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50 Years in the Gas Heating Business

Tim McElwain
Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
I recently came to the realization that this June 1 it is 50 years since I left the US Navy on Friday May 31 1966 and on the following Monday went to work at Providence Gas Company in Rhode Island. Wow it seems like just yesterday.

It is actually longer as I really started in the heating industry at 9 years old. After my Dad was killed by a drunk driver his boss hired me to empty 5 trash cans everyday after school at his plumbing and heating supply. My Dad was a contractor and the owner of the plumbing and heating company was trying to help my widowed mother out. He paid me $20.00 a week, that was in 1949- 1950 big money back then. Later at 13 years old he let me ride on the delivery truck on weekends and in the summer go on some installs of boilers and furnaces. When I turned 16 I worked part time as a life guard and also went out with some guys who installed boilers and furnaces and helped them out.

So it has been a long time in this industry.
ChrisJvaporvacHarvey Ramer4JohnpipeTinmankcoppRobert O'BrienMark EathertonSolid_Fuel_Manlchmb

Comments

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,796
    Congratulations!
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,506
    I'm sure the next 50 will be even better :)
    steve
  • Pumpguy
    Pumpguy Member Posts: 645
    Nice story! What did you do in the Navy?
    Dennis Pataki. Former Service Manager and Heating Pump Product Manager for Nash Engineering Company. Phone: 1-888 853 9963
    Website: www.nashjenningspumps.com

    The first step in solving any problem is TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM.
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    I was a Radarman and also Electronics Technician. I served on two destroyers from 1957 until 1966. I loved visiting the boiler rooms and engine rooms seeing what made the whole floating city function.
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    Congratulations, Tim!
  • Harvey Ramer
    Harvey Ramer Member Posts: 2,239
    Wow, Tim! That's pretty impressive. The things you've seen along the way I guess....
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,588

    I was a Radarman and also Electronics Technician. I served on two destroyers from 1957 until 1966. I loved visiting the boiler rooms and engine rooms seeing what made the whole floating city function.

    Hey, we may have something in common.
    Most of the equipment I restored was tube.
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,042
    Yes Tim, congratulations. That is a notable achievement!

    And bless your first generous boss for that $20 per week. That would buy most of the groceries for a family at that time.
    In 1959 my widowed mother gave me a dollar a week allowance and it seemed extravagant to me, I couldn't imagine where she had the extra money with 5 kids.

    In 1963 a 70 hour week of real work on a farm would get me $35. (But I was fed really well and slept really well....no TV)
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    Chris yes tubes were the thing in those days. I even had tubes on Flame Safeguard equipment early on in the gas industry. We sure have come a long way with controls today.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    I was a tech in the army in the '60's, 95% of the gear I worked on was tube based and built like a tank. We had to improvise for parts sometimes but managed to keep the gear up and humming.

    Tim, you have been a Godsend to this industry - we all appreciate what you do.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • GW
    GW Member Posts: 4,691
    Tim congratulations on a long and successful career. Gary
    Gary Wilson
    Wilson Services, Inc
    Northampton, MA
    gary@wilsonph.com
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    Working on electronic equipment on a destroyer at sea with pitching and rolling really prepares you for being a service tech. After that working on equipment in some pretty miserable conditions for the gas company was really nothing.

    I will never forget the first time I had to climb the mast and chip ice of the radar antennas. Eighty feet in the air with the ship rolling was always fun.

    I have actually experienced "The Perfect Storm" coming out of the Mediterranean we hit two North Atlantic storms on top of one another. We had 80 foot waves breaking over the top of the mast on my ship.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    That kind of a storm must have been a real eye opener on a tin can, was she WWII vintage?

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Robert O'Brien
    Robert O'Brien Member Posts: 3,540
    Thanks for your service to our country,Tim! And congrats on the golden anniversary!
    To learn more about this professional, click here to visit their ad in Find A Contractor.
    Mark Eathertonrick in Alaska
  • Paul48
    Paul48 Member Posts: 4,469
    I'm not so certain that a ship of modern construction would survive a storm like that. But then again, they were built by mothers and fathers, with the thought of keeping their sons alive. Thank You Tim......You have made a difference!
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853

    Thanks for your service to our country,Tim! And congrats on the golden anniversary!

    And thank you for your contributions to our education system.
    ME

    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
    SWEI
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 22,023
    Long may you teach, thanks for sharing the stories and knowledge.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    My first ship was a destroyer named USS McCaffery DD-860 I was on her from 1958 until 1963. I then went into the shipyard for a FRAM conversion (Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization) I transferred in the shipyard to the USS Warrington DD-843 who was also going through FRAM. That was the ship I went through the storm on. Both were WWII vintage. The Warrington eventually went to Vietnam were she hit a mine and was later scrapped.

    I never did get shore duty as I had a special job code for Anti-Submarine Warfare. Those years were exciting as we were still in the Cold War and Russia was very active at sea with Electronic Surveillance Trawlers. I was also an air controller and ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) expert.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    Those were tough ships, I remember reading about the line of destroyers and DE's that stood off Japanese heavy cruisers at
    he Battle off Samar when our main carrier force went hunting snipes leaving the invasion force exposed

    "In no engagement of its entire history has the United States Navy shown more gallantry, guts and gumption than in those two morning hours between 0730 and 0930 off Samar ”
    — Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XII, Leyte"



    I was in Korea on an isolated site when that Navy EC121 got shot down in 1969. We stood a lot of overnight watches till things cooled down. It's interesting that I worked on anti sub systems that were used on that aircraft a decade later when we supplied equipment to LORAL.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 2,762
    I bet when you took that first job with the gas company you thought it would just be temporary :)
    I have enough experience to know , that I dont know it all
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    No I did not think it would be temporary as utilities had a tendency back then to be a very secure job. I started in June 1966 and was told I was permanent the day before Christmas 1966.

    So much for that 28 years later in 1994 I was downsized with 30 others all from middle management. That was when my old company Gas Appliance Service (a restaurant service and installation company) became Gas Appliance Service Training and Consulting. Two weeks after I was downsized I went to work with Honeywell as a sub-contractor traveling all over the country teaching their "Source Program" which was teaching everyone how to troubleshoot electric ignition systems. I did that until 1999. During the period back in the 70's I managed to get a degree in business from Johnson and Wales University.

    I also became a Born Again Christian in 1970 and in 1984 was ordained a Pentecostal Minister and Pastored a church for 17 years along with operating Gas Appliance Service Training and Consulting.

    It has been a very exciting life to say the least. In fact when I asked my wife to marry me in 1959 I told her "I can't promise you much but I can say it will be exciting."
  • Tim McElwain
    Tim McElwain Member Posts: 4,612
    Say I really did not plan to say all this, sounds like this is your life!!
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    It sounds like a life well lived.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,168
    A life well lived, indeed, Reverend. Thank you for all that you have done for us, and continue to do!
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England