HVAC Repair Tips for Homeowners

This may sound like blasphemy to some people, but I think there is such a thing as having too much money.

I am a humble man, I don’t need a lot out of life.

Money brings security, but once you have financial security, then you are just collecting money. Money should be out in the economy circulating, not locked up in a vault. After 20 years in the business, I have reached a level of comfort I never expected to have, and that is why I am finally giving back to the community. I am starting a program at the local high school to expose kids to HVAC work and other trade school programs. It seems to me that a lot of kids are pressured into going to college, and never told how profitable HVAC work and other trade jobs can be. I don’t want to recruit kids for my HVAC company, I just want to make sure they know all of their options. Every month I will host a meeting in the high school gym where I will discuss the ins and outs of HVAC work as a career. Any teen who attends these meetings can fill out a form to apply for a scholarship to the local HVAC program at the community college. Here’s the catch – this isn’t a random drawing, or a contest, because whoever applies at one of my meetings will be given the HVAC scholarship with no questions asked. I am going to offer these kids a free education in HVAC work, and welcome them to the industry!

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I suppose that it’s happened to all of us at one time or another.

You let someone into your house, and they steal from you.

It could be a friend at a party, or a worker you hire to come and perform a service for you. When you invite someone into your home, there is a social contract involved, and so when that person violates the contract and steals from you, it is shocking and upsetting. This happened to me just recently, and I’m still dealing with it. In this case the issue was twofold, because my trust was violated, and I lost my air conditioner in the process. It honestly never occurred to me that it was even possible to steal an air conditioner, even the smallest ones are quite dense and heavy! The spare bedroom in my house used to be a one-car garage, and when it was converted it still wasn’t connected to the central HVAC system. Instead of adding new air ducts to the main system, I decided to buy a window-mounted unit for the room. It was several hundred dollars cheaper to get this kind of AC unit instead of remastering the air ducts. After this party the other night I went into the spare bedroom, and saw that the air conditioner was no longer sitting in the window! The AC unit had been unplugged from the inside, and then unbolted from the outside, so whoever had taken it was someone at my party! That air conditioner cost me three hundred bucks, and I want it back!

 

hydronic heater

Personally I don’t think it’s fair that high school kids have to decide about their futures when they don’t know anything.

The reason this country is plagued with student loan debt is that all these dumb kids were pushed into attending expensive colleges.

Once upon a time very few people had college degrees, but now they are so commonplace and easy to get that they carry very little value. I thank my lucky stars that I chose trade school instead of going to the university. HVAC work might not be glamorous, but it pays well, it’s steady work, and best of all I didn’t have to go into horrific debt for my education. Trade school costs a fraction of what college costs, and I was able to start working for a local HVAC contractor long before I finished my schooling. It took two and a half years before I had secured my HVAC certification, but I worked the entire time. Think about it – while most of my peers were still in college, I had finished trade school and already had over two years of experience in the HVAC industry! I was learning the entire time, both in the classroom and in the field, and after certification I was ready to be a full time HVAC tech. One other thing that I feel is important about this process, is that although the HVAC certification classes cost money, it is very reasonable. You won’t have to go into debt or break the bank to study HVAC work, it is affordable for most people.

 

new hvac equipment

The seller was offering the house for a shockingly low price.

I asked him what the catch was, and he explained that the previous tenant had been a hoarder, and the place was still filled with several tons of junk that had been collected over a series of years.

It was worth him selling the place for a song, just so he didn’t have to clean everything up – that’s how nasty it was inside. I took a look around, but thought that for the cheap price I was getting I could handle the physical labor of cleaning it out. At that point I did not know about the dead animal lodged in the air ducts, but I would find out soon enough. After I unloaded the house itself, I had to dig a little deeper and get into the attic, the basement, and the ductwork. I checked the thermostat, and tested it out by trying the heating and then the air conditioning. Both systems engaged, but no air came out of any of the air vents. I removed the grating from the air vents and saw that the ducts beyond were stuffed full of trash and expired food. Once I started to empty the air ducts, I came across the first of several dead animals, which had been lured in by the spoiled food. Some of these rat and squirrel carcasses were two years old, and totally desiccated, like little animal mummies hidden inside the ductwork. If I had it to do over again, I would skip buying this house, even at such a low cost, and invest the money into my home HVAC system.

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