As with any job in any trade, personal protective equipment (PPE) is very important.  When working with old and unpredictable equipment, it can save your life.  Within Hydro, CSA steel toed boots, a hardhat and flame resistant clothing (FRC) are mandatory at all times when working on equipment.

Shown above are two technicians racking in a breaker.  Because I don’t have enough experience or training, I am not allowed to stand close when this type of work is being done.  This is a good example of the PPE we are required to wear.  Both are wearing flame resistant shirts and pants, high voltage rubber gloves, and hardhats fitted with arc blast face shields.

Following the racking out of the breaker, we went outside to hang grounds.  I didn’t have the chance to snap a photo, but a long yellow fibreglass stick (called a hot stick) is used to do this.  I don’t have the training or experience to do this yet either, but I will soon.  And for anyone considering the trade, you should know it is a very physically demanding process hanging grounds.  It requires a lot of upper body strength and control.

I’ve never had a chance to use one of these levels before until the last couple days but man alive its one of the best levels you can use. You know it’s going to be accurate compared to a regular level. That’s because with a regular level if you hit it on something it can become useless, an expensive straight edge if anything. A water level is nice because it’s cheap to get the materials for. Some surgical hose that is clear, with water in it. My foreman picked up a hose that’s 18 feet long and it was like 15 bucks. You can’t buy a good level for that unless it’s on sale and that doesn’t always happen. I would suggest getting a cork for the ends of the hose because if you don’t you lose water and can get a little wet. When you are using it you just hold the one end where you want to level from and get another guy to go as far as you need to and make a mark where the water settles and stops moving. The great thing about this level to is that you can level around objects and not have to worry about losing or gaining any height. It’s an inexpensive and valuable tool to have.

Have you ever had a vehicle where the paint color is fading, doesn’t reflect well and just isn’t all that appealing to look at? I have finally learned how to polish a vehicle without scratching it or making it look worse. We were finishing a few safety inspections on a couple of cars, and they just looked dirty no matter how many times we washed them. Well, I decided to put my skills to the test and attempt to polish them. It’s really not hard work at all, but if you don’t have the right movement or “smoothness” with the buffer, you can burn through the clear coat and damage the paint.

Before you begin, the surface must be clean and dry. You apply a 1200 grit polishing compound to the surface, but be careful not to use to much. You then use the polisher and work in the compound. The idea is to slowly cut into the layers of clear coat, and remove scratches or imperfections on the surface. You don’t want to do this for long. Next, you use a soft towel and wipe off the remaining compound. You are left with a smooth and shiny surface. After, you do the same except thing with a waxing compound. This finishes the polishing job, filling in any scratches and leaves you with a nice smooth and shiny surface. Once you get the hang of it, it can be a lot of  fun!

Hi. I know, I know, it’s been about a hundred years since I’ve posted (okay, more like a few weeks) but I haven’t really been at work. I am on holidays. Four glorious weeks of holidays. And one normally associates holidays with long carefree summery days spent at the beach drinking slurpees, well let me tell you, those are NOT my holidays.

I am sadistically doing home reno’s. I am ripping all of the exterior walls down from the inside, pulling the sixty year old insulation out, having the spray foam insulation sprayed, then re-drywalling,  having new windows installed and having cultured stone bricked onto the front of the house. So that also means I have to re-tile the bathroom, buy a new tub surround, and re-paint upstairs and the main floor.  And have I mentioned how much I HATE painting?

But the one shining thing about all of this is my friend Kathy invited me out to Kenora for a couple of days. And THAT was wonderful, until I fell and broke my tailbone.

Tracy.

On Friday last week I went to work like usual for 8 o’clock. I got there 15 minutes early and started to wait for everyone else to show up. But it was raining, coming down pretty good. So everyone finally showed up and we went to the tool crib where we spent about 10 or 15 minutes talking about what to do. Finally, some of my crew and myself decided to go for breakfast while everyone else took the day off. Some of the building materials we use, such as Hardie board can’t get wet or the warranty on it is void so we couldn’t really work with that. Also, we couldn’t open any walls up because the insulation would get wet. When the weather is bad, one of the main concerns about stpooing work is losing hours and not having a decent cheque. I would suggest waiting it out a bit and even going for breakfast to see if the weather improves. Sure, you may lose an hour or two waiting for the rain to let up but then if it does, you don’t lose a full day’s pay, just a few hours. We waited and while we were out for breakfast it cleared up and turned out really nice the rest of the day. I was able to build a deck and got seven and a half hours on my paycheque instead of zero like a lot of the crew I work with.

