Just crossed 500 refrigerator compressor swaps and the wear on my hands surprised me

Last Thursday I finished my 500th compressor swap on a Whirlpool fridge out in Davenport. I started counting a few years back just out of curiosity, and seeing that number really made me think about how much physical work goes into this trade. My hands are way tougher than they were five years ago, and I can feel it in my knuckles every morning now. Has anyone else noticed their body changing after a certain job count?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_stone764d ago

You think your hands are tough now, wait until you hit 600 and your grip starts fading when you're not paying attention. I noticed it creeping up on me around 450 swaps. My right hand now gets a weird tingle in the pinky if I hold a screwdriver too long. The calluses are one thing, but what nobody talks about is how the joints just start feeling loose, like they're getting sloppy with all that repetitive twisting. You ever get that clicking sound in your wrist after a long swap day? That's the real milestone nobody warns you about.

bennett.claire4d ago

Man, that clicking sound thing really hit home. I’ve got this dull pop in my left wrist every time I twist a screwdriver now, and it’s been doing it for months. My pinky and ring finger on that same hand go numb if I grip anything too tight for more than a few minutes. Have you found that the clicking gets worse when the weather changes, like before a cold front? I’m starting to wonder if the cartilage is just wearing down from all those years of torquing on stubborn bolts. It’s wild how we trade parts on units that last decades but our own joints don’t hold up the same way.