r/maintenance

Long story short, plumbing is uh a ….interesting that I am trash at.
My well tank likes 50 psi ish at all times.
Had a sediment filter I installed long while ago after shutoff from main; no pressure issue.

Come today, installed a 10” (bigger) filter for the secondary after the 1st, and pressure loss is bad to where it’s not useable. Even in bypass, both are TRASH pressure. Even repiped em justo be safe, same issue.
YES, all valves FULLY open.

Water softener is after the filters has never.m been an issue… unless maybe something is going on????

Current course of action I’m adding a 1 hp booster pum; post filters.

Question is what SIZE do I need for the new pressure tank to add w it?
Question 2, will this absolutely no doubt fix this. Beyond lost, defeated and pissed yo. Please be brutally honest.

Pump is 18.33 GPM 30-50psi.

PLEASE TELL ME IF I NEED ANYTHING ELSE

Please god help me Loool thank you

I’m looking for advice on getting into facilities maintenance/building operations and eventually moving toward facilities management or plant operations.

My background is mainly commercial HVAC and supermarket refrigeration. I’ve also done miscellaneous maintenance work like cooler lighting, minor electrical, and general repairs.

My main goal right now is getting my HVAC contractor license, so I’m interested in an on site position where I’m not constantly driving service calls. I also recently had an issue with a company being unable to insure me because of an at fault accident on my driving record, which made me consider facilities work even more.

For those working in hotels, condos, casinos, schools, universities, hospitals, plants, etc.:
What type of facility did you prefer and why?
What areas of maintenance should an HVAC guy learn first, such as plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywall, pumps, boilers, or controls?
What’s the best way to learn those skills outside of HVAC?
What positions should I target with my background?
And for anyone who moved from maintenance tech/building engineer into facilities management or plant operations, what helped you make that jump?

Finally decided I had enough after taking a demotion (two demotions really, down to porter) after some serious burnout leading to the flu, then pneumonia a few weeks later, and finally nerve damage due to crazy hours and skeleton crews requiring me to work through injuries and do the work of 3+ techs (I know a lot of us are in the same boat, isn't lost on me) because my Wine Mom Boss Bitch™ property managers run all of my decent guys off. Finally had a chance to get off the phone or away from my laptop, get home at a somewhat decent hour (8pm instead of 10pm lol) and figure out where I want to be in my career and came to the conclusion this ain't it. I know I'm not the only resi guy fed up as my good buddy, a 20 year maintenance vet, is pretty much begging me to help him get his foot in the door elsewhere as this is all he's done from 20-42. After tons of rejections and uncomfortable interviews with commercial HVACR companies where I tried to dust off almost decade old refrigeration memories I finally landed another commercial refrigeration job. Just figured I'd post in here because we get a lot of posts about fed up/directionless resi techs who have been told their skills don't matter and they aren't worth a decent living by other tradesman or their bosses. Keep on learning, take as many classes as you can, make one aspect of our trade your bread and butter and just apply, apply, apply. Hell, HVACR companies need help so bad right now I'm barely making less than I was as a supervisor and I get a tool allowance, truck, sign on bonus, 100% paid employee health insurance, and 401k match. You facilities/industrial guys who are happy with your jobs, keep on killing it. In the meantime I'll be sticking around to give advice and laugh at unhinged service requests and office worker's demands.

Is anyone here on the senior living side using TELs or Direct Supply?

We have it, but it doesn't seem like a one stop shop and I'm having a hard time seeing how it will fit.

I'm curious how others are using it and what the successes have been. For now, it just seems like another process to keep up with.

Wanted to ask if anyone has suggestions for clearing air handler condensation drains. Our company was using co2 cartridge gallo guns for a long time and they worked perfectly. Now they have really started pinching pennies and we aren’t allowed to buy them anymore. We tried running different attachments for the shop vac down the drains and they would get the water out, but almost every single one we did that with would come back within a week or less. Someone suggested a Milwaukee air gun but I don’t see how that would work with how big that thing is and haven’t found attachments that fit. Wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

I’m a maintenance tech at an apartment complex and last night someone got into one of our vacant units and stole $1,000+ worth of my personal tools that I use for work.

Here’s what really pisses me off, the groundskeeper was the last person to leave. He left the vacant unit unlocked and left his keys sitting in the golf cart. The theft happened after hours. I had nothing to do with the unit being left unsecured.

I reported everything immediately and gave my new manager a full inventory of what was stolen.
Now I’ve spent basically all day waiting for an answer, and management keeps talking to me about budgets, Home Depot rebates, purchasing limits, etc.

Like…what the fuck does that have to do with my personal tools being stolen?
I’ve been told MULTIPLE times since last year, “Why are you using your personal tools? We can provide whatever you need.” Cool. Except they never actually provided shit, so what am I supposed to do? Just not work because they won’t supply the tools I need?

I’m not even saying the company automatically owes me every dollar of my personal tools. I’m asking what the plan is. If they aren’t going to replace my tools, then give me company tools so I can actually do my fucking job

Instead I’m being told to “scrape together” whatever I can while they figure it out.
Am I being unreasonable here? What would you guys expect your employer to do in this situation?

Me - visiting a relative at an Assisted Living Facility - So a smoke detector was peeping for 3 days. I reported it on Sunday and when I came back on Tues. it was still peeping. One staff person said she didn't hear it. Another heard it but didn't think of doing anything. My report did not get to the person it was supposed to. "The post-it note got lost." To me it is extremely extremely annoying (as an irritating sound) and ignoring it demonstrates a culture of neglect. It's an electronic cry for help -- something is going wrong with a vital component -- it needs to be addressed and not ignored.

Someone suggested maybe it stopped and started again -- would that even be possible? Or does that just mean "it's a problem for you, but not for anyone else"?

Thanks for your input and letting me vent.

what are your go to “sandbags”? during heavy rains, water is breaching under entry door at commercial building at a rapid pace.