handling a HO

You did right, Clammy.

Let the HO (and I am one!) get himself into trouble of live with what he has. You are right to walk away, just the attitude alone is a big tip-off.

Ignorance

Can be excused but when a person is ignorant AND arrogant, thinking they know all there is to know, they get a little tough to take. They just don't realize all the things that a pro can spot while doing a standard HSI changeout. Or any other "simple" part replacement job. He made his choice of poisons, let him sit there in it.

HomeOwners

Home Owners are strange,

The gasp when I tell people the average charge out rates to have a licenced gas or oil technician to come and look at thier boiler.

And to have them get yearly service done on thier appliance, some (or most) do not want to pay for such a service. Yet they will fork out $$$ for annual maintenance on thier vehicles.

In my area oil customers are the worst. They choose the cheapest oil supplier, and when it comes time to fix the boiler. The cheap oil suppliers do not have technicians. Any of the serivce companies that have licenced oil techs they don't want to take on the job.

This may have been remedied by choosing a more expensive oil supplier that has technicians.

Many home owners think they can fix thier heating appliance. Maybe they can.

Never help a home owner fix or diagnose a problem. It could lead to problems for you. You can tell them to turn up the termostat or go thru the user information manual with the appliance... Thats it!

When I speak to home owner about such matters, I remind them that if they try to repait their appliance, they are the last person to touch it. And if something where to happen, they will be at fault.

I kinda wonder....

Some of these people have Hummers and big fancy boats in their driveway, but refuse to even spend the money to change the air filter themselves on the FA equipment. Then they have the nerve to ask why the equipment died so soon...

AND I also have customers that have me out 2X a year to do a clean and check on their equipment. Guess who's equipment last longer?

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Let me cheer you up *~/:)

today i woke up at 4 a.m. milled around had a couple cups of coffee answered some posts on the wall relented as they had too much verbage, burnt about two three hours on that , one started out We do that every day around here today the carpenters are hanging rock on the lid......it's -38F outside....

then i went and got a key to get in then ran to get some other tools,i just got home a few mins ago. i havent been seeing lots of food today buh let me tell you a nice HO story....

long time back i spun a hammer like no bodys business i could bid framing and blaze,i also did wiring ,roofing masonry ,control wiring and plumbing and heating F A ,Boilers. and some insulating and vapor barrier sheet rock mud and tape texture primer and painting lino carpet finish trim kitchen cabinets and counter tops and a dash of furniture and panelling. work was work to me and pretty much still is.the guy and his wife were liking my price buh did decide to do the connections to a fuse panel rather than go with a newer circuit breaker panel as i suggested .they thought (it was 125$) for the change out they could save a dollar ...and just let me wire the building to code and laid the wire into it with UF as i suggested...one day near the completion they came up and watched me make the connection at the fuse box to run a small service panel (now Non LARRY approved):) to run saws and stuff. they thought hey that's Easy! :)and then decided they would do the hook up and save even another 12 dollars

ok so about a half hour later they come back and ask me some how do i do it one more time kinda deal ...while i was pounding nails... ok so i say

"i take the fuse out generally and just wire the ground then neutral then hot legs"

ok so they split and about 1/2 they come back ...looking a little "Worried" ask me the same question again and went back over to continue with it whatever they were doing

then about a half hour later they came back and said that indeed they would "Rather" I hook up the panel and they would give me the 12 dollars to do so ) dont you Love this story ?

so i go back over to the panel with them and they have broken one of the fuses...so i say i will need to come back at this a little later and ask them what they had been doing ...well the guy says and proceeds to show me..grabs the fuse and trys to turn it and it shocks the pissout of him...then his wife takes a go atter )))) thats what they had been doing for about an hour and a half....i reached into my charharts grabbed my insulated needle nose stuck my hand in the box gave it a twist and thru it on the ground ..i was wearing a long sleeve shirt and i am fairy cerain they didnt see the pliers and i think that to this day they think of me as like Super man and have a healthy respect for someone who carries an electrical liscence*~/:)

and calls himself a Factotum

Reminds me of a customer I heard from last week. Five years ago, I resoldered a suction line and recharged his remote condensating unit. I never entered the house period. Last week he called and said it sounds like he has a bad bearing on his furnace fan motor and it must have been something I did when I was there five years ago. He was upset when I asked him "How could I do that, I was never in the house? And then I informed him he had better find someone else for I don't work on furnace fan motors.

Ron ,i have heard that snide remark myself,

luckily for me i am generally too buzy to Know what day it is *~/:) and dont usually trust anyone who does

update on HO

Well i know no good deed goes unpunished i'm living proff.I hated to just toss the guys # out so i called no answer left a message to contact me .Monday morning i called him again left message now this is the same guy who wanted me there at the crack of dawn then doesn't answer so i leave another message well 12;30 i get a call from this HO pissed off so i kindly told him i had other work(service) and that i would have to re scheludge to do a little sink repair that i qouted him he got pissed and hung up .I should have known it was that area of town that i never have any luck with dealing with cheapos and should have know i was getting my chain yanked but only waste my driving time and gas.I was looking at helping some contractor who got my name from who knows where to finish a commerical job ,no other subs just his guys are not making a dead line drive down my dime and everything sounds good but as i have read poor planning didn't hang the units high enough for drain pitch so now all condensate pumps but no vinly wants copper no insulation 90 plus furnaces doh .And another thing all duct work above sheetrock cieling with no insulation pulling returns through the attic to the units .Now i know why i don't get work i bid on look at what i'm bidding against .6 split systems w/ furnace and none with any duct wrap no smoke or co2 dectors either i know it must be me .At this point if you don't see many clammy posting it's because i gave up and got out of the bussiness that i love because every body wants the cheapo depo .Thanks for all your support you guys are the best and the true gods of heating and mechincal goodness don't ever think you ain't peace and good luck clammy

Formal Education

What blows their mind is the fact they have 50 years of formal education between the 2 of them and they can't believe that a guy who just about got out if high school
(speaking for myself)makes it look easy.

It's what we do! I don't clean any ones teeth and they shouldn't clean anyones boiler.

Keith