Occupation

ChrisJ

Wait

@JUGHNE was editing movies like the guy did in fight club?

  

Mad Dog_2

Thoroughbred Horse Racing in NY full time up until 19. Hot walker, groom, breaking yearlings, exercise boy.  19-22 Plumbers Local #2 Apprenticeship. 23-28 Bar Bouncer, PT sewer & drain contractor, waited tables (very good at it BUT DESPISED IT) B.A. Stony Brook, 28-56 (present), Full time plumbing & heating Union, Non Union,  Owner, foreman, super. From 18-19, trying to find what I wanted to do..Electric Helper, Butchers Apprentice, cleaned offices at night, gave Riding lessons, carpenters Helper, Concrete in Bensonhurst Brooklyn.  Mad Dog 🐕 

clammy

Not as much as all u guys but here we go ,office cleaner as a kid aside from newspaper route ,basement water proofing installing French drain system one of the most labor intense work outs not for the faint of back ,new construction plumbing and heating for a few years ,assistance chief engineer for a high end hotel to boring , Lincoln tech in the mid 80 s while doing piece work on plumbing and heating and trim then grab the working assistance job but after about a years realized it was not my bag went back to field working for a larger heating ac company but disliked there attitude and went to a few smaller companies for a number of years and finally found a home w a larger hvac mech company ,I called it the horn of plenty because we had a full sheet metal shops full time welder and a seperate service department a purchasing agent and full time driver . It was a great place to work and learn being at least 2 bosses had engeeners degrees and also could answer question ,learned a lot from them ,thank you . We did all sorts of work from military to medical facilities ,hospitals ,clean rooms ,movie theaters multi plex conversion , roof tops splits systems ,steam and hot water boilers ,vav systems ,multi zone roof tops there wasn’t much we did not do and they where equipped to do it I stay w them for close to 10 years and moved on , from there I worked w various p & h contractors and a few hvac contractors doing all the above . Finally I went to work for a local oil company stayed there for a few years off and on but always stayed in contact and worked w them for years u til they sold . Finally about who knows 15 or 20 years ago went on my own got my hvac lic amoung a state red seal chiller lic w a toxic endorsement for nh3 not all that common but it was one of my dad wishes so I went and did it through local 68 it was a re education experence being I sucked at school as a kid. Durning this time I was sent to one of dans early Laosh semairs ,bosses sent me since I was there boiler installer amoung other things .
Over this time work for myself I worked for some on this board and for some no one will ever know . Worked w guys who father was early on a dumham bush rep and was the early god father of chilled water for the plastic blow injection industry ,his name unknown and he didn’t patent anything ,he was the first guy doing drain down towers and chilled water mixing tanks in the late 50 s ,in the late 80 s early 90 I was lucky enough to see a couple of these system still running w semi hermetic compressors and full by pass valve and unloaders these guys where way ahead of the curve for about 25 years . But as the 90 s hit a lot of the companies moved down south or over seas,oh well .
Now I just work for myself basically and once in a while do work for others but as I get older I limit who I work for these days no sense killing myself for some one else pocket book or for them to just keep me about to pick my skull cap but that ok . I really chose my jobs and really refuse to do shoddy work I rather stay home strum a guitar to some drone un tuned chords it’s ok . At this point I don’t need any one to feed my non ego I know exactly who I am and what I’m capable of doing being over the years I have helped countless newbies start up there business and have helped them when there stuck or needs some one who walks the walk talks the talk and does the work all you need to have is the material period .
As a older bussiness acquaintance had told me ions ago ,have no concern of others and what they do ,do what you do best stick to what you know your good at and never let your head get to big for your shoes . Help everyone you can but always never show all your cards or all your ability and knowledge being most will always take advantage of your wellness to help and never really take care of your being most just think of you as a tool to be used and discarded when done . Also always take your time being no one will want to pay you when u make everything look so easy this goes for home owners and bussinesss owners alike .
I ve been lucky enough to always keep my head above water due to the trades but I live a basic simple life style being I’m a simple human ,nothing special not different or better then anyone just a guy spinning a wrench trying to earn a living and doing the right thing .
Peace and good luck clammy

DanHolohan

I love this, @clammy. Thanks. 

JUGHNE

Years ago while searching on the wall, I found a posting of many years back that had an introduction of each member.

Each person told their history and location.

Somewhat like this discussion, most stood and delivered......except ChrisJ

ChrisJ

JUGHNE said:

Years ago while searching on the wall, I found a posting of many years back that had an introduction of each member.

Each person told their history and location.