I can’t wait for my next year of schooling. While out working in my trade I’ve slowly been using more and more of the skills that I learned the last two times I attended school, for my employer as well as for jobs of my own on the side. It’s nice to get work on the side because you get a chance to work a little slower and have more opportunity to practice your skills. Granted you don’t want to go too slow because you don’t much money unless you charge really well for your labour. But if you charge too much no one will hire you. My third year is going to be fun. I’m not entirely sure of what I am going to learn this year but I’m sure it will be just as good as my second year. My first year I didn’t enjoy just because I was into hand tools, but everyone has their differences and enjoys different things. I was glad to learn it and have used one or two things from thast first year of school, but I like framing the best  and I don’t think I’m going to change.

I’m not a detail-oriented kind of guy. I’ve tried doing finishing work for family but so far it hasn’t worked out so well. It’s nice doing work for family because if you don’t do it for money you can get a little free practice. You can practice as much as you want too since you aren’t getting paid for it. It doesn’t have to be a bang up job, but you try to do the best you can. With finishing work the skill comes with practice. If you have family who wants some trade work done, try to take it up on it. If you can work something out you can maybe get a new tool out of it or even a few bucks. I’m not wild about doing finish work because I don’t have good attention to detail yet, but I try. I like framing best because if you’re out a bit on a measurement it usually gets covered up. You don’t have to worry about someone seeing it. I take whatever work I can for family when it comes to finishing because I get practice at it without having to worry a ton about what it looks like.

A large part of my job is to maintain equipment that is in service.  All equipment within Manitoba Hydro has a serial number, and is part of an integrity program.  Regular maintenance is scheduled anywhere from a week to week basis, to every 6 months, to yearly.  Integrity checks include taking oil samples, recording counter and operation readings, oil levels, and a visual inspection.

I snapped this photo of my journeyman getting ready to take an oil sample from a voltage regulator.  These can be found all over Winnipeg, as well as in the rural areas of the province.  The oil samples are collected, sent to a lab and tested.  This is a hazardous job most of the time.  As you can see the oil samples are taken from quite a height.  In some places an extension ladder can be used.  It is important to tie off the ladder to ensure stability.  A harness is also used.  If the regulator is too high on the pole for an extension ladder, a bucket truck is used.

During our tests, we ran into some bad weather.  It is not recommended to take oil samples in the rain, since you are at an increased risk of slipping and falling.

A large part of mechanical work has to do with electrical.  Although having a certificate in electrical is not mandatory in this day and age, I think it could be in the near future. With today’s cars having more and more advanced computers in them, electrical problems are becoming more common than mechanical problems. Knowing your electrical side of things will get you one step higher and closer to having a successful career in this trade. Luckily in this case, I wasn’t trying to diagnose anything.

The customer needed his vehicle to be wired so he could tow a trailer and have the lights working. To install a trailer converter, I had to take out each tail light, and take both inside rear panels inside the vehicle off.  Next I spliced into certain wires in the vehicle’s main wiring harness to get power to the converter. This has to be done for parking lights, turn signals, and brake lights. The best and most effective way to do this is to create a eye solder. Take the wire, and just strip the insulation away in a small area. When small section of wires is exposed, you split them, creating a eye. Then you feed the wire you want to splice into it and twist them together. You complete your solder and tape it up. This method is very commonly used, and I have learned from my technician how to do this. It doesn’t damage the vehicle wiring, and forms a nice and neat solder.

The odd time you have to do a little dirty work. No matter how experienced you are. There may be days when you don’t have labourers around to clean up or haul material so you have to bust down and do some dirty work. Today I had to haul some gravel to fix a big pothole that the zoom boom made. All the labourers left and no one was jumping forward to do it so I offered. I had to work hard but whatever sometimes you got to do it. Even though you may out rank people that are working with you sometimes you got to show them how to do the work either in an easy or faster way. Because you have been in the trade longer you figure ways out to do different duties that can save time and make life a lot easier for you. Life may have been hard when you were labouring and starting out with the apprenticeship program but that doesn’t mean you have to make it hard for other people to.