Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention,
please? The show starts in 10... 9... 8... 7...
6... 5... 4... Three, two, one, go. What is going
on, huh? Dude, I'm talking, you just pulled it
together at the last second. Yeah, you see me
scramming, I'm like, shoot, Magoots, brother.
I didn't know. Dude, it's good to see you, man.
It's always hanging out with you. Hey, you know,
we're always open brother Okay, oh That says
it all my man My man, we keep in touch. We keep
in touch. You know that Texting all the time.
Yeah. Yeah, buddy. Oh my gosh Okay What you got?
I gotta ask you you got weight equipment there
in the back Do you actually use that weight,
those weights? Tell me. Yeah. Of course, man.
Um, dude, so long story short, I used to be,
I used to be in shape. I'm a shape now, but if
you look back at my older videos and I'll, I'll
show you this photo I was going through. Would
you say I'm a shape now? I'm a shape. Yeah. Okay.
And I was like, man, I would see myself. I'm
like, man. getting all like you can't tell right
like to me but like I'll send you this photo
later and I was like I gotta get in shape but
every time I would start working out I get hurt
I swear to you like I tore my bicep once I got
herniated disc in my back and those get aggravated
I got dang tennis elbow you know and uh it just
was always a problem and then again so I ended
up getting this thing here and I was I was on
a roll dude I was like 205 Got down to 182 and
then I threw my back out again and then I just
freaking You know what I mean? So I just got
back into it about two weeks ago But yes, that
equipment gets used about five days a week Does
anything other than the bench get used? Brother,
this is a complete functional trainer. Okay,
I got a landmine attachment over there. I got
cable crossovers This is a Smith machine. So,
you know, it helps a little bit of reduction
on the The weights there. I think it's like a
35 pounds. I was like 10 pound difference, but
now it's got a leg press thing I lay on my back
do my leg press do my squats I got can I can
do flies. It's great. It's good All right. One
of the things I want to start off with, I'm going
to ask you the same question I ask about everybody.
Tell me your story about how you got in the trades.
What were you doing before and how did you get
into HVAC? Do you want the long -winded out answer
or just like a quick synopsis? You want footnotes?
What do you want? Tell me the whole story. What's
up? All right. So I don't know it. I don't think
I've ever heard of this. All right. I was born
September 12th, 1990. I thought you, what do
you want? All right. So roughly 2010. Okay. I'm
working, I'm 19, 20. I'm working at a place doing
with adults with disabilities. I was there for
about two years. And I was like, all right, this
ain't my jam. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn't
gonna be my career. I ended up joining the military.
That didn't pan out. I did not fulfill my contract,
had some heart issues. So that got put on the
books, came back to work with adults with disabilities.
I was with a girl at the time, and by a girl
at the time, it is now my wife. Prior to me leaving,
got back, of course, I'm all horned up. So we
had a kid, all right? practically immediately.
And then as soon as I'm having the kid, my dad
says, I always say it like this and I apologize,
but this is how my dad talks. Son, you need a
career. And he did HVAC. So he got me in line
with what he did. This was back in 2011. I worked
there for about two years. I didn't take it serious,
man. I should have. My dad is an intelligent,
smart guy. He would rebuild boards, solder. Like
he was, he's a G. I just was collecting the paycheck.
I didn't give a shit. Anyways, I ended up leaving
there because the paychecks at that place started
bouncing. I had a family to raise, so I went
through the paces for a while. I worked at a
CNC machine shop that worked on Harleys. Injection
blow mold, I worked at UPS in Gettysburg. Had
a couple odds and ends jobs. What else so then
around 2016 I got on board with the guy that
used to work at that first company started his
own company and strictly duck duck work metal
duck work on Commercial spaces so big boy stuff,
you know master metal. I always called myself
that love sheet metal, but that's what I did
I just did duck work and then I got an opportunity
at another place in which They were around since
1902. They operated. Fantastic place. They're
still probably around rocking and rolling. This
was in Maryland. Um, I lied my way in. I'm like,
yeah, dude, I know what I'm doing. I've been
doing this for years. I didn't know shit, dude.
Did not know a thing. This was about 2017, 2018.
Okay. But I get in, end up becoming a really
good installer. I would say, um, from what the
other guys told me, like by other guys, he's
like the sales guys was like, I only want you
to do my installs. So Take that for what it's
worth. I was like, okay, cool. I've really had
some craftsmanship I cared how my stuff looked
wanted to work. Right? That's when I started
to uh Told you this was gonna be a long out drawn
out answer. Um Invested myself. I had a one of
my senior techs there, man I remember I was working
at like it was like midnight, dude and we had
to drill this hole through some freaking granite
tile through a house because the guy who sold
the job didn't give a shit anyways and he's like
yo just drill the hole i'm like f you charlie
i'll come i'll come beat your ass because he
called you know he's like anyways super great
guy he is the one who said you know what why
don't you give a shit about yourself invest in
yourself and you know at first i was real hot
-headed young and dumb i'm like you know what
he's right though okay and then fast forward
2020 moved to florida i think i'm a wizard at
hfac i never did a service call in my life again
lied my way into saying, Hey, I'm a great guy.
