u/SynisterSly

Hey all,

A few years ago I was contracted to a guy that suggested I check out this business. Since then I've actually moved into life safety and work full time as a fire alarm technician.

I'm curious about your thoughts on doing this as a side gig to earn some extra cash. I've seen some other posts about availability which definitely would be a set back as I'd only be available in evenings and weekends. That being said I'm already used to writing massive reports from fire inspections and there would be some natural crossover into this realm with my experience.

For context I'm a new CFAA tech but very experienced in low voltage. Currently two years in the fire industry and in Ontario.

I'm currently working for my second fire alarm company and I was happy with them until recently. They seemingly are pretty happy with me as well as they asked me to get my factory training to program their Notifier panels. They promised a raise and some other perks for doing so, but when it came time to make good after I completed the training I got pushed off and delayed. I was told I needed to prove I was competent in the programming but was provided with no metric for that competency. I was also told I'd get brought out with the senior programmers to shadow their work but ended up just getting sent out solo and programming with the training I got from the factory certification.

For the past few months I was getting excuses as to why I haven't been given anything yet until recently where I got given a few dollars extra per hour. Currently I'm making $32 per hour but the market in the area appears to have programmers making $40-50. I understand that experience definitely plays a factor, but I was asking for something mid-high 30's for the raise given all the added responsibilities I was given. I'm not really someone who wants to hop around companies, but given how I'm getting the run around I feel like it may be time to start looking again, just looking for some 2 cents from others in the field?

I'm wondering if there's a website or app available like edhrec or mox that essentially recommends viable commanders based on a selection of cards I own? Ie the opposite of what they actually do? I don't mind kinda sorting through viable commanders but having tailored recommendations would make it quicker.

Hey all,

Located in Ontario Canada.

Going to keep this short. I took my vehicle into a shop and asked them to do a specific job, they opted to do something else without informing me and I left with my vehicle after things got heated. No work was completed, nor did I pay them.

Other than word of mouth, do mechanics/dealerships have the ability to blackball the vehicle? I'm on my third mechanic who told me to bring it back to the dealership for repairs despite being assured they could fix the vehicle prior to me taking it to them. It's finally getting fixed but I'm pretty confused why I keep getting sent away.

Hey, so I bought a second hand portable unit as my old window shaker is starting to bite the bullet. When I installed it I noticed pretty quickly that it simply wasn't cooling down my apartment. It's set to 17 degrees celsius, it definitely pushes out cold air, but my apartment just sits at 29 degrees.

The other night it was cooler outside than in my apartment (19 outdoors 25 indoors)

Yesterday I got fed up and put the window shaker back in and sure as shit my apartment dropped down to 21 last night.

Things I've done to try to solve the problem:

-washed all filters

-tapped all gaps in the window that isn't covered by the plastic.

-tapped the hose securely at both ends

-raised the unit to be level with the window and completely shrunk the hose to be straight.

-uses a thermal thermometer to confirm AC air out is at 15 C. I also spot checked the apartment and found it was getting warmer with the unit on.

The only thing I can find that makes sense is the unit is making negative pressure in my apartment and is pulling hot air in from outside. The only thing that doesn't make sense with that is on that cool night mentioned above it was still hot.

I need to replace the steering coupler in my 2018 kia Sorento but I cannot locate the MDPS. Everything I see online indicates it is under the driver side dash but when opened I just have the two jointed shafts. Is it in the engine bay or potentially closer to the actual steering wheel?

I have a 2018 kia Sorento SX and I believe the bushing in the electronic steering motor has gone in it but I cannot locate the electronic steering motor. Everything I've seen online indicates it's behind the driver dash. I've removed the dash but all I have is the two shafts going into the engine bay. Is the motor closer to the steering wheel on this model or in the engine bay itself?

Hey all,

I'm located in Ontario Canada and recently had a conversation with a guy who's looking to take on an apprentice. He seems pretty happy with our conversation over the phone and seems pretty keen to take me on.

I'm wondering what I should ask for a rate. I have my CFAA and have done sprinkler work solo and with ticketed Journeymen in the past, so I'm not exactly green.

Some other things I have to consider is that he's experienced but new to owning a company. I've done some independent work in telecom so I know how risky it is. But the fire safety industry seems more stable. I also currently work for a much larger company that's fast tracking me on programming opportunities in fire alarm. A safe bet would be to stick with my current job but fitters make way more money which is my main ambition.

I'll likely be making around 35$ an hour after I get my programming course done. He seems to be ok with matching or offering more depending on it but I haven't had the meeting regarding the raise with my current company as of yet.

Thanks

Just trying to see if my frustration is justified.

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How long do you figure you would take to get done an inspection on a conventional system with 123 devices; As well as 53 emergency lights and 23 extinguishers?

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You'd be alone and transfering everything from previous paper inspections to inspect point. Parts of previous device lists will be there but you'll have to go in and update device info, zone info, and locations to make sense.

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Did a new inspection on a brand new mircom 4000, since I've finished the inspection the panel is beeping as if it had a trouble but the entire system is normal. A system reset starts the audible annunciation, acknowledging it silences it but it does resume after 24 hours.

I'm kinda perplexed how to solve a problem the panel isn't displaying.