Nearly Famous Heating Quotes

hvac01453

In the 60's in New England, when you"re slow we say," your slower than molasses in January". In the new mellinium they say your Slower than dog ****. During my many years in the Army, with the help of the southners they said," your **** is sucking Applebutter." I never got that one, not knowing what applebutter was.

hvac01453

what about variations of "too many chiefs, and not enough Indians", Too many chefs spoil the brew", Too many carpenters make the house fall down, Too many Captians sink the ship.....any others?

HomerJSmith

This is a goodie.

"I have two speeds. If you don't like this one, you're sure not going to like the other one."

MCaracciolo18

“You have to be smarter than the tool you’re trying to operate.”

Illinoisfarmer

I’m veering off topic because these aren’t necessarily heating quotes, but…

When something is taking longer than it should: “C’mon buddy, I’m not asking you to land the space shuttle”

When something ends well: “Put a trailer hitch on it, we’re taking that one to the county fair!”

When someone makes a blunder: “You’re smart. Like a potato.”

And from my dear, departed Grandmother - who always had an electric stove - when things were going well: “Now we’re cooking with gas.” I assume that was from an advertisement at some point.

Have a good day!

DanHolohan

@Illinoisfarmer, your nickname makes these even sweeter. Thanks!

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I don't know if I answered your question, but it's a damn good answer to something.
David Mamet

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing slowly … very slowly.
Gypsy Rose Lee

Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain

HomerJSmith

I see nothing-I hear nothing-I know nothing... Actually that's not true, I know just enough to get me into trouble!

I'm reminded of my contractor friend that was installing a gas w/h and left his helper to do part of the installation. The helper connect the gas line to the w/h drain and filled the gas line with water. It destroyed the furnace gas valve and four gas meters (it was a multi-unit building). The good thing was that the gas company didn't charge him for the meters.

As Dirty Harry said, "A man gotta know his limitations."

The undoing of Mankind is that everyone thinks they know more than they actually do.

As one of my bosses said, "You don't have to know everything, you just have to know where to look it up when you need it."

Larry Weingarten

I have a friend who's a songwriter, so to earn a living, he's a builder. He says, "What is, is." It's hard to get that concept through to some folks at times

Yours, Larry

Solid_Fuel_Man

When carefully applying teflon tape to your pipe threads I can always hear my potato farmer grandpa say "that's gonna take you a month of Sundays". 

SlamDunk

More of a cut and paste than a heating quote. I thought it was interesting:

"In a strange new world where hot air doesn't rise and heat doesn't conduct, the International Space Station's thermal control systems maintain a delicate balance between the deep-freeze of space and the Sun's blazing heat."

nicholas bonham-carter

"I'm not rich enough to afford cheap goods"--(father-in-laws saying), before he passed away.--NBC

mndieck

"I've been doing it this way for 20 years"

When the word "years" comes up as a reason for doing something, assume its wrong first.

Pumpguy

"If it can happen, it will happen."

Something I think of every time I take a pump apart and see the impeller installed backwards.

Obviously Murphy's Law was not considered when the original design was put together.

unclejohn

If you can't fix it paint it.
Looks just like it grew there.
I heard it this way; If you don't have the time to do it right how will you fine the time to do it over.

Big Ed_4

Reminds me of the Large B&G impeller , Whys is it a 50% chance of getting it right , 95% odds of getting it wrong ..

Tim_D

My dad talking to a very nasty customer after numerous over heating and under heating calls where we could find nothing wrong. "I think the problem may be with the nut that holds the thermostat". Also my dad. We were called out to a significant leak in the basement. When we arrived we were told that we could not walk on the freshly mopped floors. Dad asks if she wants the leak fixed and of course she says yes. Dad replies, well, we haven't learned how to fly yet.
Heating and cooling systems are for the occupants, not the building. - Robert Bean
Its usually best to put the tube down before you pour the concrete. - John Barba
The problem is that every brand of pex keeps the water on the inside. - Me presenting to Uponor leadership regarding competitive situations.

HomerJSmith

mndieck, "I've been doing it this way for 20 years" Said by a 25 yr old service technician.

EdTheHeaterMan

Should I switch to gas heat now?


https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/187745/should-i-convert-to-gas-heat-now#latest

this could have been asked in the 1970s or 80s or 90s.  

It’s just tough for those that have empty fuel tanks NOW. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

"Don't worry about the dog, he doesn't bite"

bobbob

After wasting a bunch of time trying to figure something out, an old boss would say: "We gotta do something, even if it's wrong." It always was...

