Did your Dad drive you into heating, if so how'd HE get into it?

and if not how did you get into it?

For example: my late dad (HVAC engineer 50 yrs.) grew up in a cold water flat NYC lower east side early 1920s. The only heat was gas powered kitchen stove that ate nickels. Ventilation wasn’t even a word. Some uncles in family had TB and died; he survived a bad case of pneumonia. At five years old, he loved to watch men working and building things in the neighborhood. Moved to ozone park –“the country” for better air for his sickly younger sister. Next door lived a genius who made tools and had patents on a few; my dad used to help him. Another worker from Brooklyn Union Gas was a friend of the family and he and my father worked on many projects together. I think that confluence of events influenced him more than he knew. He was a stickler for ventilation, even a 20cu ft closet he designed for my city apartment years later.

His parents’ railroad apartment had a few rooms that never warmed in winter, so while he was working as a pipefitter at the Navy Yard he repiped the entire house from the old coal steam boiler. I think with him it was the challenge of solving the problem and of course partly the family acclaim that it earned him. Though his parents wanted him to go to medical school, he was fortunate to have access to those skilled tradesmen who helped him get better at what he really wanted to do. He was the first person in his family to go to college, the first to have a really marketable skill—his dad was a hatter who had a hell of a time in the Depression. Heating was a matter of life and death then, and still is. Love to hear from some wallies about what motivated them to go into this field.

I never had interest in the field early on, but when I was involved with a coop in the city he was a tremendous help (along with Dan’s books and other boiler manufacturer engineers and heating specialists) in enhancing and balancing the building’s steam system. I got to understand him better and appreciated how his problem-solving mind worked. Whether in a coop or my own house I’ve learned I have to be as informed as possible. I never considered this as a profession but some knowledge sure comes in handy. Glad the wall is around to enhance that knowledge. I’ll bet half the wallies had Dads in the business.

David

Easy.

Two lumps of coal at Christmas ,..and the job was his.

Graduated from high school by the skin of my teeth.HATED SCHOOL. Didn't really know whatI wanted to do---something mechanical. I was going to a local community colledge to sign up for "automotive". The old man told me NO,"Your taking heating and air conditioning your not going to be a grease monkey like your cousin". So I got bitten by the oil burner bug.

Naturally, after cleaning boilerrs all summer I was dirtier than my cousin ever got.

My brother got the same "sales pitch" and has been a stationary engineer for 30 years.

I still laugh about it.


Ed

My Dad

Dad became very handy around the house out of necessity. Not much money, four young sons, a supportive wife, and a desire to work independently.

He was doing odd jobs at the time mostly. A neibhor had no heat and he was able to fix their GE downfired boiler. Soon after he called the local oil company to fix his own leaky GE boiler. The tech and later the salesman suggested he had to replace the boiler. Dad instead went to the local hardware store and picked up some rubber gasket material. That day he fix the 'unrepairable' boiler for about three dollars and learned a valuable lesson.

Within two weeks five or six oil companies found out Dad could fix these 'exotic' GE oil burners/boilers. After a year in his own heating business he was doing the 'hard to fix' jobs for fourteen oil companies.

Every time I do something mechanical I am reminded of Dad. His guidance could be downright annoying as a child. However, his persistance on making sure we did things right are still good advise today. He has an unusual way of teaching, thankfully I think a lot like him and got used to it at an early age. My three brothers did not always think in the same way. They all worked for Dad at one time, but decided go in business on their own.

Great thread guys

David- Thanks for starting it!

My dad was a hydraulic engineer, designing valves for gantries supporting the Mercury Redstone and Atlas boosters among more pedestrian persuits. When I was three and a half (1961) he went to Cape Canaveral for the Alan Shepard launch. Naturally in my small world there was only ONE man on earth -besides the President-, plus my dad was from New Hampshire, was in the Navy, so that just HAD to be my dad up in the capsule... I had convinced my nursery class apparently that my dad was an astronaut... the logic could not be disputed...

Later my dad took me to work for the day, years before this became fashionable... my dad- an engineer! I waited patiently sitting at a table drawing while he did the same, wondering when the heck we were going to go ride on the trains.... Man, was I disappointed.....

In the end, I really just fell into engineering by other circumstances, not to follow in his footsteps necessarily. But the lessons he taught me ring today and I still seek his advice. Thanks, Dad- I love you.