What saying or quote sticks with you since you were a newbie?

DCContrarian · January 15

"If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacement anyway."

JUGHNE · January 15

My 1984 Ford E350 with one ton axles has RH lug nuts on the right side

and LH nuts on the left, driver side. The ends of the LH studs have "L" stamped in the end of them. Not noticed until you strain yourself trying to loosen.

guzzinerd · January 15

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1834996#Comment_1834996

Both sides are left hand thread on my 69' fiat truck. I'm guessing it's a safety thing since it's opposite of the wheel rotation.

leonz · January 15

If it moves salute it, if it does not paint it.

"What did you do in the army dad? I can't talk about it".

The O.S.A.-Official Secrets Act strikes again.

SlamDunk · January 15

Work is not just about earning your daily bread. It is also about learning your daily worth.

londonrefrig · January 16

1. Never be afraid to fire a customer if they don't pay or make life difficult.

Cant stand the a-hole salesman that told me that but he's right.

2. The only one looking out for number 1 is number 1. Take care of your self.

Tom51 · January 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/199831/what-saying-or-quote-sticks-with-you-since-you-were-a-newbie

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.

Groucho Marx

Seriously there are so many quotes and sayings that they all jumble together in my old head.
"If it isnt going easy, it isnt going right"
"A hand for yourself and hand for the ship" (ladders)
"Righty tightie lefty loosy"
"Old indian trick" as the guy I was working for used superglue on the head of screw and stuck it to his finger to get it started in a hard spot to get to. It didnt work out well for his finger.
"Dont let the smoke out"
"If you are going through hell, keep going" Winston Churchill

"High pressure goes to low pressure always" Dan

So many fun ones here.

John Ruhnke · January 16

Can you go to the supply house and get me a bucket of steam? We are running a little low.

ratio · January 16

It's a light switch, not a gas pedal; in reference to thermostats. Not quite as true now as it was in the past.

breeze · January 16

"stick with me kid, I have you wearing balloons and going to the county fair every year"

I've put 100 of 'em in ma'am and only 50 blowed up

do something, even its wrong

3 of my favorites from Maynard Wood, RIP. Journeyman I started with in 1979

Mark Eatherton · January 16

Wow, so many to live by. Most of mine are Holohanisms.

Doing one stupid thing will cause you to do more stupid things (Steam or Hydronics).
. Show up with an open mind and a bright flashlight. Don't troubleshoot from the seat of your truck.
Think twice, act once.
Do the job right, even if no one is watching.
Water is like my ex brother in law. Wet lazy and stupid. You have to show him where to go and what to do. Otherwise, what you expected to happen won't.
If you open a vent and air doesn't come out. STOP, it's NOT an air problem.
Just because your grandfather and your father put the pump on the return doesn't matter. Doing it wrong for multiple generations doesn't change physics.
Engineers don't make mistakes. They make Change Orders… Live and learn.
Doing the same thing wrong over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.
Opinions are like butt holes. Everyone has one and they all stink.

To the quote about $h!T not running up hill and pay days on Friday, pay day is on the 1st and the 15th, and that's rarely on a Friday (look it up. August in 25 is only month where they meet), and we're the new age plumbers. We have pumps that can pump $h!t up any hill you've got :-)

Enjoy!

ME

kmdigital · January 16

It's better to ask forgiveness than permission…. Basically, be a self starter and take initiative. If your boss doesn't like it, you probably need a new boss. Good bosses appreciate this attitude because you get things done, even if it may not always be correct, while controlling bosses usually don't. As a supervisor, my attitude is always, as long as the results are acceptable and what we need, that's what we're looking for. It may be appropriate to suggest a different way of doing something the next time to get the same result, but always still encourage someone that takes initiative and makes a decision.

GroundUp · January 16

'I'll get the door!' - The most worthless journeyman in all of existence. Everything the guy touched, including the broom, would turn to sh!t but he was the boss's friend so we kept him around for 20 years and the only thing he could do was hold the door for somebody.

ratio · January 16

"Electricity don't know no color!"

This one bit Sparky on the rear a few days ago, when he blew out the drive on a new HVLS fan. He insisted that he had wired it according to the diagram & wanted me to do the final connections on the new one. As it turned out, someone had moved the motor's A leg from the terminal where it was supposed to go to the ground terminal—because it had a green jacket (along with a wire label calling it "1 U"). Electricity don't know no color.

EBEBRATT-Ed · January 16

Yep, Chrysler had LH threads on the left side. We had a 1970 Plymouth Valient and a 72 Dodge Dart and they had LH threads.