Markeatherton

From my father, God rest his soul, "There are two people in life who don't have leaks. People who don't work with water, and plumbers that lie..." And one from me (I have a LOT of them, but will spare everyone the pain) "There is no such thing as a stupid question. Just stupid mistakes made by really nice people who were afraid their question would make them look stupid. Howdy fellow Wallies! We all end up back here eventually :-) Seeking knowledge. ME

DanHolohan

Hi, Mark! We missed you 

Erin Holohan Haskell

Welcome back, @Markeatherton!

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.” – Albert Einstein, Nov. 1954 (1879 - 1955)

EdTheHeaterMan

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.” – Albert Einstein, Nov. 1954 (1879 - 1955)

If I had my life to live over again, I'd be an atomic scientist. Edward Young, March 2022 (1955-present)

Larry Weingarten

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d be a plumber.” – Albert Einstein, Nov. 1954 (1879 - 1955)

If I had my life to live over again, I'd be an atomic scientist. Edward Young, March 2022 (1955-present)

Hi @EdTheHeaterMan , Perhaps you are Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō, reincarnated! "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." This proverb has been traced back to 1545. The original idea can be found in the poetry of Ovid (c. 43 b.c.–a.d. c.18

Yours, Larry

clammy

I don’t think it’s a total heating saying but it’s one that I throw out to customers who question my price and have some one else do it terribly and suffer badly due to it ,is the sweeting of a cheaper price is soon forgotten after the bitterness of poor quality . That one never gets old and reads itself many times each heating season and it usually follows threw right into the cooling season . It must always be the same group of hack a Roos ,being there work right across the board stinks terribly but there cheap and usually the only repair is to yank the garbage out and start again or wait a few years and like wine and cheese possibly it might get better w age but I have yet to see it ever mature into anything more then the garbage it was and is . Another is always What the hell in the wide world of sports is going on around here I thought I hired you guys to lay some pipe not sing and dance like a bunch of kanas city #####. Lol
Peace and good luck clammy

ScottSecor

This was from my father, Ken Secor.  "Great marketing will overcome mediocre engineering every time."

PC7060

ScottSecor said:

This was from my father, Ken Secor.  "Great marketing will overcome mediocre engineering every time."

Sad but true!

retiredguy

I had 2 favorites: #1) There is never enough time to do it right but always enough time to make it right. My #2) and I don't mean to offend anyone since we were non-union, "My crew of SCABS can do more work during your time at lunch than your crew can do in an 8 hour day". I was loved by the union guys.

BrassFinger

Larry Weingarten said:

Hi @EdTheHeaterMan , Perhaps you are Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō, reincarnated! "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." This proverb has been traced back to 1545. The original idea can be found in the poetry of Ovid (c. 43 b.c.–a.d. c.18

Yours, Larry

I always like to say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence until you jump over it and realize it's greener because the septic tank has been overflowing in the yard and you are up to your ankles in schitt.

EdTheHeaterMan

At the family trucking company, (fuel delivery and burner service) there was one in house mechanic that I worked with on summer vacation while in High School. We would work all summer preparing the fleet for the upcoming winter season. I would do the tune-up and oil changes while Al Kelly would rebuild an engine of two. The occasional body shop fender bender type job was also an in house task. One of Al's, Famous Quotes was "You got to use your head in the Big Stuff".

This was only used when something extremely minor and blatantly obvious was eluding me for more than a minute of two. Which was promptly followed by "Thank You Captain Obvious"

PC7060

“Lefty loosey, righty tightey”

Very obvious when looking head on but not so simple when contorted into tight space. 

EdTheHeaterMan

PC7060 said:

“Lefty loosey, righty tightey”

Very obvious when looking head on but not so simple when contorted into tight space. 

I have always dated right handed women for this reason. And the contortionist is an added benefit

ayetchvacker

I like to say “Use your ears more than your mouth.”
Applies to kids and techs alike! 

reggi

I don't know why he's doing that. . do you have a female dog ?

SlamDunk

When I was working for my father in building maintenance during high school summers one of his guys would say-often: "Hey chooch, tell me what you think you're doing and I'll tell you why you're wrong"

HomerJSmith

"LIFE is like a sewer. You get out of it, what you put into it." Said by a grizzly ole co- worker.

Pumpguy

A comment I heard and now use occasionally when hearing about or describing a problem on the job......."That's why they call it work"