If you are a service person in people’s homes you must observe The Omertà.
(The code of silence)
I did HVAC and pool heat pump service for 20 years and I am sure that I have been in at least 5000 homes and 100’s of businesses in that time. It is a privilege and honor to earn the trust to enter other people’s worlds. Many times I have been alone repairing air-conditioning or refrigerators because the customer needed to work. That trust I took seriously. I did work for a few big factories. The employees would ask if I could help them at their home. I saw many alternative lifestyles that the employees didn’t feel comfortable anyone knowing about at work. I always kept my mouth shut. I found sexy things in freezers while I was repairing them that mom and dad didn’t want the kids to see. Guess they were too short to reach. Don’t hide your money in the air conditioning closet please. Saw that a couple of times too. I was fixing a heat pump at a night club at 8 am on a weekday and I got off the roof to get something from my truck and when I got back to my ladder 2 big goons were ruffing up an all night customer. The guy was thrown into my ladder and moved it. The two goons looked at me horrified and stopped their fight and both started apologizing and trying to reposition my ladder. I remember the exact words of one of them; “Mr. Miller we are sincerely sorry if we did anything to interrupt your work day. Please accept our apologies.” 2 hours later the customer was drinking in the cool air from the repaired AC like nothing had happened. I didn’t say anything. I saw people drunk in the morning who called in sick to work. Saw married couples fighting about all kinds of private subjects in the same room as me while I worked. I helped contractors who were afraid to work in their own neighborhoods at night. I visited many famous people who didn’t want anyone to know where they lived. I fixed the air conditioning in a home that was going to host one of the most famous singers in the world at the time that night. Didn’t tell anyone. Well, maybe only my Mom. There were answering machines broadcasting private messages next to where I was installing a thermostat. Personal videos playing on big TVs that were not meant for strangers. Mortuaries with stuff going on not for the faint of heart. Famous Hollywood, Football, Tennis and Hockey players who liked their privacy too. swimming pool parties with bathing suits optional and 100′ yacht parties with their own special kind of decadence. Your job is to be a hero and make people comfortable and solve their problems. Never do or say anything to make customers uncomfortable or cause stress in their lives. We all have enough of that.
Be safe out there.
Best,
Marcus
P.S. It goes without saying that if I saw anybody being abused who needed help or any type of animal cruelty, I would talk as fast as an auctioneer who got paid by the word to anyone who would listen.
P.P.S. I know whether young men or young woman keep cleaner homes. 🙂
It is late February and my cherry trees are flowering. I have not seen any bees around yet so this isn’t a good sign. It is still getting below freezing at night and that can’t be too good for this years fruit crop. I wonder how my green house buddies are doing who can more closely control the environment. We send many heat pumps to heat the air and the ground in green houses. Many flower growers in Texas and South America use them so they can grow petunias all year long. It looks like I will be spending a lot of time this spring staring at my trees and not leaving my yard as the first Coronavirus death in the USA just happened close to my town. I have been avoiding traveling and especially airports this year so I didn’t come in contact with other travelers but, now it seems people will be avoiding people from my area. I feel bad for my hotel / motel / campground and resort clients. They are taking a hit and many good people depend on that industry for employment. Not happy with all these markets in China that mix so many different species & foods. I am sure other countries are just as bad and have issues too. Maybe this will be the age of AquaCulture, Aquaponics and Hydroponics where they can control the environment and avoid this type of disaster. We are not living in the middle ages. If you are at your market stall playing on your smartphone then you can make sure you are also able to keep things clean and sterile. I would love to hear from all my agricultural buddies in that field on their views. Looks like there will be more Stay-cations this year. I hope that my pool heaters and heat pumps can help people enjoy their homes more. People with warm pools stay fitter and have great family togetherness occasions. If you need to heat or cool water or air with a gas, electric or heat pump please let me know. If you need to repair your old pool heater we can help with parts and troubleshooting. This months advice is to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds & call your Mom more. She loves you.
Best,
Marcus
Your swimming pool heat pump is not running and you are frustrated. It could be bran-new or it has been in your back yard for the last 15 years. Either way, it is something you don’t want to deal with as swimming pool heat pumps are supposed to help to enjoy the swimming season and to help you relax and not cause you to stress by not doing their job. I took a call this week from a man who bought a new heat pump to replace a 17 years old one that finally wore out. His new heat pump was not starting and the digital control was blank with no display. He said he had power and that made me scratch my head as it is so rare to have power and not have some kind of reading on the thermostat display. Finally, his electrician found that his electrical disconnect was bad and only feeding 120 volts to the heat pump instead of 240 volts. Once that was fixed the heat pump started right up and did the job that it was made to do. I find that a high percentage of service calls are not related to the heat pump itself. Many calls are due to lack of water flow. I have seen dirty pool filters shutting down pool heat pumps, and even if the filter is clean the cartridge filter was so old that restricted water flow so that the water pressure switch in the pool heat pump wouldn’t activate. Then there are bypass ball, gate and 3-way valves in the wrong position causing the misdirection of water flow. Also, I have seen all the water valves in the right position but they have failed internally so you can’t tell easily that they are the problem causing low or no flow. Then there are people who were trying to save money while being green by buying an expensive variable speed water pump. Nobody told them that when it is on low speed it sometimes isn’t enough flow to run the heat pump. Sometimes when all looks good it is the basket on the filter pump that is full or more sneaky yet the basket is empty but the impeller is clogged with pine needles or some other organic material. Sometimes the unit is fine and is just off on the 5-minute start delay. They have no patience and keep resetting the 5 minutes by shutting off the power or playing with the thermostat and then after a 1/2 hour decide the heat pump is junk and call to complain. Having a troubleshooting owners manual handly is always a good idea. Something happened today that is relevant. I was swimming in a freezing 20 X 40 no heater pool in the shade during a 3-week heatwave with temperatures every day over 35C or 95F when the owner asked me if I could to change an outside light. I love electrical challenges so I changed the light fixture by the pool and an hour later the owner complained the light was on constantly now and not coming on at dusk with the timer like all the others by the pool are supposed to do. He suggested that I wired it wrong. I knew it was not on after I wired it so I was a bit confused. At first, I thought I might be slipping and not still the same guy who wired and piped 100 tons of air conditioning on a commercial building that all started and ran the first time without any changes. I went out to the light to check the wiring. It did look like it was on. I was about to take it apart when I saw that the sun had set a bit and the sunlight was perfectly coming through a gap between the roof drain and the wall focusing the sun rays on the fixture making it look on. So the strangest things sometimes happen that have no relation to the object that you think failed. Think out of the box. Most swimming pool heat pumps are pretty reliable. If you get in a jam e-mail or text me and I will try to help out.
I am on your side. Have a great swimming season.
Best,
Marcus
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