Do I Have A Big Problem

Steamhead

a while back, describing how he and his oldest daughter were looking at schools, and when they went into the school buildings his attention was drawn to the Webster and Dunham Vapor systems the buildings had. He didn't mention a cure, so I think the condition is terminal......

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RoosterBoy

everytime I watch TV and I see someone's house or room I am always looking for baseboards , rads or ductwork. to see what they use to heat that place.

is this a HVAC sickness of mine. my friends ask me why am I so fascinated about water going through a boiler :-)
all I do is read about hydronics when im on the internet

anyone else as sick as me.

i am 28 and would go to a tech school so i can get into this trade but they want too dam much money for it.

thanks :-)

ed wallace

do i have a problem

I am a wet head I get withdrawral symtems if i go into a house and do not look at heating systems from boiler on

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Pat Clark_2

If this is a sickness

We need a lot more sick people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spread the word, let em know how great this industry is.

Pat (Alaska Time) Clark

hydronicsmike

Sick?

Most days, before I hit the bed, I first read the news and then The Wall. Looking at what IS heating a place is unavoidable to me too.

Is passion a sickness? I guess so

But it is a sickness that makes my life better and not worse, so its good!

There must be some employers out there that are willing to cover your schools for an apprenticeship, or at least chip in. Do it man. If you can do something for a living that you can truly enjoy every day and are looking forward every morning to get up and go to work, life is good. In the end, life it is too short and you'll spend a ton of time in your life doing it.

Mike

Boiler Guy

Good Morning Mike

I too have this "radoptomy and boilercosis". My wife always looks at me funny when I spot a radiator or boiler in a movie, TV show or while we are out somewhere.
This industry needs more of us "wetoholics" IMO.

hr

Don't fear the rooster!

send your friends by, we will tell them this is not abnormal behavior

Have you checked into an online degree. John Hall did a story on this in "The News". Ferris, in Michigan I believe, has an excellent program.

hot rod

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Scott Kneeland

Thats not sick, Every building I enter the first thing I look for is the radiators or the boiler, I got into some hotwater (no pun intended) awile ago. I went to a town hall in to get a permit and low and behold I saw a door that read "BOILER ROOM" it was unlocked, (their mistake) as I entered I heard a familiar sound. I went down the stairs and God Bless America what did I see, A huge old H.B. Smith Mills steam boiler with a 1050 Carlin spewing flames into the heart of that boiler with the carcass of a VERY OLD Iron Fireman burner on the floor, most likly they lacked the manpower to carry it up the stairs.. Just beautiful, at about that time reality set in as the Janitor asked "what the hell are you doing in here" I left. So you don't have it in a terminal case yet, you may be saved. I thought of opening a rehab center for Wet Heads that want to kick the habbit. Find a way to get on an apprentice program and just do it.

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Tony_8

Only 28 ?

You say that as if it is too old to bother, like it won't pay off...

How old will you be in 10 years if you go to tech school for this thing you love ? How old if you don't ?

Follow your passion and enjoy your life's work, you won't regret it. It makes getting up in the morning for work sooo much easier.

How I would love to have a young man who WANTED to learn this trade, not just have a job.

csmclean

\"10 Days and a Couple 2-Day Follow-ups...\"

...to quote advertising copy for a recovery center in the Seattle area some years ago...

I don't even work on the stuff, but since I've found The Wall, I go in daily to check for photos of latest installs (and marvel at Ron Jr.'s famous Houdini boiler routines). The other night, we had gone to the movie theater in a local town, and I immediately spotted the radiators in the lobby. No time to look for the boiler room, though. Not much "wet heat" in SW North Dakota (mostly FA gas equipment, including some pretty ancient conversion burners), so spotting radiators is kind of exciting.

If I can get back to Marquette, MI this summer, I'll see if I can get better photos of the boiler room of an 1887 building downtown. When I last looked, they were running a 1968 Weil-McLain 2MBTU on a 2-pipe steam system, w/ some fantastic old "Chicago Radiator" (I think) radiators. One of the original Keewanee boilers still resided down there (non-functiional) w/ a coal stoker still attached!

Craig

csmclean

Going to School

...just thought I'd echo the others on here: Find a way to go to shcool! No such thing as "too old", as far as I'm concerned. The other day a story was related to me of a woman who was 75 when she decided to go back to school and do graduate studies in social work.

Craig

leo g_13

Mr. Bird,

28 is the age that I started my apprenticeship. Now I have a 33 yr. old whom we will be signing up in the near future. To quote that bastion of capitalism, "Just do it!"

Leo G

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hydronicsmike

Yes Boiler Guy,

I agree. Not a bad sickness to have, is it?


Mike

S Ebels

Your sickness

A: It is a sickness. My better half tells me so and I believe everything she says!

B: There is no known cure. Once involved in hydronic heating systems you are hooked for life.

C: It is not terminal, just an annoyance to those living in close proximity to you.

D. I was infected at the ripe old age of 38. Left the safety of the family business and struck out on my own to passionately pursue hydronic nirvana. (I'm getting close)


Finally, In the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy, Git er Done!

