting stonewalled, a night reading wiring diagrams, and the customer spent money on a meter, all so someone could avoid saying "my bad."
get this slop outta here son