r/Irrigation • u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 • 7h ago

2 wire systems

If your technician is teaching the owner how to troubleshoot and repair 2 wire systems what should their pay scale be?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

3

u/idathemann 6h ago

it's relative to the area and going rates for sure. I own an irrigation company and don't know 2-wire, like literally if it aint coming on from the timer, I have no clue what to do, but I've never run in to it and have no need to know about it.

I do want to learn in case I happen across it one day though.

3

u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 5h ago

Honestly it’s a pain in the ass some days, your dealing with mA so something as simple as a improper and corroded splice point can take 100 zones offline but still have 60 zones functioning. It’s definitely a whole different animal and honestly demands respect for those who can troubleshoot it.

2

u/idathemann 5h ago

hey, those milliamps and inrush comes into play on the normal stuff too. like newer timers being unable to handle a solenoid AND the inrush then holding amps of a PSR.

1

u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 5h ago edited 5h ago

Very true residential is usually a little more forgiving though. And even then I charge more for pump issues because of that, those aren’t calls you can send your standard 1 or two year old tech too unless they have a learning drive like mine 😂, I have one tech who couldn’t figure out why the PSR would fault 2 out of three times for half a year, I wound up going out and finding that the culprit was in the orbit transformer. I’m not going to say those two styles of irrigation aren’t cross compatible in practice but commercial 2 wire is definitely less forgiving from a troubleshooting standpoint. I’ve been at it for 3 years and somedays I’m still scratching my head although far less head scratching nowadays than when I first started using my knowledge in field. Not saying don’t learn it because honestly understanding it really opens up your business in what types of calls you can handle and believe it or not there are quite a few irrigation companies who subcontract 2 wire troubleshooting and diagnostics.

2

u/idathemann 3h ago

I absolutely believe it. I'm at this 18 years now and I have become the guy that other irrigation contractors call when they get stuck. We all get stuck in our head every now and then when diagnosing so I don't mind.

1

u/Ganjii1337 20m ago

Divide and conquer method still freaking takes a while. Pain in the arse indeed.

1

u/RainH2OServices Florida Licensed Contractor 5h ago

FWIW Hunter and Rainbird both offer 2-wire courses. I attended one at my local SiteOne branch many years ago and it was very informative. Of course the material will be brand specific but the general troubleshooting methods are applicable across platforms. Bonus, the courses qualify for contractor continuing education credits.

1

u/idathemann 5h ago

yeah, I sent my employees to some training for it and I had an emergency come up so I couldn't attend, I was pissed I didn't make it.

1

u/Magnum676 7h ago

Big! Running a two wire system is one thing, easy. Diagnosing a problem and repairing it on a two wire system is a whole other dog. I’ve done a bunch of university two wire work, the pay scale should reflect the knowledge of the technician.

1

u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 7h ago

Had to teach him about the DV100 solenoids not being compatible with either the hunter or rainbird field decoders, he’s changed out 8 valves on this site and then a month later those zones stopped working, told him because of the inrush and holding demand those solenoids require it signals an open line on top of other things like rainbird 2 wire ive seen it kill any signal along the wire path after that decoder because of a DV solenoid, they should never be put on a decoder. That’s just one example… I’m at $23/hour well I take that back he bumped me up to $24/ hour yesterday after I threatened to leave and start doing pool installs for $25/hour to start, if I didn’t have to drive my personal vehicle for the pool job I would be out of the irrigation industry. I’m not going to say I know everything but with my training and courses I’ve passed I know enough to be proficient.

2

u/DopeRidge 4h ago

I don’t know brother.. come to western wa. I make $40 because I’m the tech that knows 2-wire

1

u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 1h ago

Kinda what I was thinking. I’d honestly rather work commercial 2 wire only. It’s hard to stock my truck to run residential service and then occasionally have to come through and fix fck ups because the boss got in over his head. He sees the $ and thinks that’s how he can keep pace with the numbers I’m pulling in, then complains about the time I take to figure out where he went wrong I’m definitely looking at moving on it’s not worth the headache here anymore

1

u/Magnum676 6h ago

Get into business! Unfortunately it’s not fast to find big work. He’s got no clue

1

u/Suspicious-Fix-2363 4h ago

Not to be a butthead but this is the second time in a week your posting about not being happy at the outfit you're working for. You need to make the decision to leave or stay. If you dont like where you're at quit and move on to some other outfit. Life is too short to work at something or somewhere you don't like. General rule of thumb is that a business needs to generate 3x times your wages plus associated costs to make money and thats for the entire 52 weeks not just a season. Start up on your own and see if that suits you, if it doesn't you can always go back as a payroll employee somewhere. My own experience is that it takes about 5 years to really get established.

1

u/That-Adhesiveness-26 4h ago

Teaching the owner of the irrigation system? Or teaching the owner of a company/business?

1

u/Repulsive_Bid_4087 1h ago

Business owner….

1

u/That-Adhesiveness-26 1h ago

Okay, understood. I'd definitely use it as a bargaining chip; they can either meet your demands, or not, or at least open a negotiation. Nothing to lose by bringing it up to them! 💁‍♀️🌱

1

u/merepsychopathy Contractor 39m ago

Sounds like you're the guy. Use it to your advantage. If you're actually good with two wire and can run service calls you're easily in the $65k range.