Sanitation Systems Technical Course
On February 16, the headquarters of Dahlberg SA hosted the “Course Selling and Repairing Toilets and Blackwater Systems” taught by professionals from the house. The company, a pioneer in Spain in teaching courses on this topic, wanted to share in this way its knowledge and years of experience in the installation, repair and maintenance of this type of systems. About twenty professionals from the sector attended the event, who highly valued the contents of the course, which was divided into three main thematic blocks: marine sanitation systems, vacuum and electric toilet technology, and service.
For more than four hours, the different speakers reviewed the characteristics of waste on ships, how to work with it, its storage system, how to solve the problem of bad odors and knowing how to advise their clients on the correct use of this equipment. They also instructed the attendees in the operation of the Sealand, Sanimarin and Matromarine brand toilets. Most of this first block was conducted by the company's Sanitation Project Manager, Rosa Dahlberg. They also received a brief talk on the management of social networks in their companies by their Marketing Manager, Pedro Palou.
The last part was dedicated to the service, focused on the practical part, the company's technicians Toni Lopera and Pau Más revealed the main complaints that customers usually have, where to obtain technical information quickly if necessary, how to solve breakdowns and warranty issues. They reviewed, among other things, the characteristics of Sealand's Vacuflush toilets. The kits created by Kjell Dahlberg to significantly reduce the noise of Sealand pumps were also presented.The few experts on the subject will be surprised to know the large number of differences that exist between the normal toilets that can be found in every home and those on boats. The first ones rarely cause problems, mainly because they work with large quantities of water and the diameter of the discharge is 3 times larger than the discharge hose of a toilet on a boat. The special characteristics of a ship, such as lack of space, continuous movement and the need to have tanks where waste can be channeled, require more specialized work. Also, unlike those in our homes, it requires regular maintenance to avoid such unpleasant problems as traffic jams or bad odors.
Based on those decades of experience, Rosa Dahlberg, speaker of the course, tells us that “having quality equipment is not usually given the importance it deserves.” He explains that “when a boat is equipped, the last chapter of the budget, what is left over, is dedicated to the toilets. “Sometimes people care more about having a plasma television than about having a decent sanitation system.” And that's where the problems arise: bad odors, blockage of the hose lines, overfilling of the tank... And all of this translates into repairs that together are more expensive than having invested in quality equipment and quality equipment at the beginning. good installation. He also tells us that “the people who have already had serious headaches due to poor installation or equipment that did not measure up are the ones who invest the most in the sanitation system.”
The installation of this equipment is a very specialized job. Many companies are dedicated to the maintenance and repair of sanitation systems, but few are specialized in it and Dahlberg is one of them. And it is because of this advantageous situation that they wanted to take advantage of that experience to train other professionals. Rosa explains that “we realized at the beginning that almost no one offered this type of training in Spain and we decided to share our experience with other professionals.” He assures that "many of those who come are our distributors who want to update themselves with the new toilet models and expand their knowledge on various topics that we discuss here."
The response from those attending the course was, in the opinion of the organizers, very satisfactory. A few days after announcing that the event was going to take place, the places had already been filled, in the same way that happened in previous editions, where they also got a good response from the attendees. According to the satisfaction survey carried out later on the participants, the majority of them gave the highest score to all sections of the course.
At Fairline Ibiza, one of the companies that attended, they know perfectly well that toilets usually cause a lot of problems. It is the first time that they come and tell us that they have to work from time to time with this type of equipment and they appreciate being able to attend a seminar that clarifies their doubts. They also laugh and say that it was too short, although they recognize that the information and documents provided digitally will allow them to further expand their knowledge and consult when they have any questions.
Another of the attendees, a mechanic by profession, corroborates the opinions of his colleagues and explains that it is necessary to know how to deal with equipment as complicated as toilets. “Maybe you don't work with them periodically, but sometimes it's your turn and you have to know how to handle the situation,” he says, and “that's why I came here today, what they do is very good and the knowledge and experience is appreciated.” that they share.”
At the end of the day, a Hose Heater valued at more than €600 was drawn. It is a useful tool that facilitates the installation of hoses. The winner of the award was Jorge Magistrello from the Fairline Ibiza company.
Dahlberg SA is a family business founded in 1961 by Kjell Dahlberg and established as such in 1984 by his daughters Margarita and Rosa. It is currently dedicated to the supply, installation and repair of nautical electronic instruments, supply and installation of on-board sanitary systems, and in addition to being the official technical service of the firms they represent. They have received several recognitions thanks to the quality of their service and the importance they give to R&D. The granting of the ISO 9001:2000 quality standard is a clear example of this.