When my dad told me about becoming a heating and cooling technician I thought that it was going to be a great way of life.
My father had been an air quality control specialist for 40 years before he retired from the industry. He told me that he regretted retiring every day of his life because he truly missed all of the work that came with being a professional heating, cooling, and ventilation inspection worker. In fact, he regretted the fact that he had never opened his own heating and cooling repair shop for more than anything. He never said a single thing to me about the challenges of becoming an indoor air quality control specialist or working with residential heating and cooling equipment every day. When I went into the heating and cooling industry myself, I was rather shocked to find out that there is a lot more involved than HVAC equipment diagnostics and repair. In fact, you have to be an expert at handling people, just as much as troubleshooting HVAC devices. You never know what kind of client you’re going to get when you answer the call for a professional HVAC inspection. Last week, I got stuck with a real talkative Tommy when I went out for a routine furnace inspection. The old man wouldn’t stop speaking to me about his heating implement and his desire for lower energy bills. I told him that his furnace was running in tip-top shape and there was nothing else I could do for him. However, he continued to ramble on about heaters in the good old days and how low his utility bills used to be. After 2 hours of non-stop HVAC chatter I had to fake a phone call from my own dad to get out of that heating and cooling repair job.