Technician Quickstart

What this is

A 2-minute read for the tech who tapped Help mid-repair. Planara reads the manuals so you don't have to. This page tells you how to trust what it tells you.

Confidence tier

Every answer carries one of three badges.

• Verified — multiple manual passages back this answer. Use it.
• Informed — one source, or partial coverage. Sanity-check the spec before you torque anything.
• Uncertain — thin documentation. Treat as a lead, not the answer. Open the cited page yourself.

Tap the badge for a one-line explanation and the source count.

Citations

Every claim is followed by [1] p.42. The number is the source rank, the page is where it came from in the manual.

• Tap any citation to open that manual page full-screen.
• If the page doesn't say what the answer says, the answer is wrong. Use the thumbs-down (see Feedback).
• No citation on a claim means it wasn't grounded. Don't act on it.

When the manual doesn't cover it

Sometimes the documentation just doesn't have your answer. Planara tells you that straight — no padding, no guessing.

• The answer says plainly what isn't covered, restates what you asked so you know it understood you, and points at the closest thing that is documented.
• It ends with a real next step — usually contact the dealer or distributor with the unit serial number, or measure the worn part and cross-reference.
• If your question could apply to more than one system or machine, you get a question back with tappable options instead of an answer. Pick one; the answer comes scoped to that unit.

A restated question is never the answer. If you get one with nothing behind it, that's a miss — thumbs-down it.

Standards (CKL)

When you see "standard" or "standards" in the sources count, that's the industry compliance layer — ABYC, ANSI, OEM bulletins — not a procedure tip from the manual.

Standards tell you the rule. The manual tells you how this engine implements it. Read both before deviating.

Feedback

The thumbs row sits under every answer. Use it.

• Thumbs up — the answer worked. One tap, no form.
• Thumbs down — opens a short form. Pick a reason (wrong answer, missing info, wrong procedure, wrong spec, outdated), drop one line on what should be there. Submitted corrections are reviewed and folded back into the system.

The faster you flag a wrong spec, the faster the next tech gets the right one.

Diagram viewer

Tap any manual page or diagram to open it full-screen.

• Pinch to zoom, or use the + / − buttons in the header.
• One-finger drag to pan when zoomed in.
• Tap outside the image, or press Escape, to close.

Labels and callouts on diagrams are baked into the manual page — they're not interactive overlays.

Multi-turn

Planara remembers the current conversation. You can say "what about the F250?" or "and the torque spec?" and it carries the context forward.

It does not remember across jobs. When you close the job or start a new one, the conversation resets. If an answer drifts off topic, just restate the equipment or the symptom.

Install on your home screen

Faster to open, full screen, works offline-ish on a flaky connection.

iPhone / iPad (Safari): Share button → Add to Home Screen → Add. Android (Chrome): menu (⋮) → Add to Home screen → Install.

Open the app from the new icon. It launches without the browser chrome.

Stuck? Tell us

If something is broken or the answer is wrong, use the thumbs-down on the answer. That's the fastest path. For account or access issues, contact your shop admin.