Hi,

I've seen a lot of recommendations for alarm services here. A shop that I visit regularly have their system on a maintenance contract with //.National Installer.//. When I looked at the paper work for the last two years, it seems that a service takes approximately 7 minutes, including filling in the paper work. What on earth is going on? Is this possible? Are they something to be recommended?

Jack

Dunno how anyone can service an Alarm in 7 minutes .. ?

If I`m servicing a small home system it takes me 1/2 hour at least, even longer if I`m offered a cuppa.

If an alarm is serviced correctly, a small shop should take no less than 30 minutes.

The engineer should check a number of things including battery discharge which in itself should take longer than 7 minutes.

I have been slated for supposedly having a go at //.National Installer.// in the past so this time I will defend them (sort of). In every company, large and small there will be someone who does the bare minimum to get by, unfortuneately in a company such as //.National Installer.// a number of these 'slackers' can get through the system and convince everyone that they are doing a top job. //.National Installer.// do get through a lot of engineers ( for whatever reason) so in some areas they do have to take what they get.

Despite the above the majority of //.National Installer.// engineers are good at what they do and take pride in their work.

pto,

You need to get the subscriber (contract holder) to take up this issue straight away!, ideally in writing to their local //.National Installer.// office, addressed by name directly to the 'service manager' (not field line manager who you might be fobbed off with)

I find it hard to believe that anyone who takes 7 minutes to complete a service would be stupid enough to document it. But if this is the case some idiot needs to brought to book!!

Yeah steve you're right. I'm finding it hard to believe that no one checks the books... He actually put "time of arrival : 10:10, time of depart 10:18"

It's been a similar tale for all of the visits (a further 5 I think, serviced every 6 months)

crazy stuff.

Can't see the point of only being there seven minutes as when you have done you only have to go somewhere else anyway. How many jobs is this engineer NOT doing in a day? Surely his FLM has some responsibility in this?

7 minutes eh? Is that with the complimentary cuppa lol.

If I think back, the fastest R/I I've ever done was an audiable only system, 4 x pirs, contact, sab and panel on a domestic which took me about a quarter of an hour. looking back, even that was too fast.

Working on a door access system at a school in Hull. The alarm maintained by a local 'rival' company was serviced in less than 30 minutes on this visit. The system consisted of 1 x TS2500, 6 x NODE, 5 x LEC holding about 40 PIR's over 3 floors. I know what was on the system because we took it over after false alarms gallore. It's a shame really when systems are blatently not being serviced correctly and the company gets the flack for engineer shortcomings. I've said this many a time to my superiors and fellow engineers too..... I just wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I knew I hadn't done my job correctly.

Tony

We use the Texecom premiers, every item you walk test and bell test etc. shows up in the log. The company can dial into the panel later and see how long we were there and whether we tested everything or not. They also have central station records to make sure.

I used to take 1.5 to 2 hours to service a system. Via list below

1. Ask customer how system has been operation

2. Check alarm log for any activations.

3. Check and compair all circuits resistances and currents with last service or installation data.

4. Check battery charging voltage + current + load.

5. Check mains voltage and and AC voltage on Aux DC.

6. Check operation of detection devices via a walk test

7. Check operation of audibal + visual warning devices.

8. Check external sounders for any weather damage/ corrosion.

9. Have a cup of tea

10 Clear alarm log.

11. Advise customer that the battery will required to be changed in ? year (s)

12. Leave a copy of service and test sheet.

Wow Oldtimer - thats from one extreme to another!!

7 minutes is very short, but 2 hours is a long time (for a standard site - granted you could spend all day on some sites!).

Does anyone else check the resistance of each circuit on a routine maintenance? What do you do for ID systems?

D7