Thought I would throw this question out there.Turbochef warming up all day.

[ectofix]

You did what you did and hopefully they make it through the weekend.  But YES – it might become a callback.

 

Then again, it may be one of those typical intermittent problems.  Unless you can sneak up on it while it’s acting up, using care to not disturb anything (wiring & such) and catch it in the act.

 

For that particular issue, the best thing you can do next time is to remove the panels and give it a good looking over.  It may be something as simple as an overheated/ oxidized electrical connection at the SSR, element or along the line feeding it.  Other than that, beings that the unit’s controls are so electronically-based, going through and re-seating plug connectors would be something I’d do in such a situation.  Afterwards, run it through a full diagnostics while monitoring the various functions with your test euipment.

 

*    *    *    *    *    *

 

A few stories to share:

Being in-house tech, each time one of our TurboChefs gets called in, I have the luxury of bringing it into the shop (if it’s down).  Each time I have, there’s been a slew of other issues besides the immediate cause to their initial problem.

 

I have an Encore there now.  It wasn’t sensing temperature correctly – showing erratic temps upwards of 300°F when it was obviously still at room temp.  Soon as I plugged it in at the shop, it wanted to COOL DOWN.  The RTD probes checked good.  Inspected and found corroded components (ICs) the I/O board.

This Encore oven passed its own self-test – although my amp clamp plainly revealed that the top element wasn’t working at all.  I did a visual inspection inside and found an element wire that had gotten pinched during assembly (likely from the factory), had shorted to ground and burnt open at some point.  Probably been running that way for several years.

 

So…I’ll caution you that checking fault codes or running diagnostics is not the tell-all unless you’re also monitoring amp draw. 

 

Another little story:

A different oven wasn’t cooking their pizza thoroughly and they allowed me haul it off to the shop.  Everything worked except one of the convection blowers was seized (that model has two).  Beings that I had it laid open anyway, I gave it a full physical.  Although the microwave circuit passed my testing, I chose to remove/inspect the magnetrons ANYWAY.  Good thing I did because one mag tube’s antenna cap had big holes burned through it. 

 

None of my other tests (a self-test, running diagnostics, checking amp draw…and ohming the mag tube) had revealed that imminent failure.  So along with a pricey new blower, that oven got a refresh on mag tubes, wave guides, seals and such.

[wayouttactrlhotmail-com]

I had an issue a few weeks ago like you are speaking of. This one failed to mag test in self test. I had it apart, and went over everything.  Amp draws and resistances were all where they should be. The last steps of the procedure i was following was to check the connections and harnesses on the i/o board and other components. Low and behold, the ribbon connector on the i/o board though it was connected. Was not seated all the way in properly on one corner. After that the oven worked fine. Thank you for your response. My food service experience is only a few years. Mostly heating and air from the past years. I did have a few years with Sears/ A&E. then Ecolab/GCS.

I am always glad to hear the experiences of other techs.

We are starting PMs on the equipment this month so i will check the oven again soon. I am on call this weekend so they haven’t called back yet.

[ectofix]

Funny about your mentioning those particular former employers.

 

When I was looking to LEAVE Ecolab/GCS (after fourteen years there), I’d vied for a position with A&E.  I’d passed their initial phone interview.  I’d taken numerous extended lunches to go take all of their written/multiple-choice tests at their local office.  After getting the testing over with in the  course of several weeks, I met with their service manager and was virtually hired.  I’d never done domestic work before, so I was quite enthralled – but scared at the same time.

 

In that little sit-down with the service manager, he’d mentioned “the Gantt” and several other things that got my attention – like how they could monitor each tech’s vehicle (Ecolab did that) and how they were looking into being able to turn off a service technician’s vehicle if it sat running at idle too long (ya know…our little office on wheels).  He also made it clear that pushing the sell of EXTENDED WARRANTIES was expected.

 

Well, ****!  THAT style of management…and their endeavor in making me a SALESMAN…was EXACTLY what I was trying to GET AWAY FROM!

 

With THAT, I’d also done some research about doing domestic work during my consideration for this job.  I’d read the horror stories on the internet about the despicable conditions of some people’s homes that techs had to cope with…or OTHERWISE…the newly expected practices for techs to wear “booties” before walking into a place.

 

Pffft!

 

So then I’d pictured the layout of my previous homes (which were numerous after twenty years in the military) and alsosome of my friend’s homes.  I envisioned my having to cope with how washers, dryers, stoves, refrigerators and such can be SO covered up with or surrounded by their personal stuff…or actually, virtually – EMBEDDED in a home’s architecture…and little ol’ me in there pulling it out to work on it while attempting to NOT scratch their precious wooden floor or knock over the boxes/baskets of their belongings.

 

W-E-L-L…I backed out of that idea for a “change in venue” rather quickly and opted to stay with working on the commercial stuff.  In doing so, I can still actually get away with dumping the contents of a steam generator onto a terra-cota tile floor while knowing that, GENERALLY, nobody cares.  It’ll end up going down a floor drain…or it will evaporate…or I can quickly mop it up – and I don’t need to worry about it harming anything and getting sued for damages.

[wayouttactrlhotmail-com]

You are exactly correct. It  got really ridiculous selling water filters and service contracts. And the tech is evaluated monthly on that. When I got there techs had been there 28-30 yrs. now the turn over rate is unbelieveable. I actually liked Ecolab a little. The problem was I live in a rural area,there were two of us covering a large territory. Not enough calls locally for two techs. I used all my vacation and leave to get paid 40 hrs. during the winter. So just so I had work most of my calls were 2 1/2 hours away,and you don’t get paid for the first and last hr.of travel. With just two techs the on call was every other week. I have always disliked on call (not cut out for it) but that’s the nature of the beast in service. Then there’s the GPS thing you mentioned. Corporations and their micromanagement. I started at this position a little over 6 months ago. Doing only FCB equipment I really like it. Now they have decided we are going to do the hot side of things as well as fountain and coffee for one of our clients. I don’t so much mind working on the equipment, it’s the getting called out at night at 11:30 because the Turbochef is down. We lost a good tech of 20 years last week because of it. Guess it is ,what it is! At 51 yrs. I can’t keep changing jobs. Good talking with you,and thanks again.

[alnelson]

So that explains where all the Ecolab water filters I am now seeing everywhere came from.