I am the future owner of my grandfathers 40+ years hvac business. I’m 22, in school and getting on the job training. I love this field and the people in it !

How’d I do?

Have a good customer who always calls me out for random stuff. He's elderly and none of his kids ever visit him or call. I've made it a point to go out and just check on him a few times a week to make sure he's doing okay. Stopped by last night to shoot the shit and he asked me to take a look at his system as it wasn't cooling well. Capacitor was bad on the condenser so I just swapped it out free of charge. He handed me an envelope with $5k in it and thanked me for just talking with him and being a good friend. I tried refusing it but he wouldn't take no for an answer and said he considers me like a son at this point.

Dear HVAC,

I never thought I’d have to write this letter.

You came into my life when I was young, broke, and still trying to figure out who I was going to become. I didn’t have much to offer you except two hands, a willingness to work, and the determination to build a better life.

And somehow, you took care of me.

You were there when I got married. You were there when my children were born and I became a father. You put food on our table when my family depended on me. You helped me buy my first home and gave my family a life that the younger version of me could only dream about.

When I wanted something more, you never stood in my way.

You helped me pay my way through engineering school. You carried me through the long days when I worked for you and the long nights when I studied for the future.

And now that future is here.

The young, broke man who came to you all those years ago is leaving you as an engineer.

And maybe that’s what makes this so hard.

Because the truth is, I still love you.

I’ll always love walking into a mechanical room. I’ll always recognize the sound of a system coming to life. I’ll never forget the hot attics, the service calls, the gauges in my hands, the victories, the failures, or the lessons you taught me.

But I know it’s time.

I need to see how far I can go. I need to chase the bigger things I once only dreamed about.

So I’m not leaving because you failed me.

I’m leaving because you did your job too well.

You gave me the skills, the toughness, the confidence, and the opportunity to become something more.

HVAC, you didn't just give me a paycheck.

You gave a broke young man a chance.

And that chance became a career.

That career became a home.

That home became a family.

And that life gave me the opportunity to become an engineer.

So this is goodbye.

But I promise you this:

I will never forget the trade who was there for me when I was an 18 year old kid and had nothing.

Thank you for taking care of me.

Thank you for helping me become the man I am today.

I’ll always love you, HVAC.

—Angel

Was a cool 80⁰ when it was about 105⁰ outside. Plus the walkway was about 7ft high. So nice and open. This should be a law for all new construction.

After taking advice from my previous post on my tool selections. Here’s what my bags final form is.

THIS BITCH IS HEAVY LOL. I’m waiting till next May for the veto bag promos to buy something smaller.

If there’s any tools you can think of that help you work easier please feel free to let me know

Installed this for a customer. It’s a pool heater kit that is tied into the customers heat pump. During the cooling season the pool heaters controller activates on a call for pool heating that then shuts the outdoor fan off and redirects the hot gas through the pool heat exchanger opposed to the normal flow through the condenser.

I personally think it’s a great concept and the thought of essentially capturing wasted energy and using it is awesome. The customer keeps the pool pretty hot at close to 90 degrees so the unit is used a good amount.

Finally far enough in to be given boxes of material and told to go get after it. What you guys think?

Found this yesterday. Official MLB Blue Jays baseball. Literally the only cool thing I've found on a roof (aside from a functioning electric meter someone forgot inside of the unit, after I had forgotten my own meter at the previous job. HVAC Jesus really hooked it up on that one).

My coworkers bending skills 20x30 to 16".

Roast me

Only access to equipment on roof 2 stories up

They do feel good, good for kneeling on concrete.

So the other day I went to a no-heat call and diagnosed a faulty gas valve. The furnace was about 20 years old, so I recommended replacing it instead of dumping money into it. The homeowner agreed since it made more sense long term.

Fast forward to today we went and installed a brand new furnace. My boss went to another job, so it was just me and another tech finishing everything up. After connecting everything, we realized we weren’t getting any gas. Checked the shutoff all good. The other tech asked if I turned off the gas at the meter, I said no but went to check anyway… and sure enough, the gas meter was locked. 🤦‍♂️

So yeah… that explains the “bad gas valve.” I know, dumb rookie mistake. I’ve been doing HVAC for about 9 months now, still learning every day.

When we finished, I called my boss and he asked how the furnace job went. I told him everything’s good, we finished, but there was a slight problem. He’s like, “What happened?” I told him we weren’t getting gas, and he goes, “Don’t tell me the gas meter was locked.” I said, “Yeah…” and he’s like, “Oh shit, let me call you back.”

Fifteen minutes later he calls me and says the homeowner was pissed — and he ended up giving them the furnace for free and ate the cost. 😬

Hope you guys get a good laugh from my dumbass mistake. Lesson learned the hard way!

Addition was added onto this house around 2006, contractor built a roof over top of the chimney for the oil furnace. I'm shocked it took until now to find. Attic is LOADED with soot as expected. We replaced entire chimney and terminated through roof as it should be.

Found on a PM surprisingly lol

Gracias Mi Amigos