installer's list [RE-wrenches]

[Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar]

My vote is with Kurt.  Good job Kurt, you hit the nail on the head.  I
couldn't say it any better but I am going to keep typing anyway.

People who install RE equipment should also be dealers and the emphasis
should be on installing dealers.  How can we ask manufacturers to stand
behind their equipment if its installed by people who aren't savvy enough to
run a real business.

Big Soap Box Oratory follows, so feel free to delete now.

I have had the opposite experience about people who only install.  Somebody
has to try to install these as bad as the ones I've seen. Mistakes a 1st
month apprentice electrician wouldn't make.  The only reason I even heard
about them was they had quit working (or never worked) and the "installers"
phone along with them.  The customer was so desperate they called me and
apologized all over themselves for not buying everything from me and having
me install it but "could I come out tomorrow and fix it".  So I move my
schedule all around just so someone in my service area doesn't end up hating
solar and telling all their friends what a joke solar is and that people who
are in the business are criminals.

I went and looked at one system and told the customer that was so bad I
couldn't stand to look at it. I told the customer the only way I was working
on it was to start all over.  The "installer" had wired the AC input to the
AC Output for starters and all the customer wanted me to do was to hook the
(just back from Trace) inverter back up.  I walked away from that with my
pride intact and the inverter still in the box.  The fly by night
"installers" around here have set solar back so far it's ... well I'm going
to stop.  No offense intended William, but I have had to clean up some real
messes from people who "did solar for years out in California".  No offense
intended to any CA Wrenches that just seems to be a catch phrase here in the
Ozarks.

Solar needs to be more like Heating and Air (and it's heading that way
thankfully).  Does the average owner of a heating and air system know
anymore then how to adjust the thermostat.  Do homeowners present a garage
full of compressors, burners, blowers and controls to the installer only to
have the installer ask where's the ductwork is and the homeowner reply "well
the guy who sold it to me said I didn't need ductwork and that a good
installer could install it in a day"  "Mr. Customer, you seem to have a 2
ton A-Coil and a 3-Ton compressor what would you like me to do?"

Travis Creswell
Ozark Solar


  

>From: William Miller <wrmiller at slonet.org>
>To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>Subject: Re: installer's list [RE-wrenches]
>Date: Fri, Sep 22, 2000, 12:09 PM
>

>I am not a
>dealer but a very quality and reliability oriented installer with many
>large systems in my portfolio.  My experience is that installing dealers
>often can't concentrate on both ends of the business at the same time, so
>one or both areas suffer.

- - - - - - -
To send a message:
 RE-wrenches at topica.com

The archive of previous messages: 
 http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

To unsubscribe send a message to: 
 RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
 www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine: 
 www.homepower.com

For info contact list moderator by email:
 michael.welch at homepower.com
___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics