a trip to the parts house

[dalefan88]

just yesterday there was a funny one at my work with one of the young kids. a guy came in for a headlight for a 79 impala. the kid was like which engine do you have. i heard him and thought your a idiot. of coarse the customer looked at him like are you kiddin me, then told him 350 or whatever it was. when he got done i told him i wanted him to go through every engine for that car and tell me if it takes a different light . when he did he called me a smart. i just said im smarter than you. he also goes the the big automotive school in town unoh.

 

[CJ]

just yesterday there was a funny one at my work with one of the young kids. a guy came in for a headlight for a 79 impala. the kid was like which engine do you have. i heard him and thought your a idiot. of coarse the customer looked at him like are you kiddin me, then told him 350 or whatever it was. when he got done i told him i wanted him to go through every engine for that car and tell me if it takes a different light . when he did he called me a smart. i just said im smarter than you. he also goes the the big automotive school in town unoh.

Exactly! WTF do you ask a question such as this when logic dictates that it doesn't matter!

You did good Sir! You did good!

 

[plumcrazy]

Great post!

One of the reasons I shop Napa is that they seam to employ the old gear heads...

It's not that AZ or AA have nobody that knows vehicles (our AZ and AA have a few very well versed employees). It's that I swear Napa only hires greasy finger nailed workers...

The only exception in my town for this is the new O'Reileys... They have a woman ther who totally knows her ! She is an absolute joy to talk to! She turns rotors, uses the press and almost always uses the 'books' when you need a special item.

I perfer my local NAPA. I know all the Guys by name (no name tags needed) and they are very good at what they do.

 

[mylittlecj5]

I have found my local O'Rielley's has the only good parts house counter guy in town, IMO.
His name is Cris, and we shoot the bull about the CJ every time I'm in there. It funny, every time I go in, the other guys/gals behind the counter look at me and tell me Cris isn't there...I don't even have to ask

If one of the other guys ask what engine I have, I just say "lets call it a AMC 304 just to make it easy for you". They always give me a F look.
I go into the NAPA here, and the guy pulls out the books for every single thing I'm looking for...and takes FOREVER trying to figure out if its what I need...Times like that I think the computer would be faster.

 

[plumcrazy]

That just goes to show, It's the poeple that make the company, not the name on the door. That's what I tell my boss every chance I get.

 

[LongHorn]

I have found my local O'Rielley's has the only good parts house counter guy in town, IMO.
His name is Cris, and we shoot the bull about the CJ every time I'm in there. It funny, every time I go in, the other guys/gals behind the counter look at me and tell me Cris isn't there...I don't even have to ask

If one of the other guys ask what engine I have, I just say "lets call it a AMC 304 just to make it easy for you". They always give me a F look.
I go into the NAPA here, and the guy pulls out the books for every single thing I'm looking for...and takes FOREVER trying to figure out if its what I need...Times like that I think the computer would be faster.

The problem with the computer in a parts store is, nobody has a decent program. Or maybe just to many variables, it's not that were all down on the computer it's self.

 

[LongHorn]

That just goes to show, It's the poeple that make the company, not the name on the door. That's what I tell my boss every chance I get.

Ya baby! X2 on that!

 

[dalefan88]

i agree with some of the computer stuff. i hate looking up bearings, seals, and u joints on the computer. anytime i get those i go to the books.

 

[KenB]

Needed a return hydraulic hose for my log splitter a few years ago, so went to the local NAPA. I'd had some hoses made up there before when I worked maintenance for the prison, so knew they had what I needed.
First question: How long? 4ft
Second question: What end fittings? None, they're hose clamped.
BIG PROBLEM - "We can't sell hydraulic hose without fittings"
Lady, it's a low pressure return line - no fittings!
Well, the 'senior citizen' who made up the hoses happened to overhear the conversation and intercepted me on my way out. Come on back to the shop and let's see if we can find something, he says. We go back, he cut's a 4 ft section of hydraulic hose, writes a ticket that says water hose, and the gal at the register never questions it. What's the saying about Age and Wisdom....

 

[LongHorn]

I'm the guy that shows up with a list of part numbers in my hand. From previous purchases.

