Keep An Eye On The New Guy

Keep An Eye On The New Guy (Or It Will Cost You)

On more than one occasion Gas went into the hydraulic tank of the older Graco 733’s.

Apparently you can’t get specific enough with instructions when training or supervising a new guy.

Mind you, This post doesn’t have as much to do with the inner workings of a sprayer, but rather the

person who is working with the sprayer.

These are unpleasant disruptions, but as the saying goes, tragedy plus time equals comedy, so prepare to smile and be glad it didn’t happen to you.

We just fixed a sprayer for a large roofing company. The next day we get a call that the pump is doing

the same thing (not working). They were very close so we sent someone out to take a look at what

happened. Sure enough it was losing pressure in the down-stroke. We took the Inlet valve housing off

their GH 833 and found pea gravel inside holding the ball open. Turns out the new guy was laying the

wet, sticky suction hose onto the gravel roof while switching drums!

We get a call from the same guy that the Sprayer is still doing the same thing. We asked if he’s still

setting the suction hose on the gravel. Boss said he wasn’t, so we checked it out again, seeing as it was

so close. Same lower ball issue, so we take off the inlet valve housing again to find rubber chunks. Turns

out the new guy has been mixing the drum so good, that he’s incorporating the chunks that dried on the

wall of the drum!

There was the new guy working for a bridge & tank painter who was mixing up the epoxy. First day

enthusiasm prompted him to mix up ALL the buckets at once!

Another roofing apprentice had the task to clean-up after the job. So he threw all the 5 gallon buckets

into the roll-off dumpster. Even the one that was full of water with six guns soaking. Get back to the

shop, put things away and, “where’s all the guns?”

Then there is the case of a new guy pouring diesel into a small John Deere branded pressure washer.

John Deere equals tractor equals diesel?

If you have any good stories. We'd love to hear them. Just drop an email to us at zbitt@msn.com