Worklife - Another Rusty Stressbucket coming in. Last one for 2024

9 days ago

For a lot of people, writing that "10" for the month has put them into a certain mood and they even say it: "The year is nearly done." They are already thinking about holidays and the new year.

But there is still 3 whole months to go, still a full quarter of a year. And while it is good and fine to look towards the future, let's not kid ourselves and get too relaxed.

I have got a whole ship project crammed in between those times.

This year has been rough and I had a stint on site from February till August. Basically 7 months almost without a break. What we are looking at here is probably a 6-8 weeks project.

There are already plenty of inconsistencies and rubbish that I need to deal with when it comes to the contract.

Within my own company, I am expected to run the site but people above management often want to run in their own directions. People working with me are also very demanding.

Meanwhile the client and the customer are also always doing their dance. The ship is owned by one company and we work for the company in charge of the entire repair... and then both those companies are owned by the same corporates upstream...

Its a headache.

If you have been looking at the pictures that I have put into this post, let me explain: This is HVAC. Some of those nasty, rusted and messed up systems are meant to ensure comfort for the people working on this ship.

Some of the other ones, like the one directly above this text... is meant to keep important UPS systems running. And it is not the only system that looks like that.

There are about 10 systems that we need to work with that are in a similar messed up way.

Some systems are going to need a full rebuild and others we are going to try and replace the whole external plant. As usual, a lock of maintenance and a lack of knowledge is what brings these systems to this level every single time.

Now for the kicker: All of these systems were brand new 3 years ago.

That's right. In just 3 short years they go from new to trash like this and I can only imagine that this means that mostly these units will be ignored for the first year to help them develop problems and then by the time a technician starts to pay attention to them, it is too late.

Whatever problem the units have picked up by then will usually be beyond the work ability of the crew. After this point they just sort of mess around with it.

One of the biggest incorrect procedures they do at this point is to keep on refilling a system with gas. "Topping up" as they call it. But all of these systems use BLEND refrigerants. Which means that there is a percentage relationship between 2 or more gasses in a mixture. When the blend is new and perfect, the ration.

But leak out 10% of your charge and you cannot say it vented 10% from each of its component gasses.

Now you charge back a perfect blend to top up that refrigrant you have lost and now you change your percentages of your mix. What happens now is that your equipment no longer operates at the temperatures that it should and the parts also begin misbehaving.

In extreme cases this can lead to breakdown and failure.

All this and more is waiting for me on this inport project.

I am busy with the Survey Reports at the moment. Another thing I am put under immense pressure to complete.

I would love to spend more time on Hive right now... but I have to get there early and get this done...

Thank you for reading!

Cheers!
@zakludick