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I’d never known any other life apart from living down at the coast, and I was used to waking up at the edge of the ocean and walking to the beach.

Never in our wildest dreams did I picture myself living in another site, let alone the chilly mountainous regions, but, since life isn’t set in stone, things change. In high university, we went on a skiing trip, and this was our first time seeing snow. I had to disclose that this felt so different, and the section was so mesmerizing, and for some reason, I consistently felt like moving to that section which is what I did many years later, when I bought a cottage in the area, it was summer. I knew this was the best time to transfer and get the cottage ready for winter. I would have to know the section a little better, then the cottage wasn’t that terrible but required some repair work. That first month in the area, I had to turn on the air conditioning to keep the space cool. But, I started to notice some condensation forming on the windows! Having lived in a coastal section for many years, I knew there was lots of humidity in this cottage. The best way to get rid of it was to install a whole-home dehumidifier. I got in touch with the heating and A/C contractor who had installed the cooling proposal in the cottage. The heating and A/C specialist who had done the job told me it was fine. I would notice the condensation early to prevent mold and mildew growing in the home. The whole-home dehumidifier got rid of the condensation and also made the space more comfortable.

I never imagined living somewhere else

I’d never known any other life apart from living down at the coast, I was used to waking up at the edge of the ocean and walking to the beach.

Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself living in another site, let alone the cold mountainous regions.

But, since life is not set in stone, things change. In high college, we made the choice to go on a skiing trip, and this was my first time seeing snow. I had to confess this felt so different, and the part was so mesmerizing. For some reason, I always felt like moving to that part, which is what I did more than 2 years later, when I purchased a cottage in the area, it was summer. I knew this was the best time to move and get the cottage ready for winter. Plus, I’d get to know the part a little better! The cabin wasn’t that bad; it required some service work. That first week in the area, I had to turn on the cooling system to keep the space cool. But, I started to notice some condensation forming on the windows, and having lived in a coastal part for more than 2 years, I knew there was lots of humidity in this cottage. The best way to get rid of it was to install a whole-home dehumidifier. I got in touch with the HVAC company who had installed the cooling plan in the cottage. The HVAC serviceman who had done the work told me it was nice I’d noticed the condensation early to prevent mold and mildew growing in the cottage. The whole-cottage dehumidifier got rid of the condensation and also made the space more comfortable.

new hvac systems

“Do what you love and you never work a day in your life.” This is a lie.

• I do what I love all the time, and I still have to work to pay the bills! What I love to do is write horror stories and record them for my podcast.

A Scary Home Companion. I spend untold hours working on this show, and it truly makes me happy. Of course, it doesn’t pay me a dime! All this time and effort comes from passion, and I am addicted to it. That said, I still need to work at least 45 hours a week for the HVAC contractor, or else I can’t afford to chase my passion. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because the HVAC contractor I work for pays me very well, and also offers a generous benefits package. Of any of the local HVAC contractors, this one is easily the best because he takes care of his people. But if I had my druthers, I would work for any HVAC contractor I would hole up in my office and spend my nights writing and recording. As far as day jobs go, being an HVAC tech is a great way to make a living. When I clock out at the end of the day I can forget about heating and cooling systems and focus 100% on the show, because I never have to take my work home with me. One day I hope to save up enough money from this HVAC job to retire early, and then my whole life can be about my show.

Air quality systems

Since we were renting the lakeside house for an entire month, we did a lot of research on it.

Of course we studied the website and the pictures, but we also drove up there to see it in person! It’s a three hour drive from home, but in this case we felt it was worth the extra time.

Everything we saw and read about the house made it seem perfect… but there was one major issue that was invisible, and we didn’t realize it until it was too late. Although the central HVAC system seemed to work perfectly, the indoor air quality was dismal, and we could not figure out why! The first night we tried our best to soldier through it, but the air quality immediately took a toll on my wife. She was sneezing and coughing, so the first thing I did was to check the air filter. Much to my surprise, the air filter was almost pristine, and must have been replaced just before we arrived. So if it wasn’t the air filter then what was causing such an issue with the air in the house? Finally I decided to get out my tool box and remove one of the grates from the outside of an air vent. Inside the ductwork was completely coated with years worth of dust and dander. Although the air filter had been changed recently, it seemed that no one had ever cleaned out the air ducts since the house was first built. There might have even been some small animals living in the ductwork.

New air conditioning information

I got an offer from a major corporation to join their workforce.

I had to admit, they put together a really attractive package.

I would get much better health and dental insurance than I currently have, plus a 401K, something I currently don’t have at all. There is a liberal amount of paid leave time, as well, besides the big jump in pay from what I am making now. They couldn’t be much more generous, quite frankly, but I’m still not sure I will take the offer. Right now I am one of three employees at a small, outlaw HVAC company, and even though the pay sucks, I really love my job. When I say “outlaw HVAC company” I mean that we are not one of the major companies. In this town there are a lot of big time corporate contracts, and various landlords and business owners signs exclusive deals with a particular HVAC company to handle all of their needs. We don’t have any contracts, we operate outside the lines, and pick up all the little HVAC jobs the big guys can’t or won’t do. If you need heating equipment for your cannabis crops over the winter, we are the guys to call. If your survivalist cult needs a geothermal heat pump for your underground bunker, we are the guys to call. If you need HVAC work but want to pay cash and not leave a paper trail, we are the guys to call! The HVAC corporation can keep their money, because I love being one of the outlaws.

central air conditioning

In previous decades, this place would have been called a “dude ranch.” You see, back in the day the cowboys and ranch hands that lived on farms referred to other folks as either “city slickers” or in some cases “dudes.” A dude was someone who didn’t know how to live on the land, but was trying.

