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Why Is It So Hard To Hire A Contractor?
A Wall Street Journal writer got in touch with me last summer and asked if she could interview me. She was working on an article about why it was so hard to hire a contractor. It was to be in the Small Business section of the Journal. She was mainly concerned with those contractors who don’t return calls, or those who show up, give an estimate, and then just disappear.
Re: Anyone in central Jersey have a guy that knows a guy-condenser recycling needs r22 removed
Drive by a Wawa at lunchtime, ask a person in a HVAC van. They usually scrap, and they can recover the refrigerant. They can be checked for acid and non condensables to determine its fate.
Re: Any steam heat contractors near Bloomington IN?
@MattinIndy , you should consider getting a Find a Contractor ad on this site. We get quite a few inquiries from your area, which could go to you.
Re: Sub floor radiant heat for primary heat source
Those Rehau plates look super nice. But looking online, it seems like the cost is $500 for 80 linear feet, which would cover about 100 square feet of floor with 16" joists. Or $5 square foot just for the plates. That sounds pretty steep.
Re: Your thoughts and opinions please
“The customer was thinking of a quick thing about what to look for on each type system.”
Herein lies the problem: They want you to give them in less than 4 hours what you’ve spent a lifetime learning.
It takes 12 years to get a high school diploma, another 4 to get a bachelor’s degree;, 3 more to get a master’s, and 1-2 more to earn a doctorate. But somehow, they expect you to be able to condense what you’ve learned through decades into 3-1/2 hours. It’s just part of the instant gratification culture in which we live.
I would suggest that you reduce it down to maybe one two sub points from each main topic that you feel are most needed and spend a little time emphasizing that it takes a lot more time and effort to get a working understanding of hydronics and then promote you books and videos along with this site. Those that really want to learn will take your advice.
Ironman
Re: A/C Capacitor Voltage
Just to recap (sorry). You can safely use a capacitor with a higher VOLTAGE rating than required. No problem. You can NOT use a capacitor with a capacitance much more than 10 percent higher or lower than required.
Re: Sub floor radiant heat for primary heat source
Good under floor plates (not the beer can type) will work fine and probably be less expensive any of the manufactured above floor systems provided your R value doesn’t go above 2. Typically, you can get about 20 btus output per square foot at 120* SWT which should be sufficient for a properly insulated house.
We prefer the Rehau double tube plates.
Ironman
Re: A/C Capacitor Voltage
I've seen capacitors rated for all kinds of voltages
16, 35,50,63,75, 600 etc.
ChrisJ




