Oh, The Places You Will Go

HeatingHelp

Oh, The Places You Will Go

Dr. Seuss wrote a beautiful book by that title. It’s probably been the main focus of most high-school valedictorian addresses ever since. But I don’t think Dr. Seuss ever spent much time in unusual mechanical rooms or famous buildings. Those buildings all need heating and cooling and that’s what we do. And, oh, the places you will go.

Read the full story here

BobC

A toolbelt and a radio grants you access to places you only dream about.

Just out of high school I worked for the Sheraton Boston hotel in maintenance, I had a huge ring of keys and a pager on my hip. The AC equipment was on the top deck (29 stories high) above everything else. There was a small observation deck that overlooked Fenway park, you had a perfect view of the ballpark from there. Inside was a portable radio and a pair of binoculars. You couldn't watch long before you got spirited away by that pager, but I saw some memorable plays from up there.

Kennesaw

Dan, as a fan of your podcasts, I can here your voice as I read this wonderful story about heating technology, history, and life. You are an expert in your field, with a gift for communication. Thank you, and keep these stories coming. From a friend you haven't yet met.

BradHotNCold

A friend who shall remain nameless swears that at National Guard Summer Camps, the first thing he did when he got there was to rescue a clipboard. He then walked around looking like he had a job to do! Kept him out of a lot of obnoxious drills and such!

jeant

as an engineer liaison on Kauai we had to service a water powered electric generator (hydro-electric plant). it was struck by lightning which burned some of the windings. the only road to it was a small mountain stream. the pressure to run the paddles was supplied by a 90' high pen stock. the nozzle pointed at a number of circularly attached cast iron highly detailed duck shaped feet, with cup shape depressions facing the nozzle outlet. the most beautiful works of steel sculptures I have seen. one of the "Oh, the places i was fortunate to go". Thank you Dan.

neilc

"“It’s your turn to sign,” he said.

I get chills just typing those words and remembering that day. The sky was clear and you could see forever.

Oh, the places you will go."

haunting , , ,

you deserve the honor

DanHolohan

Thanks so much for reading me, guys. I appreciate you all. 

Nimrod66

Dan, thank you for more words of encouragement for tradespeople. Here's another place/system. It isn't steam heat. It isn't even water heat. It is old fashioned heating with a little bit of ingenuity. The Strafford, VT meetinghouse is a wonder in its own rural and humble way. Click on the interior photo. Check out the old fashioned, dual wood stoves, which carry heat from the front of the sanctuary to the back via 40' long smoke pipes. This is one of the "marvels" of heating I have appreciated from the places I have gone in my career. This is a typical design, but not many remain preserved as well as in Strafford.
https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VT-01-OG31

DanHolohan

I love that they’ve preserved that. Thanks for sharing!

Tinman

Great experiences, Dan. The Dakota? I would’ve loved that. 

DanHolohan

I wish you could have been there with me, Steve. I even got to go up on the roof.

ranger417

I stumbled on your site several years ago and have enjoyed reading ever since. Not as a person in the trade, but as a Park Manager who has many old buildings to take care of, with many different types of heating systems. I’m usually the one triaging until the experts can get there.

I especially enjoy the hydronic articles, with interesting, pertinent and packed full of great tips and anecdotes. You give a great perspective and insight into the engineering and ingenuity that goes into these systems. Keep them coming!

FStephenMasek

Wonderful story. It is somewhat the same with the environmental consulting business. We get to go places most everyone else will never see. However, Dan has much better stories.

DanHolohan

Thanks!

Anthony Menafro

I love your stories. They remind me of the things I've seen throughout the years. Thank you Dan! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Maryanne, Erin and the Fam!!

LynnLennox

My dad would have liked your stories! He spent his career as an engineer at Con Ed. He had some good stories too!

DanHolohan

I really appreciate you all for listening. Merry Christmas indeed!

KristenU

Hello from Warrenton, Virginia (just outside Washington DC)! Enjoyed this read very much! My husband and I are new fans of yours. We recently moved into a 1933 home with a hydronic radiator system! We've lived in (and loved) older houses before, but this is our first time with radiators. It was May when we moved in... My thoughts were, "dang, we have to get rid of some furniture, these radiators are taking up space!" I took to my beloved "old house group" on Facebook and asked, "how hard is it to remove radiators and convert to heat pump?" The response was well... what you'd expect from old house lovers. In a word, passionate. It was a staggering list of 150+ passionate responses! My words were apparently tantamount to blasphemy. "Ooookey! Maybe we'll just get through the first winter and reassess." It was summertime! And I plead ignorance! -- Of course we ran into issues a month or so ago, the first time firing up the system. It was hard finding someone to work on it. Again, I took to my beloved FB group in attempt to troubleshoot (cute). That's where I encountered a very nice gentleman Ray Bollweg. He answered so many of our questions (we are serial DIYers and like to learn about "stuff") with marvelous information and pointed us to heatinghelp.com to find a contractor near us. Nice! I also saw he recommended some books by Dan Holohan. Amazon order 5 books, next day delivery! Gold! The pro that came out was pleased we wanted to learn about our system, "That's great!" Stacy said, "you might want to look at some books by a guy name Dan Holohan." We were tickled and told him we'd already started reading them. We exchanged looks, we knew "Dan Holohan" was going to be the passcode a contractor had to say in order to be allowed access to our system. You think I kid? We made a follow up appointment for the repairs we had done. This time the professional was Bill Dooly. Turns out he's an acquaintance of yours. "Dan even has a blog," he said. "Oh?" After Bill left I took to Google, "Dan Holohan Steam Blog" was the search terms I chose. "HeatingHelp.com?... I'll be a son of a..." Yeah, full circle! Now that I'm not here in panic mode trying to find a contractor so our pipes don't freeze, I can widen the gaze and check this site out! We feel like we are in very good company and well taken care of. It's a small world out there! And we plan to learn as much as we can about this system, and thanks to your writing, get a little giggle along the way. Oh, and we'll be keeping the radiators. If you're ever in the neighborhood we will provide the dinner and invite Bill and Stacy over! -Kristen & Lee

Erin Holohan Haskell

Welcome, @KristenU and Lee. Thanks for sharing your story with us!

DanHolohan

Thanks, Kristen and Lee. You made my day!