old timer tricks

Kal Row

funny how they always leave the old parts around...

been to a few thermocouple graveyards

Mitch_4

you can

only be 2 of 3. Quick and cheap, Quick and Good, or good and Cheap. You cannot be all 3.

Organize you tool so a quick look can tell you if you forgot something.

Remember the shortcut you took to save time, will be the one to fail when YOU are on call, its 3 am and the call is a 1 1/2 hour drive from your home...then you wont have the right part to fix it either.

Listen to everyone, but believe what you are shown.

Braggarts will be tested and eventually unemployed, be confident in your skills and stand by your word. If you can't do it in 2 hours say so, and say why. Tye braggart who gets your job cuz he says he can...and then finds out he can't will make him/her look bad and you smart.

Don't talk down to anyone..there will always be someone better/smarter/faster than you.

There is something to be learned everyday. (if you don't find something, come here..I ALWAYS find out something new)

Welcome to the wonderful world of heating and cooling.

Mike

will smith_2

old timers

Leave every job cleaner than when you got there...keep 100 watt light bulbs on your truck to replace the standard 30 watters that are always in the mechanical room...spare change of pants for the ten penny days(eventually a unit will ignite in such a way that will prevent a ten penny nail from being driven up your third point of contact. This does not mean that this point of contact will not fail open)...leave history tags that make sense to the guy behind you...live each day as if it's your last-becaus someday it will be-

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

tip

Don't ever steal anything. Your reputation is your livelihood. People have to trust you alone in their house with their wives and children. They won't if you take anything. Word will spread fast. You could make over a million dollars in the next 20 years, do the right thing ALWAYS! Bob Gagnon

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Geno_15

simplest of them all

Trust No One.

What I mean by that is this. I was teaching safety one day and it popped in to my head. Trust No One when it comes to working with electricity or anything that can kill you. I drum it into their heads.

Got a phone call last month, student, working in Vermont left a message to say thanks, he was working on a 460volt unit and his boss said " go ahead and disconnect it, I killed the power, it's o.k.". He said a little voice in his head said "trust no one", so he pulled out his meter and there was 460volts at 60 amps there. He's pretty sure he would have been killed and so am I. He said thanks and I feel good about directly or indirectly saving his life.

Geno_15

funny but not good advice

don't drink on the job and don't take anything, ask if they want to sell it, they usually say take it or yeah for $X.

this was supposed to be after soot vac party pac

Paul Rohrs_2

WD40

will take sticker residue off of anything. Ever try to peel off a sticker and it tears, then try to razor knife it off and do more harm than good? A little WD40 goes a LONG way. I wouldn't recommend it on flammable items unless your into burnt eye-brows.

Regards,

PR

Geno_15

Soooo..

your the guy that keeps putting your companies sticker over ours....hehehehe

JimGPE_3

Amen to that!

I learned that lesson the hard way, fortunately only 208 Volts. I was up 20' on an extension ladder, hands quite sweaty. Sparky swore the circuit was dead. After I got blown off the ladder, his comment was, "Oh, you meant that circuit." I was too young and too skinny to teach him the lesson I really wanted to teach him.

Lesson learned: It ain't dead till MY meter says its dead.

It has saved me at least three times.

Steve K

Old Timer Tricks

To get rusted bolts,fittings,screws,etc... Heat,then apply parafin,
it will wick deep into the joint, apply torque and voila!!
Also a real old timer (Archimedes) "Give me a long enough lever
and I can move the world"

Aloha, Steve

Steve K

Old Timer Tricks

To get rusted bolts,fittings,screws,etc... Heat,then apply parafin,
it will wick deep into the joint, apply torque and voila!!
Also a real old timer tip:(Archimedes) "Give me a long enough lever
and I can move the world"

Aloha, Steve

jim lockard

or spill

the primer

David_19

So what is that strange narrow tall devices (that is attached to my boiler) near gravity system boilers. They often contain a great deal of mercury.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Honeywell "Heat Generator" or other similar devices.

They allow the supply water to be heated above the normal boiling point by keeping it under pressure (gravity systems were generally open to the atmosphere via their expansion tank so they weren't pressurized). This resulted in faster gravity circulation and smaller pipes could be used.

DaveC

You're absolutely right, Geno...

not good advice, meant as a spoof on beer commercials (which are getting real crazy these days). A polite inquiry on items possibly up for grabs can sometimes get you more than a van full of items. I always treat customers with a quick go-around the basement ceiling/pipes/windows with the vac and brush when I'm done. Sometimes it pays to do this first to minimize soot from being blown around on the neglected jobs.

Geno_15

glad to hear

your ok, you trusted a guy named "SPARKY" with electricity??

I've come close myself, old furnace, customer said it vibrated badly, turned it on, they were right, and then the ignition transformer fell right off the burner, hinges were rotten, what did I do??? I caught it before it hit the ground, reflex action, terminals down in the palms of my hands, after I bounced off the foundation I muttered,"#$%^BFREALLRELELELEE^&(*^%^DUHDUH)^%*&*&^*(&^)*(ugh.

John Starcher_4

Anyone.......

....who has been "bitten" by an oil burner transformer usually only makes that mistake once!

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Starch

Weezbo

Well THAT! Is a Heck of a lot of experience!

Real world quick! i'd hate to share some of these particular varieties or vagarities of realizational experientialism with anyone other than the Fully aware:)))Not even the veritable MahaRishi could speak with the certainty you have just prevailed:) i didnt see any t shirts like the other guy i was too buzy counting the planets and stars on the way by:)))

doug_16

Said the young

bull to the old bull as they gazed down onto the meadow and field of cows, "Let's run down the hill and service one of them cows".
Replied the old bull, "Nah, I suggest we walk down and service them all".

JimGPE_3

Old boss wisdom

He once told me if you're going to steal something, make sure you can retire on the proceeds. If you get caught You're going to get fired from the last job you'll ever have.

"Don't ever hire or keep a worker who will steal for you. If he'll steal from you, he'll steal from you."