It's Not Me; It's You.

HeatingHelp

It's Not Me; It's You.

Once, I was looking at an old asbestos-covered steam boiler in a dank basement. It had earned its retirement years before and now had a softball-sized hole at its waterline. “It’s time for a new boiler,” I said to the homeowner. “I don’t want to hear that,” he said. “I’m going to get a second opinion.”

Read the full story here

unclejohn

Do you have a hearing aid?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcliR8kAbzc

EdTheHeaterMan

> @unclejohn said:
> Do you have a hearing aid?
@EdTheHeaterMan Said: Yes I have the best , most expensive, premium, ultra quality hearing aid available to mankind. There are none better!
@unclejohn : what kind is it?
@EdTheHeaterMan : about 2:30 PM

unclejohn

True story. My wife said pass the salt. I said what's my fault?

Jamie Hall

Just remember -- if you can't quite hear what she said, the correct answer is "Yes, dear".

nokindaplumber

Funny how an article that starts out in one vein suddenly mines another. As a "searcher" for ANY Honeywell "Unique" valve, I was amazed to find that it's development was as a rival to the steam system protocol.

I've got 1/2 dozen Unique valves still in operation - some day I'll get my act together and finally replace old knobs but heck, they work great in just one position so why fool with success. If I ever found another I'd buy it in a heartbeat - the elbows are probably more rare than the valve. Great story.

HomerJSmith

I enjoyed that story.

DanHolohan

Thanks, guys. Confluence is always delicious.

mattmia2

Somewhere on here there is a better description of the unique valve and the whole system as well as the original Honewell book about it. What those don't have that this does (which I had surmised before) is that you can replace a unique valve with a TRV with a dip tube.

Erin Holohan Haskell

More on Honeywell's Unique Valve: https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/honeywells-unique-valve/

GW

Good story, people always want someone else to carry their water. The person that says “carry your own water” gets to climb the proverbial ladder

motoguy128

I find that more expensive complicated heating and cooling systems are usually purchased by those with more money, more education, but somehow a lot more ignorance about mechanical and electrical things. Similarly, with money,power and influence you become coached to have high expectations and are used to giving orders.

So there we have the worst combination. A more complicated, inherently less reliable systems with a more demanding customer.

We all know them. They have white carpet Or tile right outside the mechanical room and a small yippy dog that likes to chew the back of your leg... but it’s cute.

Yet they demand a bargain, and every time we do one of these jobs, I’m optimistic that we will make a profit, but often am disappointed After the 10th call back.

unclejohn

I'm fairly certain that the customer is long gone by now but one of my very first service calls that I went to on my own was a not enough humidity call. Very large home off of California Street in DC. The only road named after a state in DC that is not a avenue. There were four Aprilaire Chippewa humidifiers, I think they were called that. All were flowing water over the pads and out the drain and all seemed ok to me. But just to be sure I pulled out my trusty wet bulb thermometer and started slinging brown rusty water all over the living room carpet that was of course white. I packed that up quick and went and wrote my service invoice and left. The service manager called me in the next day and wanted to know why I did not but a humidity reading on the ticket. I told him I couldn't find my wet bulb. Never heard anything about the carpet stains.