 

[BajaEdition]

It is not just the supply houses, it is all businesses really.
I went to pick up the axle I just had built for my 67, I had planned on running the closed knuckle D27 with disc brakes but had a bit of adaptability problems, so I pulled a 76 narrow d 30 that had disc spindles and decided to have it built, I mean built also, new pinion sshaft as beefy as a modern D 30, new axles, Detroit locker, ball joints upgraded and u joints upgraded, basicly bringing it to modern standards with beefy shafts and 4.88 gears. Well I towed my trailer to teh Jeep only shop that does my work like that and was having it put on the trailer. The young mechanic that was loading it looked at my CJ6 and said, "Wow that cj looks longer than the others in the shop."
Now how in the hell can you be a jeep only mechanic and not know a CJ6 when you see one? I just replied it was a CJ5 thaat I had pulled to many Hummers out of ditches with and it got longer because of the weight. He went into the shopto tell his buddies.
I went into the store and we all had a good laugh.

 

[CJ]

That just goes to show, It's the poeple that make the company, not the name on the door. That's what I tell my boss every chance I get.

x100! Perfect statement!!!

 

[Jroch]

I know I know, I am a dinosaur in my own right, I am a IBEW electrician that still works retail, that is strange these days but we are grandfathered into our work, we rebuild grocery stores and make them about 40 percent more energy efficient when we leave. So the chain puts up with our salaries

Baja,

What are you doing in these stores? Are you installing the Rack Controllers, tieing in the anti sweats and lighting to them, changing out the case lighting to LED's, also tieing the HVAC into the controller. If so what controller are you working with? Personally I am huge fan of the Danfoss 255 controler The E2 is also a great controller has a lot of great features but I think they missed it on the user interface part, very cumbersom to program, Floating the header on the Danfoss also seems to work better then on the E2, although the enhanced suction program on the E2 is pretty stout, but has an issue if you are running Proof switches off the compressor leads, you have to either do away with it or running in the oil fail circuit. I can consitantly get cycle counts down below 100 with the Danfoss, can do it with the E2 but takes a little more finess on the program and adjusting the EPR's. Not a Fan of the NOVAR controllers they are horrible!!!

 

[BajaEdition]

Baja,

What are you doing in these stores? Are you installing the Rack Controllers, tieing in the anti sweats and lighting to them, changing out the case lighting to LED's, also tieing the HVAC into the controller. If so what controller are you working with? Personally I am huge fan of the Danfoss 255 controler The E2 is also a great controller has a lot of great features but I think they missed it on the user interface part, very cumbersom to program, Floating the header on the Danfoss also seems to work better then on the E2, although the enhanced suction program on the E2 is pretty stout, but has an issue if you are running Proof switches off the compressor leads, you have to either do away with it or running in the oil fail circuit. I can consitantly get cycle counts down below 100 with the Danfoss, can do it with the E2 but takes a little more finess on the program and adjusting the EPR's. Not a Fan of the NOVAR controllers they are horrible!!!

going over to a CPC controlled system, leds, t8s for the sales floor, hot gas defrost, multi stage compressor racks, setting up pulse modulation for the antifrost circuit that ties into a environmental control so it is changed according to ambient conditions, The list goes on and on, We use a glycol system for service meat to improve shelf life. switch over to all doored medium temp where ever possible. Using heat reclaim systems off the condenser racks, The list goes on and on and on. I do have to say we try every trick in the book and isolate it so we can do efficiency studies. All signs are led now, soft start systems on the forced air system. A lot of systems we have to fight the health departments to get cost savings from, Like we have multiple water heater systems to get around hot water delivery times, this sounds like it does not work but we have found a small savings is better than none sometimes. I also have use the CPC system to control hot cases, to many employees will not turn them off at night so I have it control contractors and set off and on times. Another thing we do is door alarm the walk in freezer and coolers, if they leave those doors open for over a few minutes home office is on the phone to the manager. What can I say? We are fighting to be as green as we can and still meet the needs of the consumer. Our savings really do add up a few percent at a time and the cost of energy is skyrocketing.

 

[BajaEdition]

I have used Novar and do not like it, it depends to much on centralized control, E2 is nice but I think for a grocery store CPC about nails it, it is openly programmable for the tech in the field and has the software designed to work very well with refrigeration, it accepts other modules redily such as PMAC and Enviromental Monitors and is compatible with HVAC, and lighting control. However there will bea new king of the hill next year, I once was amazed by Novar, about 25 years ago, now I consider it an antique.

