Electrical
It’s midnight at Springhill Colony. A loud, screeching and irritating noise is heard over the P.A. system. In every house people jump out of bed. Meanwhile the phone is ringing in Larry’s house. “Larry we’ve got problems here at Gerald and Wayne’s house.” The electrician bolts out the door and off to Gerald’s house to inspect. After an hour the phones are still ringing and the P.A. is still screeching. The next morning Larry finds that a 660 volt underground distribution line busted just outside Gerald and Amanda’s house. The Electrician and his helper were busy fixing the busted line for the next couple of days.
Electrical workers play a very important role in Springhill Colony. The head electrician, Larry Wollmann, has been working at this occupation for approximately 27 years. His job consists of: wiring, plumbing, refrigerating and air conditioning, control panel designing, plus computer designing.
Being an Electrician requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and an absolutely clear mind. You also have to be computer oriented in today’s work. “It can be extremely stressful,” declared Larry while sitting on the computer, drawing another 3-d blue-print. In the past few years he has started using computer programs such as “AutoCAD” to keep up with changing demands.
“After 27 years on the job, I believe it is the right job for me,” commented Larry, who especially likes circuitry and PLC programming, which he finds very challenging.
As we can see, electrical maintenance has an enormous amount of responsibility and includes jobs that need daily attention. With the help of his 2 helpers, Harry and Ryan, they strive to get the work done together. “Without my helpers, I couldn’t do it, and it would be hard to take on more.”
The electricians have a major impact on the Colony. “I personally believe that a community without an electrician or someone to do the related jobs would be in dire straits,” says Larry. Without Electrician we’d have to hire people, and spend a lot of money on workers from outside the community. Imagine always having electrical problems and nobody to fix them. The electricians are definitely a convenience and we have to agree that it would be extremely complicating without electricians.
Electrical work can be very dangerous. However, over the period of Larry’s career, he only remembers 1 bad experience- an electrical shock of 347 volts. He also had a fairly shocking scare with a disk grinder. He was grinding an electrical box when the disk broke, “and smashed into my left hand, breaking bones and severing tendons.” With 3 surgeries and a year of recovery, his hand finally got its strength back and is now back to normal.
Larry Wollmann has made a number of educational updates over his career. He is a journeyman electrician, a certified water plant operator, and a certified domestic waste water operator. He has also taken a course of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning at ACC Brandon. Also training young helpers.
His current helper, (Ryan Wollman), has been the Electrical helper for almost 4 years. “I do really enjoy it,” states Ryan, “but it can be very hectic at times.” Ryan maintains the coal boiler and does some other work such as maintenance wiring, wiring new houses and doing repairs. “I’d sometimes like to do something else for a change, but it’s a job that is interesting and not too repetitive.” Ryan is a real Electrician because he likes to get right down to the job and get it over and done with. But sometimes experimenting with things like soldering is needed.
Over the years of this particular occupation Ryan has only experienced one major danger. “I got a shock from two 110-volt wires simultaneously for about 2 seconds.” The shock caused him to fall off a stepladder. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt badly but learned a lesson.
He has also learned an enormous amount of electrical skills such as understanding concepts, and reading wiring diagrams. More importantly, “working your butt off gets your work done in time.” Furthermore, says Ryan, “If you don’t’ give up you will be very successful at whatever you do.
In review, the electricians are a great asset and requirement in the community. Just ask Colin and Gerald about the 600 volt distribution line that busted near midnight. Must have been very infuriating.
Janice Wollmann Wollmann
