Jim Davis has passed

I am heartbroken 💔. I loved this man. Jim was "A Disruptor" (Be a Disruptor by Stratis Morfogen). Jim had nerves of steel and feared no man or beast. Saw Combat in The 'Nam. Jim cut right through the Bull and gave it to you straight. He was also one of the most brilliant men I ever have encountered in this business.

I still remember hosting Jim at my Mom's House in Floral Park for Steaks and some Fine Kentucky Bourbon after his training class down here on The Island 🏝. We even did a Field Trip to My House with the Class to test my new Boilers. My Brother Bart and Mom Colleen (Both Gone) hosted Jim, Mark Hunt and Darin Cook, Johnny New York Cataneo and a few others.

Thank you for letting us know, Mark, and please post any pertinent information here. Mad Dog

I'll try to dig up a good photo of him teaching. Feel free if anyone has one. Mad Dog

This sucks, Matt. We had a great group of all-in dedicated guys back then and we all learned from each other. The guys you mentioned, Darren, Mark Hunt, etc I haven’t spoken to in many years but my goodness the yelling and screaming we did back then, all in great fun. We socialized with Jim Davis and he scared the crap out of us some days. I became a good CO tech (testing, detecting, and eradicating) because of what he taught us. I know, I know: He would go head to head with the manufacturers but he could always back up his **** with test results.
Rest in Peace, Jim Davis.

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. You always learned something new from whatever he posted.

one of a kind. I’ll always remember Jim Davis

is there a combination of an awesome and sad reaction?

I attended his CO class many moons ago - around 2009/10. I immediately noticed his helmet hair (of course). If you met Jim, one thing you noticed was that he looked incredibly weird, and acted rather off kilter (gonna leave descriptions of his jokes at that) It was REALLY REALLY clear he did not care AT ALL what others thought of him. The ONLY thing was hard data, and results. Stay with me, not being mean here - you will see....

Every tradesman who is worth anything has a bunch of stories about fixing that problem that had everyone stumped forever because the other guy(s) were idiots. Why? because there are a lot of guys who have no business owning tools much less in this trade doing this work. It is a fact of life. In Jim's case, he was in a similar position, but people regularly die when someone does not know what they are doing in his arena - so the stakes are significantly higher.

He told a story during class where he was called to testify at a court case. He heard the other 'professional' testify and say something Jim knew was nonsense, although it was still code in the area. When called to the stand, the lawyer asked him if he was a professional in this field. Jim says 'well that depends. Is this other guy who just testified a professional?' The lawyer got confused a little, and says 'yes'. Then Jim says 'If he is a professional then I know I sure ain't, because that guy has no idea what he is talking about'.

After I got done with the class, I got myself a decent CO detector that was faster acting than most and I did a heating PM for a residential customer. part of my checks I personally wanted to do was to check for CO. I ended up finding that there was 300-350ppm coming out of the registers. The only reason why they were not dead already is that the place was really drafty, and it was only the fall, so it was not cold yet. so the ambient levels were 10-15 ppm. When the heart started running all day they would be toast in there. Aw crap.

I called my office - they had no protocol for this. It was not on their radar that they would need to possibly shut down a customer's system as unsafe. They said I should do whatever I think I should do. So I walked through the space with the customer and showed them what was going on. OA CO? 0ppm - good. Indoor CO? 5-10ppm - not good, but not deadly. Coming from the registers? 300-350ppm - deadly. Windows drafty, weather mild - you will die if you do not do something. Then I got my red tag from the CO class, red tagged the furnace. The lady flipped out and called my office - they yelled at each other for a few minutes and I did not back down. 'If you wanna turn it back on, you be my guest, but I am not leaving this place with it running. I will not have it on my hands'.

I realized that it is non-stop confrontation to do CO stuff. NON STOP. Customers flip out, my employer flips out, I kinda flipped out since it was literally deadly (although I kept my composure and was level headed in my interactions).

I realized that Jim lived like this all day every day. He had a DEEP and sincere lack of concern AT ALL regarding what other said about him - he HAD to live that way. The fallout was his hairstyle, his off color jokes, and his utter contempt for people who had a measure of prestige, but were technically deficient. He had to look a wide range of people in the eye and tell them 'you have no idea what you are talking about' CONSTANTLY. Things like...

Code says a hole high, and a hole in the wall low, so the combustion air can go in the bottom and out the top. But the air is stupid. It does not know what hole it is supposed to go through, what if the air is backdrafting down the chimney and instead of letting combustion air in to get burned and go out, it carries CO into your space? Where you put the holes does not help with that. Code is idiotic.

Or - he says to get efficiency you need to turn off the modulation. this is exactly the opposite of the entire industry. The OA temp is 0. I wanna make 160 deg water with that OA combustion air in a 90%+ boiler. That means I hafta burn enough gas to bring the 0 deg OA up to 160 - just to not make the water colder. Then after that I burn enough gas to get it to 165. I burn 160 digrees to do nothing, and 5 degrees is what I need. I am gonna run all day like that - and it is better? NO!. Turn off modulation, let the water cycle 150 to 160 and burn when you need to and be off the rest of the time. Nothing better than off. You will do FAR better, especially on commercial equipment.

Living in a way where he had to sit counter ALL the establishment, code officials, ratings agencies, manufacturers.... everyone and tell them they were wrong - that was Jim's life. And it meant he did not care one bit what others said. And that shook out in unexpected ways. Like his hairstyle, his colorful jokes, etc etc.

It seems off-putting at first, but then you realize it is an indication of the depth of his commitment to his trade and to the lives he saved.

It is like John Popper of Blues traveler - when he sings he sounds like a harmonica - the harmonica paying has shaped his singing.

Anyhow - great guy. Colorful personality. Dedicated to his trade. And he gave a lot to those in the industry.

Jim Davis ran against the wind every day of his life. He was a Disruptor of the First Order that challenged the status quo with great success. I loved his funky hair, glasses and style. Amen 🙏. Mad Dog