Somewhat like this discussion, most stood and delivered......except ChrisJ

I'm sorry.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@clammy, sounds like you did it all. A lot of experience and a lot of hard work. Congratulations.

Dunham Bush was the best back in the old days they did everything and had good engineering. They sold a boiler line, pumps, steam traps, air conditioning, refrigeration and oil and gas burners. You name it. They invented the forced draft flame retention burner back in the 50s. They were using 3450 blower motors and oil pump pressure up to 300psi before anyone else had a clue. I am certain they have many C-120 & C-240 burner from that era still running

The company I worked for was a dealer for their combustion products. I was lucky enough to visit the old factory in Harrisonburg, VA in the early 70s. Too bad it's all gone now. Moved to Malaysa I think.

offdutytech

Grew up in the HVAC world with dad and grandfather in the business. Graduated college and went into commercial refrigeration for a year, then spent 20 years in the commercial market doing building automation mainly heating and chiller plants. Got tired of that and became a career firefighter at 40. Now on my days off work for small company doing hydronics, steam and the oil service nobody in the area wants to deal with lol.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@offdutytech

I am sure your customers are happy to have you. Some areas don't have any qualified people. Upstate New York is one area.

Intplm.

bburd said:

We don't *talk* about fight club…😳

Was that the first rule or the second rule about fight club?

GW

Contractor/employer, heating cooling, and a tiny bit of plumbing sprinkled in. Including me, nine full-time and one part-time person.

bburd

Intplm. said:

We don't *talk* about fight club…😳

Was that the first rule or the second rule about fight club?

The first, IIRC.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@GW

Takes a lot of effort to keep 10 people going. I don't imagine there are a lot of days you get time to pick up a wrench.

How many times a day do you get interrupted? LOL Been there. I think the most I ever ran was 10 guys spread out on 3 jobs and I didn't get much "tool time" constantly chasing parts and putting out fires. They were union guys and worked pretty good but I had to chase everything for them. Sometimes they weren't very good at looking ahead on their jobs & as you know chasing stuff at the last minute is a time waster. Difficult to get them to look ahead.

If you have good guys doing service who can run their own stuff (and only bother you occasionally) it's not so bad.

GW

Ed I love my tools a little too much- I normally work 20 hours a week with the guys. I was running estimates all day on almost every Saturday. I have a sales dude quoting stuff now. Actually he’s the 4th go round, my first sales guy was 18 years ago. He doesn’t catch every detail (even I miss a small detail here and there) but all in all its very good.

Running for stuff- yes that’s a pain- we rarely stop at the supply house- we stock a lot of stuff. I have my office lady run stuff at times when we are seriously hauling—-can’t even send the helper when we are jamming. Service guys- of course they need stuff all the time. 

offdutytech

@EBEBRATT-Ed
Thanks I'm def enjoying my fd schedule more, only working 9 days a month. Now I get to pick and choose on just working on steam and hydronics with some fuel oil to mix it up. It's made it more enjoyable taking time off in the summer and not stressing because I'm not worried about how much gross margin I'm bringing in for stock holders. I get chance to deliver a quality product! 

holograham

Computer and electrical engineer. Started out building satellites and now security systems for large companies. 

Mad Dog_2

I remember the First time meeting Gary Wilson at a Jim Davis & Al D Ambola (RIP PAL) Somewhere deep in Penna . His beautiful young wife was there, met Mark Hunt & Darin Cooke (USAF Iraq & Afghanistan) in person, Jody Litten (Lost Touch). We all found out about this Carbon Monoxide Seminar at HH.COM The Wall. It was a great bonding & weekend of Camraderie, Education, Imbibing till all hours.  Gary and I had just went out on our own, so this was 1999-2000ish. At its peak, Triple Crown P & H employed 5 Plumbers 1 helper and an office manager  until 2008 Depression.  With a Ginormous Mortgage,  3 Catholic School tuitions, after a great 12 year run, I went back to The Union.  Very proud of you Gary.  You done good, boy, real good 👍.   Mad Dog 🐕 

GW

@Mad Dog_2 thank you! Most days are pretty good, just a little fires to put out here and there.The rebates in Massachusetts are huge- lots of work 

Tinman

Retired. 

College dropout, trade school graduate, a guy who made lots of mistakes and learned from  most of them, Union tinner , licensed electrician, got paid for 4 years as a hydronic writer, boiler inspector in Chicago, but most of all I was a hydronic fanatic. I loved servicing, installing, designing and selling hydronic heating systems. I miss it all and now I read and do some woodworking in my small shop when my body is willing.