Posted on 09/27/2021 2:13:04 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Demand for HVAC work rises amid pandemic
With so many people staying home more than ever during the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for better functioning heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems has risen significantly. Flame Heating and Cooling out of Warren say they’ve seen a 20% jump in business since the pandemic.
(Excerpt) Read more at clickondetroit.com ...
My son in law was selected! He does very well, lost some time with covid but found more side jobs. Here is the entrance procedure: 2 min video
https://youtu.be/VxxYqE4Gil8
True story: at the beginning of the summer I called my normal ac repair company because my unit wasn’t cooling right. The assigned tech told me he added 5 pounds of freon, $265 I think it was. Then ac completely quit working. Called another guy who charged me $70 to REMOVE 4 pounds of freon. AC worked great. First company told me they would refund most of the cost. Never did. My new rule; use the owner operator, not the chain store.
I know firsthand of several individuals who didn’t really need air conditioning until working from home. They’d normally leave in the morning for work and by the time they got home, things had cooled down. They spent their weekends outdoors anyway.
Schummer just said that we need the illegals here for cheap labor. Didn’t he just yell at us about needing a $15 minimum for a living wage? Which is it Chuck “cheap labor” or “living wage”?
” They’d normally leave in the morning for work and by the time they got home, things had cooled down. “
That’s strange. Due to the lag inherent in thermodynamics, building structure interiors generally continue to heat for several hours after the maximum outdoor temperature. They must have come home at 1 AM.
There is a shortage of almost everything now.
What is NOT in short supply?
Maybe illegal aliens?
HVAC is an essential, recession-resistant work field. And they are busy right now.
It’s always hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
I think it had more to do with the other condo and apartment owners running their units which cooled the whole building.
We’re on a maintenance plan with the installer company. They come out twice a year to test/clean/repair (if needed) the HVAC systems (3). I had a long conversation with the scheduler last spring. She says they were very short of help and way behind even then. When the scheduler called last week and wanted to set up an appt for the Fall checkup, I said come over your next available...which was just a few days later. She says nothing had changed...they still can’t get good help. But they’re making every effort to give the long-term customers priority service. I said thank you.
I retired and sold my HVAC business in 2014.
I’m STILL getting calls, almost begging, from former customers to get me to come back out. I’ve actually did a few, but it got to be almost overwhelming.....again.
My father was a Lennox shop back in the ‘70s in northern Michigan. He would go out on Christmas Eve on his snowmobile to help folks in need.
I wonder if many do that these days…
“,,I wonder if many do that these days…..”
Not many. There may be a few.
I’ve gotten “emergency calls” like that and would try to accommodate the best I could, especially if they had young kids or very elderly folks in the home.
It got to the point where my phone wouldn’t stop ring so I just wouldn’t answer the phone anymore if I didn’t recognize the number. I never could get really decent help even when paying top dollar. I could hire “muscle” types all day long to move equipment etc., but trying to hire someone that could learn and understood the process, or even how to wire up a thermostat, was almost next to impossible. Frustrating.
Haitians know a thing or two about HVAC, right Chuck?
Also interesting is how these qualified, legal labor shortages are a problem today. A lack of natural gas and electric power this winter will be the problem tomorrow.
—” He would go out on Christmas Eve on his snowmobile to help folks in need.”
That paints a very nice picture of your father.
Yup, I’ve seen the same thing. I used to do that kind of work. Hence my handle reference.
You’d think home, schools, businesses, etc would be antivirally upgrading their HVAC systems like mad -adequatw ventilation has been the one constant that has been proven to help mitigate Covid.
—” antivirally upgrading their HVAC systems like mad “
A very good question?
There are long-standing ASHARE specs for air changes in every possible use. School, restaurant, smoking/no smoking...
Here’s a starting point:
https://www.ashrae.org/File%20Library/Technical%20Resources/Technical%20FAQs/TC-04.03-FAQ-09.pdf
One of AC units at our house went down in the middle of the Texas summer. It took ten days for the new compressor to come in. It was like Little House of the Prairie for a while.
Yep. And almost no office building (doctor, lawyer, realtor, any) with the cheap package rooftop units plopped on the roof with a t-stat in some "central location" meet any of those ASHARE specs. They are not even capable. So when you're in you doctors office, keep that in mind.
—”So when you’re in you doctors office, keep that in mind.”
And that started me thinking???
Here in northern Illinois, most of the older buildings, even the ones retrofitted with AC, not much air change? Mostly infiltration.
My kid’s grammar school upgraded to univents/AC from cast iron radiators just a few years back!
IMO fresh air heat exchangers exist, usually poorly maintained, if at all.
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