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It's Not Me; It's You.

HeatingHelp
HeatingHelp Administrator Posts: 635
edited July 2020 in THE MAIN WALL
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It's Not Me; It's You.

Once, I was looking at an old asbestos-covered steam boiler in a dank basement. It had earned its retirement years before and now had a softball-sized hole at its waterline. “It’s time for a new boiler,” I said to the homeowner. “I don’t want to hear that,” he said. “I’m going to get a second opinion.”

Read the full story here

Comments

  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 7,713
    > @unclejohn said:
    > Do you have a hearing aid?
    @EdTheHeaterMan Said: Yes I have the best , most expensive, premium, ultra quality hearing aid available to mankind. There are none better!
    @unclejohn : what kind is it?
    @EdTheHeaterMan : about 2:30 PM
    Edward F Young. Retired HVAC ContractorSpecialized in Residential Oil Burner and Hydronics
  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
    True story. My wife said pass the salt. I said what's my fault?
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,160
    Just remember -- if you can't quite hear what she said, the correct answer is "Yes, dear".
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • nokindaplumber
    nokindaplumber Member Posts: 5
    Funny how an article that starts out in one vein suddenly mines another. As a "searcher" for ANY Honeywell "Unique" valve, I was amazed to find that it's development was as a rival to the steam system protocol.

    I've got 1/2 dozen Unique valves still in operation - some day I'll get my act together and finally replace old knobs but heck, they work great in just one position so why fool with success. If I ever found another I'd buy it in a heartbeat - the elbows are probably more rare than the valve. Great story.
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,425
    I enjoyed that story.
  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,513
    Thanks, guys. Confluence is always delicious.
    Retired and loving it.
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 9,572
    Somewhere on here there is a better description of the unique valve and the whole system as well as the original Honewell book about it. What those don't have that this does (which I had surmised before) is that you can replace a unique valve with a TRV with a dip tube.
  • Erin Holohan Haskell
    Erin Holohan Haskell Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 2,276
    President
    HeatingHelp.com
    mattmia2
  • GW
    GW Member Posts: 4,691
    Good story, people always want someone else to carry their water. The person that says “carry your own water” gets to climb the proverbial ladder
    Gary Wilson
    Wilson Services, Inc
    Northampton, MA
    gary@wilsonph.com
  • motoguy128
    motoguy128 Member Posts: 393
    I find that more expensive complicated heating and cooling systems are usually purchased by those with more money, more education, but somehow a lot more ignorance about mechanical and electrical things. Similarly, with money,power and influence you become coached to have high expectations and are used to giving orders.

    So there we have the worst combination. A more complicated, inherently less reliable systems with a more demanding customer.

    We all know them. They have white carpet Or tile right outside the mechanical room and a small yippy dog that likes to chew the back of your leg... but it’s cute.

    Yet they demand a bargain, and every time we do one of these jobs, I’m optimistic that we will make a profit, but often am disappointed After the 10th call back.
    ratio
  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
    I'm fairly certain that the customer is long gone by now but one of my very first service calls that I went to on my own was a not enough humidity call. Very large home off of California Street in DC. The only road named after a state in DC that is not a avenue. There were four Aprilaire Chippewa humidifiers, I think they were called that. All were flowing water over the pads and out the drain and all seemed ok to me. But just to be sure I pulled out my trusty wet bulb thermometer and started slinging brown rusty water all over the living room carpet that was of course white. I packed that up quick and went and wrote my service invoice and left. The service manager called me in the next day and wanted to know why I did not but a humidity reading on the ticket. I told him I couldn't find my wet bulb. Never heard anything about the carpet stains.