ScottMP

I'll never forget

the look on the tour guides face at Blenham Palace in England, when I asked " Are we going to see the Basement ? ".

I also remember when I was an apprentice plumber abd went on a date at the movies. I was standing at the urinal and realized I was checking out the work done on the flushometer. Little did I know it was only the beginning.

When your hooked, your hooked.

Scott

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Mark Eatherton1

It's highly communicable too...

We'll be watching a movie, and the wife will lean over and wisper into my ear "RADIATOR!!"...She catches more of them then I do!

I don't think there's any hope for us. We'll all go to the next world as wet heads, and be asking at the pearly gates when the next tour of the boiler room begins:-)

ME

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jeff_51

just read dan's article

in P&M about 12 yrs ago when he was checking out catholic school for one of his girls. He was having a grand time checking out the antique heating system. Guess there are alot of sicko's out here. Nothing funner than tearing out an old boiler in my opinion.

jeff_51

there are alot of 40 yr old apprentices out there

the unions used to limit the age, but no more. Alot of good guys got laid off or downsized in other trades and have come over into ours. I know it is pricey, but get to B&G's little red school house. They also put on traveling seminars, get to the supply house and start to hound them. Dunkirk puts on a great little oil school. Talk to the reps of the units you are buying, they will often set up seminars on their products. You can learn ALOT that way. I did. We had a great supply house called IRR Supply when I was in Western N.Y. (Buffalo area) They set up all kinds of stuff for contractors and their employees. Start throughing out ideas, something might stick.

Dean_7

Interesting

Ever since I found the wall I do the same thing. While out walking yesterday my wife and I checked out a church undergoing renovation. the first thing I found was the manifold for the infloor radiant heat being installed. We found out thr church had been built in the early 1960's with some sort of fiber underfloor air ducts which had been destroyed by moisture from the air conditioning system causing the alter to partially collapse. As to age and school I went back to school at age 45 and to nursing school of all things. I'm now an RN in an ICU. It was one of the best things I ever did.

Henry_9

My wife

Does not understand why I think heating systems are SEXY. If a tractor can be sexy, a well done heating system is...I don't think erotic is the right word.

Anyway, I think she is immune from this communicable sickness.

SEXY boilers, who knew?

Henry

Viessmann Midwest

David_5

not sickness

While watching Polar Express with my kids I'm thinking Tom Hanks needs a new air vent on the radiator in his bedroom. Your just expanding your knowledge.
Pay whatever it costs for education. It is the best investment you will ever make.

David

Mad Dog_2

I , too, go out of my way to see the boiler room

Even on a toilet repair when I have no reason to go in the basement, just sick I guess? On Vacations and the Honeymoon I took videos and pics og Irish Plumbin' an heatin" Mad Dog

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Jim\"Rocky\"Kelleher

Dude I thought it was me !

When I went to the mother country I was taking pictures of the wall mounted water heaters and the plastic oil tanks, my brother said " What the Hell is wrong with you" I couldn't help it , i wish those pics were on a cd.

Not related to Ed or Gary Wallace.

Steamhead

So when

do we get to see these pics? ;-)

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Jim\"Rocky\"Kelleher

That was 1997

I'll have to see about pulling them out of the archives. How about we have the next Wetstock in Dublin, I would be there in a heartbeat !!!

Not related to Ed or Gary Wallace.

Ken C.

It's never too late

Many plumbers began the trade as a teenager. I began plumbing when I was 32. Sure, it hurt to take a pay cut. Yes, it was frustrating to work alongside much more experienced (sometimes younger) plumbers while I was just a beginner trying to learn (and there is so much to learn). And I'm at the age where my body is beginning to get some nagging pains (probably more from my former weightlifting days).

But you know what? The last four and a half years flew by, and before I knew, I had earned my journeyman's license. Like the other guys say, I can honestly say I look forward to getting up in the morning and going to work. Betcha not many people can say that. And now that I'm licensed, the financial rewards are coming.

So, like Tony says, 28 is not too late to jump in. Trade schools are expensive, but not necessary. Find a company willing to train you (I did). There are probably low-cost classes to fulfill your education requirements for licensing (I attended a school sponsored by my state's plumber's association, it only cost $250 a semester).

singh

sick,sick,sick

not only do I look at heating systems,but plumbing as well. I always check out the traps under sinks and the alignment of the flushometers in movie theaters, storm drain piping in parking garages are always fun to look at, as well as scupper drains under bridges and underpasses on the highway, fire sprinkler heads and any exposed vic pipe at the mall....
somebody call Dr.Phil please!!

oh yeah, I also check in at the wall at least once a day.

Go for it, try the local union hall in your area for an apprenticship.

FredR

Do I Have A Big Problem

My initial visit to the U.N. Bldg, I was tryig to locate the
space thermostats,same for Disney World. My wife and family just shake their heads. Perhaps you can tell I worked in HVAC.
Same for the Biltmore Estate in Ashville N.C. I could not wait for the behind the scene tour. Yep, got to see the boiler room and the early cooling systems. Awesome.
They generated their own D.C. voltage. They have two Otis elevators installed in the 1890's.