Why are these lug nuts on so tight?? OH ****.

67' Rambler American (my second car) didn't have LH threads as I recall.

Jackmartin · January 16

My old foreman told me this and it has prevented some nasty if not fatal occurences:

Remember just because some dumb sob says the valves closed check yourself don't trust other people's crap with your life.

machines · January 16

IF it's not broken, don't break it!

delcrossv · January 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1835341#Comment_1835341

Excellent advice. Son, while serving on a sub, almost learned this the hard way (6000 psi hydraulics). Idjit coworker who didn't tag the valve got sent to "captain's mast"

DCContrarian · January 16

If you tell someone the earth is 93 million miles from the sun, they believe you. If the sign says "wet paint" they have to touch it for themselves to be sure.

Garrulous · January 16

GM used LH studs/nuts on the LH side through 1963. Other manufacturers quit that in 50s, 60s, and 70s.

My first job (in the late 50s) was as an auto mechanic. And you'd get teased no end if you messed up a simple task like removing a wheel. I learned after the first round of laughs.

KC_Jones · January 16

Time to lean, time to clean.

KC_Jones · January 16

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1835341#Comment_1835341

My sister worked in a seafood restaurant for a short time. She was steaming shrimp in a pressurized steam cooker. The timer went off, someone else turned the steam off without her knowledge. When she walked over she instinctively turned the valve, which actually turned the steam back on, she opened the door and got a nasty burn on her wrist. Took a few weeks to fully heal up. They finally taught her how to tell the difference between an open and closed ball valve.

DCContrarian · January 16

If you can't be a good example at least be a gruesome lesson.

jhatcher · January 17

No good deed goes unpunished!

neilc · January 17

does it squeak? , , , WD40,

does it move, and it isn't supposed to? , , , Duct tape

RayWohlfarth · January 17

I was on an outside job and it was cold. The journeyman said, "The heats in the tools kid"

Intplm. · January 17

" Hey! No smiling on this job!" When I was an apprentice, a well thought of forman jokingly saying this to me while walking by.

pecmsg · January 17

Found and repaired bad electrical connection on the invoice means…….

It was Unplugged

leonz · January 17

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1835022#Comment_1835022

Me;

(1) You could have used wire numbers/letters on these wiring harnesses and provided a legend couldn't you???

Them-"We tested all 66 of those "Bad" hydrostats on the bench with a Bernzomatic torch and they worked".

Me-they still use the bloody things and a new coal stoker in the north country overheated and melted it-the fellow that installed the coal stoker replaced the bad hydrolevel unit with 2 Honeywell L6006L aquastats.

Me- then why in the HE double hockey sticks did the low water cut off function not shut off my boiler?

The second replacement unit had a mind of its own and shut the Low Water Cut Off by itself when I was running the boiler on oil to test the replacement unit-I had enough of their foolishness by then and bought Honeywell and DWYER parts to replace the chinese junk that almost blew up my home.

(2) Why are you using international orange coated wire for ground wire when we civilized people use green for ground wire, we aren't in Europe are we?

Lance · January 17

Ask the RIGHT question gets you the right answer!

Think it through or redo.

Tomorrow morning starts the night before.

Pumpguy · January 17

If it don't fit, get a bigger hammer.

MikeL_2 · January 17

You can't see it from my house.

I forgot more than he'll ever know.

guzzinerd · January 17

CLamb · January 17

Sure you've solved some problem but it isn't the problem I asked you to solve.

Pumpguy · January 18

If you loan someone $20 and never see them again, its probably money well spent.

fixitguy · January 18

Pinto's rules to live by.

1 we got the job done and nobody got hurt

2 before soldering, the copper should be clean enough to lick.

3 air is always your enemy.

SlamDunk · January 18

we were all chooches once.

JohnNY · January 19

The electrician who my father used to hire to wire our boilers was trying to retire. Every time he showed up he'd try to teach me more about the wiring and controls of the boiler. More than anything, he left me with this, which is a little less true today than it was then but it still mostly works:
Bring an interruptible source of power to the boiler and connect the 120v wires. "After the power source, everything is either a switch or a load." He went on to say something like the switches (operating controls and safeties) are the ride and the load (gas valve) is the destination. But it was that line that gave me the A-HA moment and I've been building on that ever since.

DCContrarian · January 19

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1836243#Comment_1836243

This reminds me of one of my favorite bits of received wisdom:

"If you skip your meds one day, don't double up the next."

HVACNUT · January 19

My first HVAC employer had this sign on the wall behind his desk.

YCDBSOYA

What saying or quote sticks with you since you were a newbie?

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