Best Of
Re: What happened to Rems Tools(USA)
Teal Industries in Minnesota is the importer and repair point for REMS. I've sent my tools there for repairs. Are they still open? REMSusa.com
There is a handful of guys that post on IG that do a lot of bending, Mike Flynn flynnstone1 and jeffdemhvac have done demos at some trade shows, AHR and others.
I used to do a lot of bending on my jobs, mostly hobby stuff now. You can also bend steel pipe and PVC pipe with it, cold!
I think Rothenberger has a bender also.
hot_rod
Re: Bastian morley gas valve
A photo and the part number of the valve or the model number of the heater please. I have found that most gas valves are not field repairable. The manufacturer does not recommend disassembly of gas valves. You may be better off with a replacement that works in a similar way, can be set to the same specifications and has not been taken apart.
As a Professional that likes to tinker and take things apart to see how they work, I have never in my 40+ years of hands on repair work, taken a gas valve apart and replaced any internal part, then put it back in service in someones home. I just don't want that kind of liability.
Re: Chilling me softly with
There is a lot of variety in Utah, we are 40 minutes from mountain lakes and reservoir.
The Little Sahara
desert, salt flats, and the redrock southern Utah. Come and visit sometime.
hot_rod
Re: Just wondering
Yes October/November. They knew they had a problem and hoped it would magicly heal over the summer
Re: Chilling me softly with
I know the words to that one
🎶 I heard he sang a good song
I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him
To cool off for a while 🎶
And there he was, this young boy
with a manifold gauge set
🎶 Strummin' my sweat with his fingers
Singin' my life with his words
Chilling me softly with his song 🎶
Chilling me softly with his song
🎶 Tellin' my whole life with his words
Chilling me softly with his song
I don't want to heat any Flack from any of you on this one. With this sheet music, that HP won't need to be humming that tune. 🎶 All systems will work just fine!
Re: Thoughts on brass bushings and plugs
And why, oh why, would you be wanting to ditch the steam for hot water? If the old steam boiler gives out — replace it. And in the meantime do the minor repairs to bring your steam system up to snuff.
You'll be a lot happier… and will spend about half as much money…
I'll Fix It, Honey.
I've been working at a house where the husband is a mathematician/engineer. He was always the one that did the plumbing and electrical repairs in the house. He even did the work to repair any heating system problems. As he got older, fewer things got fixed. Slowly, the Honeywell zone valves stopped working and eventually, there was no heat in the house. The husband is now in a memory care facility and his wife has decided that she wants heat, so she called they only person - still alive - that worked on their system in the past - me.
I've replaced all the zone valves only to find out that none of the thermostats communicate with the controls in the boiler room. I suspect rats chewing through the wiring as they had a longtime vermin problem and I've replaced the old thermostats with Honeywell RedLINK wireless units.
All the old thermostats still work as does the transformer relay. They are so beautiful and I can't bring myself to throw any of them away.
Re: Single Zone mini- labor grabber
When I realized that my son was not interested in taking over the family business, I made a deal with one of my employees. I would pay him his regular wage. what he was worth based on his experience. I would pay him 1/2 again as much that would be deposited in a escrow account. No records of that money as his income. Just $$$ sitting there. As it turns out I would retire in 20 years and he would have enough in the escrow account to buy me out and I would use that $$$ towards my retirement. (if the money ever got to a point where the tax folks would want to know about it, I would get the tax accountant and trust lawyers involved, but that never happened.) After 5 years of loyal service there comes this woman in his life and he moved to Florida. He forfeited that money when he quit. Nothing in writing yet so no harm no fowl.
We are still friendly.
About 15 years later I got a drunk dial from him in Florida. We talked for a while and at the end of the conversation he said: "If I had stayed in New Jersey, I would own your company today". We both laughed about it.
My brother had trouble selling his business when he wanted to retire. If he made better plans he could have been compensated more.
I would still be in business if I didn't end up with this disability that put me in this wheelchair, but I got lucky, Twice. In 2017 I offered to buy out a competitor that has a large customer base in beach front condos in a wealthy barrier island rresort community. Lots of service contracts. Lots or customers that can afford to pay. Good income stream. I offered to pay him his 7 figure asking price which included $100,000 in inventory on the books.
When he thought he has a sucker on his hands, he didn't accept and said that he had $80,000 in inventory that he just purchase for the upcoming season, so the price would be higher. When I showed him the original offer included $100,000 for the inventory from the previous years "due diligence" company books inspection, I said that is $20,000 less so my offer would be 20,000 lower… so he bailed.
I was then diagnosed with the incurable disability that would result with me confined to a wheelchair in the future. So the following year he asked again of I was still interested…. too late, you snooze you lose.
The second stroke of luck was a fuel oil dealer/HVAC/Plumbing contractor decided to stop delivering fuel oil, and his son wanted to expand the HVAC business to the next county (where I was located). Since a majority of my customers were oil heated homes with several different fuel dealers that I was also friendly with, I could not sell to a company that also operated a fuel deliver truck. But all the other competitors sisn't want any oil heat customer. I knew these plumbers from different trade shows and training classes for over 20 years and thought highly of them. so when they stoped selling oil and wanted to expand, I was able to sell them my service contracts inventore and rolling stock for a nice retirement fund amount. The stars were all aligned for me. (Except for the wheelchair thing)
I guess I am relating this story to you Gary, so you can prepare for your retirement in the event you don't have someone already lined up to take over when you get old like me. LOL
It is good to have the small business folks like us, just to keep the big mega companies from monopolizing the trades and keep the pricing reasonable…. Big business = big overhead = big pricing. Small business = small overhead = reasonable pricing. But don't under cut yourself. You should be able to charge what you are worth and make a nice living.
Re: Ever seen one of these??
was there like a drying shelf on the bottom? looks like there are lugs to hold a shelf on the bottom.
mattmia2
Re: I'm getting solar panels. I'll let you know how it goes in this discussion thread.
Both of my nieces bought houses in the last 5 years and both had solar installed. 1 in CT & 1 in MA. One house has gas heat and HW. The other house is all electric.
They both are very happy with them at least for now.
Now, @ethicalpaul to make your house really efficient you can rip out the steam and go the heat pump route.😊😊😊😊 LOL