• Well, the term dude ranch has been retired, and now this place is called a Resort Ranch.

People pay big money to stay here, and do traditional farm chores while eating traditional ranch food. I am a cook, and also the HVAC tech who maintains the cabins and rental cottages. I work two jobs here, because there wasn’t enough HVAC work to necessitate having a repair tech here full time. The way it works is that the HVAC repair work is the top priority, but when that is done, I am to spend the rest of my time in the kitchen. This dude ranch is not made of money, they need to be smart with their budget, and so doing double-duty like this was the only way I could stay employed here. I could go elsewhere and make more money for my HVAC skills, but I love this place! There is more to life than money, and living somewhere so calming and picturesque offsets the fact that I could make twice as much working for a legit HVAC contractor. Since money isn’t an issue at the moment, I will keep peeling potatoes and working on window mounted air conditioners, and enjoying my life as it is.

hvac supplier

When you buy a house, there are a series of checks and balances to make sure you get what you pay for.

There is a real estate agent, loan agents, insurance agents, and everyone has paperwork to ensure everything is perfect.

However, when you buy a house at an auction, all bet are off. You might get a piece of property for a few hundred bucks, and who knows what you might find there? But there are no checks and balances, and once you pay the money you own it no matter what the condition is. I knew it was a crapshoot when I bought the old house, but honestly aside from the lack of an HVAC system the place is in decent shape. The biggest issues with these old houses are the plumbing and the climate control systems. If the pipes are bad, then the place might be too much trouble to bother fixing up, but the same is not true of the climate control system. I have come to expect that the older places will either have no central HVAC system at all, or have one so old it has to be removed and replaced. Compared to the logistical nightmare of replacing all the pipes, replacing a central HVAC system is relatively easy. I don’t even bother looking at the central HVAC system before I buy a place, because I just assume that it isn’t any good. If a house is a good investment, then paying a few grand for a new climate control system is not a major expense.

air conditioning expert

Max simply cannot match this offer… but do I want to go work for a major HVAC corporation? There is more to life than money, right? Working for Max feels like hanging out with a friend, and in between HVAC repair jobs we will hang out in the office and drink a couple of cold beers

Right now I am holding an offer letter in my hand. I only applied for this job to force my current boss into giving me a raise, but that didn’t work. Max told me to take the job, but the problem is I don’t want to take the job. I like Max and I like what I do, so I don’t want to leave. On the other hand, this company is offering me much more than I ever expected to make. I have four years experience, but they want to bring me on as a senior HVAC tech, with full benefits and an option for overtime pay. Max simply cannot match this offer… but do I want to go work for a major HVAC corporation? There is more to life than money, right? Working for Max feels like hanging out with a friend, and in between HVAC repair jobs we will hang out in the office and drink a couple of cold beers. Max told me that HVAC work could be a path to making big money, but that I couldn’t expect to get rich working for him. Max didn’t have the ambition to push his HVAC business to the next level, he was content to just pay his bills. The real question I am facing is how to approach my career in HVAC – do I be like Max, and play it cool, or do I join the big corporation and start making some real money? I am genuinely torn about which direction to take my career in HVAC, and would be open to some advice!

Torn about what to do with my HVAC career

I work at a place called Rancho Relaxo, it is a ranch resort where people pay money to live like cowboys for a few days.

The work is hard, the food is rustic, but the experience feels authentic, and people seem to love it.

I discovered the place as a tourist, and then two years later found my way back here to live, and to work, as part of the crew. I’m no cowboy, but I can cook, so they keep in the kitchen much of the time. More importantly, I am a certified HVAC tech, and those duties are what occupies much of my working day. When they first brought me on, I was supposed to just handle the HVAC work, but that wound up not being enough to keep me occupied. I spent my first few weeks tuning up and repairing every single air conditioner and heater on the ranch, but once I got things up to snuff, my duties relaxed. After that first blast of intense work, there was simply not enough HVAC work to keep me busy throughout the day, so they stuck me in the kitchen. Now when the HVAC work is done I report to Ruth in the kitchen, who keeps me busy peeling potatoes and dicing veggies. I have also been able to improve the ventilation in the kitchen by installing a new vent hood and an exhaust vent in the roof. It has lowered the temps in the kitchen by almost twenty degrees, and this room doesn’t even have an air conditioner.

heating corp

My partner and I buy houses at auction, then we fix them up and “flip” them for a quick profit.

It’s hard work, but it pays well, and quite frankly it’s fun! Bob and I love what we do, even if the results aren’t always great. We turn a profit on nine out of ten house flips, but they can’t all be winners, and sometimes we take a bath on the costs. We buy houses and pieces of property at estate sales and police auctions – in this part of the country police seize all kinds of great stuff in drug raids, including houses. Although we handle most of the work ourselves, there is an HVAC contractor that we use for almost all of the jobs. When it comes to remodeling there are a lot of different things you have to do, but HVAC work is more complicated than I can handle. Even if I had an HVAC certification, I don’t know that I would be up to moving all that equipment, and getting into tight spaces. An HVAC tech has to be able to get into crawl spaces and wiggle up into the attack if need me. When it comes to cleaning air ducts, they have a lot of special tools that my partner and I don’t have. The main reason is that we have learned that people don’t want a house without good climate control. They will buy houses with all manner of defects and shortcomings, but they will not budge a single inch on sacrificing their air conditioning.

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