This trip was like many over the last two years because once again we had a broken generator. Unfortunately my husband’s luck with generators has not been good. I would hazard a guess that of the three he has had over the last seven years cumulatively they have been broken down 40% of the time. This is despite many hours of research and that is why I chalk it up to just plain bad luck.
Before I go on, I will explain to those just learning about trucking what a generator does on a truck in the most basic of terms. A generator (which in the picture to the right is located in the silver side box under the sleeper) is mainly installed on a truck to offset fuel costs. In order to have heat, ac or use a microwave or TV in a truck along with charging the batteries, the truck must run unless a generator is installed. A tractor with or without a trailer burns approximately a gallon of fuel an hour when idling. When a generator is installed it will operate all of the above but only burn approximately ¼ a gallon of fuel an hour. So as you might imagine it is great to have a running generator and very frustrating when it isn’t working.
But, I must admit that the breakdowns over the past two years have given me the opportunity to see a part of America that I thought was long gone, the non-chain affiliated repair shops. While the first generator which was the worst of them was repaired mostly by Vince, a trained mechanic, the last two have been more required repairs even Vince was not able to deal with. I tell you I am thankful I wasn’t in the truck with that first one because I would have taken a wrench to it for all the problems it gave Vince.
Sorry I digress, so over the last few years these generators have needed repairs and which have led us to three small but I have every confidence very productive repair shops. The Monday before Thanksgiving found us at Martin Diesel in Defiance, Ohio. The generator had died in September and Vince had ordered a circuit board to install in it out in Portland only to find out that was not the problem. He later learned it was the genhead. A genhead is as Vince would call it way above his pay range so we needed to take it to Martin, the original maker of the generator.
The week before Thanksgiving Vince called to make the appointment for that Monday. Jim of Martin told him that if we called him on Sunday and let him know our arrival time he would be happy to meet us at the shop and let us plug into Shore power overnight. Shore power is a separate system that allows Vince to plug the truck into an electrical outlet and gives us the heat, ac, etc. This was such a nice offer as Jim was taking time away from home on a Sunday to help us out. Vince called Jim on Sunday afternoon and left a message with the time we would be arriving and at the very time Jim arrived to help Vince get hooked up. It was so nice to have the temperature controls and microwave that evening but most importantly any time you can save fuel is golden.
At 7:15 am that next morning Paul, the mechanic who would replace the genhead and work on our exhaust system came out introduced himself and got us into position. Over the next ten hours Paul worked on our generator. He explained how the damage occurred and explained what and why he was doing everything. He never made Vince feel like he was bothering him and when it was all done we were confident that the repairs were done in a professional manner. Also both Jim and Paul offered us the shop pick up to use if we wanted to go in and get something to eat.
In addition to this positive experience, we have had similar experiences in July of 2009 Leesburg, Florida and in April 2009 in Ashland, Virginia. I told you we have had a lot of problems, this doesn’t count the times Vince worked on them or we had work done at home. At Powertech in Leesburg they kept us on time by taking us at our appointed time and provided Vince with extra parts for the generator that he could install if need be in the future. The Ashland Virginia at the Kaeser’s shop is experience I will never forget because after working on the generator for about a half hour the gentleman took down our information and said he would submit it to Powertech for reimbursement under the warranty. We asked if he wanted a credit card number for his file in case they didn’t honor the repair and he stated “no I know where you live and how to get a hold of you I’m not worried”.
How nice it is to know that these places still exist in small towns and cities across this country? These experiences remind me of my childhood and are experiences that I thought were long gone. I am thankful for these opportunities in the truck to learn that these types of shops are not gone. If anyone reading this has had similar experience(s) I do hope you will share them no matter what type of shop it so we know where to find them and can help to keep them in business.
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