The beginning of a blog...

Welcome to my new blog and to the beginning of entertaining HVAC!  "What?"  you say.  "Can furnaces and heat pumps really be entertaining?"  Well, as anyone in the industry can tell you, you better have a good sense of humor if you're going to make a go of it.

I started my life in the industry at the tender age of three, though in retrospect I don't think my parents actually sent the crayon and construction paper invoices I made out, but just the same, I was there in person when it all began.  As my mom tirelessly did the books each week in our tiny little office above C&E on Richland Ave. and my dad learned the ins and outs of selling, fixing, and being one with the equipment.  I also have many memories of our West State St. office after we outgrew Richland Ave.  Crawling around in the basement yelling out serial numbers to my dad as we took inventory each year on New Year's Day.  I fit in small places best and there were plenty to hide in there.  And throwing pencils in the ceiling to see if they would stick in the foam (yes, 20 years later I'm admitting it was me and Steve Dean.)  And who can forget our "state-of-the-art" Commodore 64 computer?  I played Pong for hours when sales contracts weren't being typed on it.

Then, when I was old enough to actually work and not just "help," I started with filing (boring!) and moved on to many different jobs as the need came: inventory management, accounts receivable, front desk receptionist, and my personal favorite: maintenance contracts.  That's still my baby, though I've moved to other things as well.  Taking care of our customers on a regular basis, truly getting to know them, is so rewarding my heart will always be there.

Then there is the day I got my HVAC license.  I was in my 20's and one of our helper technicians was supposed to go take the test (so he could handle refrigerant and be a lead tech.)  There was a 2 hour refresher class and then you took the test.  It was already paid for and the tech ended up sick so my dad asked me if I'd like to try, since we'd already lost the money it didn't matter that I wasn't prepared and failed.  So I went.  I was the only girl in the class and the instructor didn't know what to do with me.  Mainly, he tried to avoid eye contact.  But once I got the math down (math is not my big strength), I surprised myself by knowing a lot of the answers.  And I think both my dad and I were shocked when the results came in: Esther Thomas is a Universally Certified Technician.  I guess training for something your entire life equals a couple years of technical school.

But some of my favorite stories of my HVAC life are not my own, but others & their stories.  Oh the stories our men come back with from the field!  Giant black snakes wrapped around compressors, rabbits in ductwork (I wonder why there's no air flow?), and the fun, wild goose chases we go on trying to follow customer's directions to their houses (do people not know where they live?)  And then there are the not so amusing stories: raw sewage in people's basements, finding carbon monoxide and saving family's lives, and my least favorite: creepy spiders in crawlspaces.  If it weren't for the spiders I might have been willing to be in the field more as I have a true love for duct work and especially duct tape!  Talk about a genius invention.  But all those icky spiders!

So, yes, I do believe HVAC and Hearth products can be entertaining.  It entertains me all the time, not the boring electrical chit-chat nor the deep and seemingly endless conversation about fireplace schematics but the funny stories of funny things that happen and the odd people we meet.  And the touching stories of helping people with health issues or fising heat on Christmas Eve when there is a whole house full of company.

So welcome to my blog and stay tuned for our next post:  Ask Dave!  Where we'll answer all your burning (get it?  burning?) hearth and HVAC questions.