With the vast array of old and obsolete equipment that we service, our technicians, engineers and staff have just about seen it all. Through our service center we have repaired units that range from being built last month, all the way to being made in the 50’s (before even the invention of the modern transistor). Not a day goes by that we don’t have something unique come across one of our technician’s benches. But sometimes…things can get a little weird. We asked around for some wild memories and here they are.
Why Does It Always Have To Be Snakes? -From Chuck in the Motor Shop
“When I check out a motor and it looks like it has been outside I am always a little bit careful. Snakes love, and I mean LOVE, terminal boxes. They slip in through the tiniest of holes and snuggle up in there. It makes sense right? It is a nice, dark warm place. It’s not too unusual to find a little snake in a motor, most of the time they’re still alive! But the largest one ever though, was a big ole king snake I found in a 400HP Reliance motor. He was about 5 feet long. He was a gentle guy and we released him in the nearby woods. I’ve got to say I was a little sad to see him go”.
Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Lightning -From Simon in Drives Repair
“There was this one time I was doing failure analysis on a variable frequency drive and for the most part the drive looked brand new. When I got to the bottom of the drive I noticed what looked like a copperish glob of blackened metal about the size of a golf ball. I soon realized it was the end of a piece of buss bar that had been completely melted, but only in that one spot. I called the customer and asked him what happened. He said he did not know, but the failure occurred when they went through a bad storm and that their building had been struck by lightning. I was completely baffled. How in the heck could lightning only effect that one spot leaving the rest of the drive unharmed? Mother Nature is a mystery”.
Happy New Year! – From Kyle in Receiving 
“Once I got in this shipment of power supplies from China for repair. This was right after the Chinese New Year, and I guess the plant was running low on packing materials. They packed the power supplies in a box, not with foam peanuts, but rather a surplus of these little hand-stitched ornamental dolls. I was amazed at the level of detail in these things. There were donkeys, bears, lizards and even a few dragons in the mix. We got hundreds of them! I handed them out to everyone! This was three years ago and there are still a few people that have them on their desks and benches”.
100+ Red Balloons – From Louis in Pump Repair
“I once got a pump into the service center and the customer’s complaint was that the unit was dragging and not producing enough flow. By the description I immediately thought there must something stuck in there. So I disassembled the unit and found what must have been hundreds of little red balloons stuck in the input side of the pump. I pulled one out and saw a man’s face was been printed on it. I took my air hose and filled it up (I wouldn’t blow it up with my mouth… it was a wastewater pump after all!), and sure enough there was some guys smiling face just printed on a bunch of balloons. We never figured out who that man was, oddly enough the customer had no idea how the balloons got there! It was definitely a little weird”.
There are many more crazy and unusual stories, I’ll be sure to post more soon! We know you guys out in the field have some good ones to share as well. If you do, please post a comment below! We would love to read them!
Please share your comments or questions with us below and be sure to visit www.gesrepair.com or call us at 1-877-249-1701 to learn more about our repair services. We’re proud to offer Complete Repair and Maintenance on all types of Industrial Electronics, Servo Motors, AC and DC Motors, Hydraulics and Pneumatics. Please subscribe to our YouTube page, Like Us on Facebook! Thank you!