 

[Jroch]

I have used Novar and do not like it, it depends to much on centralized control, E2 is nice but I think for a grocery store CPC about nails it, it is openly programmable for the tech in the field and has the software designed to work very well with refrigeration, it accepts other modules redily such as PMAC and Enviromental Monitors and is compatible with HVAC, and lighting control. However there will bea new king of the hill next year, I once was amazed by Novar, about 25 years ago, now I consider it an antique.

This summer I was working on a project of converting a chain of Supermarkets over to the 225 had 37 stores to do. They were running the old Altec controllers what a POS these were, even back in the day they were ! The nice thing about the 255 is the com modules and the combo boards very easy to instal set the IP address on the com module and then just snap in the combo boards you need. From a technician stand point it is much easier to identfy the board and point you need versus the com wire the E2 uses, installers have a habit of installing thse all over the place and not labeling the address and board on them

Unfortunately we don't see a lot of heat reclaim down here some places will run it for hot water but thats it, up North thats how we would heat our stores. There are a few down here that will also use it for dehumidifcation but even thats rare.
The new stores down here are installing the Glycol on the med temps, I am not sure if I am a fan yet? only worked on a few of them so far, one was the modulation valve was bad the other they called me in cause they had changed out 4 compressors and couldn't figure out what the issue was, it didn't take long to figure out they were running the glycol at 87%. Got it thinned out and they argued with me that it was something more after a an hour of explaing that glycol does not transfer heat and essential they had oversized their system by running so much glycol causing the system to flood back and killing the compressors, which had all shown they were washed out. the reluctantly accepted my diagnoses and repair and said "we'll see about that when your here changing the compressor in a month" that was 6mos ago and no compressor change yet

Down here Novar is not all that popular, except for the Wal*Marts they are running them and what a pain in the arse to deal with. They won't let you do anything it all has to go through them, even if you need a case in defrost you have to call them and have them do it for you, Most of the time I just jumper the relays so I don't have to deal with them.

CPC is not a bad controller, the RMCC was a great controller back in the day had many advanced features that never got used becasue the Operator interface was so difficult so no one ever set them up. Not really sure what they were thinking on the red and blue buttons though LOL

Well Baja I think this officially counts as a thread hijack

 

[BajaEdition]

A few things make CPC one of the most under rated systems out there.
User interface could be improved, but it is workable, I like the dual range of interface, can be monitored by those not qualifed to change, and they are locked out of changing stuff but still can monitor.
I like the way it can accept non cpc manufactured modules. that makes it easy to use something that you like from someone else
I like the way I can run remote stations with the ease of running 1 3 wire beldon and pick up either 110 or 220 power locally depending if it is a remore monitoring or controlling station.
I like a few more features also, I also see systems with features I would like to see in CPC, but boiled down they are geting to all be good systems as the differences start to fade with software development. Soon we will be argueing semantics.
Anyway I think the future of these systems is the way we adapt them to individual chain requirements. I need a system that is in both Mediterainain and Alpine enviroments and everything in between. We have 300 stores working from desert, to beach all the way into mountains and we need to keep them all as effient as possible. Refrigerations control is a place I can help even if I am an electrician not a Refrigeration tech. I take the system they have and use it for all my purposes so you see why I think CPC is a good system, I need the EMS to serve dual purpose.
Yes a great thread hijack confusing a few. I guess I was just relating to how we all need to adapt to keep our salaries justified. I mean I am compeeting with guys making a third less than me so I need to show how I can make the company money.

 

[BajaEdition]

I was reviewing this thread, kinda reading about the good ole days of auto parts countermen and it occurred to me, If we would all just try our hardest to buy American made products, Maybe we would not be complaining about stuff like this. I think our desire for cheaper product just overflowed to cheaper labor.

 

[LongHorn]

I was reviewing this thread, kinda reading about the good ole days of auto parts countermen and it occurred to me, If we would all just try our hardest to buy American made products, Maybe we would not be complaining about stuff like this. I think our desire for cheaper product just overflowed to cheaper labor.

I try to every part I buy. Ya have to just say no to "Chinese Parts"& pretty much stay out of "Wal-Mart".

 

[dalefan88]

i can tell you right now. i would be shocked if i found anything in my store made in USA. i know we have some stuff the boxes say made in the USA, but thats just the box. the part is made everywhere else in the world.