I just fake it till you make it. Okay. Got my
first gig, got my first gig down here. I couldn't
change a capacitor in 2020, bro. I didn't even
know. Okay. I was just like, you too. Yeah. You
too was my best friend. Like I've only probably
done, I've only done service for four years really
at this point. And so I didn't like the direction
of that company, so I moved to another company
in which I really started to get my footing at
the end of 2020. So I got into my own truck around
September. I would say around 2021 is when I
was like, you know what? This is my passion.
This is my drive. Started really investing in
myself, time on YouTube, watching and reading
books, you know, like HVAC School, Craig, you
know, Migliaccio, all those things. Really educational
stuff. Ty Brenneman. And then fast forward, I
got really, at least to my extent, felt really
confident in how I performed at work. Came across
this opportunity at where I am now. Again, this
is not my business that I started. It was a business
that was acquired by a partner of mine, a buddy,
and I ran the show. And basically from 2022 to
now, it's all been. It's been self -taught. So
like if you guys watch my videos or anything,
they're not going to be the prettiest or best
because I'm still learning trial by error as
I'm out in the field. But sometimes the lessons
you learn doing it, learning on the job are the
lessons that stick. If you have to figure out
they're on the job, you're probably going to
remember it next time. Dude. Sorry, ice. Sorry,
everybody. So that leads me to where I am now.
And perfect example of what you just said was
I was actually at a job this weekend. I changed
a compressor. That's what I actually did a video
on it when the compressor was wrong. Anyways,
the customer's calling. They're like, it's just
making a loud noise. And I'm getting there. I'm
like, oh, it's mechanical. Because pressures
are great. The issue was bad humidity issues
in the house. They said, that's gone. It's just
the noise. And it's this train and it's going
wong, wong, wong. I remember, I used to be a
big train guy at the last company I was at, took
off that side pin where the true suction is,
pulled that discharge line off that coil, sound
was gone. You know what I mean? But that comes
down to being in the field, you know what I mean?
It took me a minute, but it was just readjusting
the way that copper was off that muffler, you
know what I mean? Off that discharge line. And
it went away and they came out, they're like,
is that thing even running? I'm like, dude. Yeah,
you know that could also cause a leak if it's
vibrating like that Kurt It's slayer old, okay
It wasn't at that point it was just that's what
I know from from trains right there It's just
they they compact everything in that side compartment
where that the reversing valve is And you know
probably when I was putting the compressor in
you know Moot shifted probably a piece of that
copper or something. I just readjusted it You
know what I'm saying? That's cool, yeah. But
that's my long -winded story. How long did that
take, dude? The show's almost over. No, no, no.
Well, there's a lot of people that watch that
are interested in getting into trades and people
who are interested in starting a business. So
that's one of the questions I like to ask. Because
most people don't get out of high school and
say, hey, I want to be an HVAC tech. We kind
of stumble into it. Most of us do. Except for
Tim Distasio. He knew from the start. That's
what he wanted to be. You know what I mean? But
most of us, we started doing something else.
Yeah. So even, you know, I go back to a line
of, um, my grandfather was, you know, back in
the day, plumbing and heating went hand in hand,
right? So that's, that's what the two plumbing
and you get what I'm saying. And then eventually
air conditioning came into the fold. So we had
Kraus Mechanical up in Baltimore and that's what
my family ran. It was my grandfather and then
my dad took it. Once my grandfather passed away,
my dad ran it for a little while. It was like,
F this, it's better just to work for somebody
else. And, you know, it was always in my blood,
but my parents were divorced. So like, it wasn't
like I saw my dad working on air conditioners
all the time, but yeah, it was definitely something.
I'm glad that I was brought into and I wouldn't
see my life in any type of fashion. It would
be some sort of blue collar trade related gig.
If they asked me, what would you do outside of
this now? Outside of playing football or something,
you know? Yeah, I happen to love what I do. I
came out of high school thinking I was going
to be an engineer or something like that. I actually
think I'm much happier doing what I do now than
I ever would have been as an engineer because,
you know, I heard my dad's stories. He was a
mechanical engineer and he longed to be out in
the field working. And so I just think I love
what I do is a great job. And we love what you
do, Kurt. Okay. Let me just tell you that. Okay.
I wouldn't want it any other way about being
in the field too, right? So like, obviously I'm
on, I got some of the operation aspect on the
back end of things, running a business, understanding
all that, but these are just something about
getting your hands on your tools. And I don't
get as dirty as you. I don't get in the trenches
as deep as you do, but you're getting some shit,
bro. Let's just put it like that, right? Uh,
actually, uh, you tried to tackle a ventilation
fan on the roof the other day. And, um, I told
you my back's Jack, bro. That's a greasy job
to get into those things. They are nasty. Yeah.
Yeah. This one, I mean, it doesn't look particularly
too, I guess maybe once I started dismantling
it, it probably would have, but I needed a second
set of hands to get on that bad boy. You know
what I mean? Cause like, that's why if you, if
you watch, I put, uh, my rope on there so i could
pull the thing down because one it was just hot
as hell you know they were down there with the
the hood ah empanadas i like this yeah let did
you just call him empanadas oh of course oh vick
over there um i wouldn't say it was an epic fail
whatsoever i mean one it's a learning thing two
um i wouldn't want to replace that and and and
work on that shit for That's a $4 ,000 job just
in labor to do one of those from how I've seen
it be done. So in that retrospect, it went in
really nice. I quoted it for $2 ,500, but I wasn't,
again, the way my back was and having to do that
extra, I needed another set of hands and now
why not? On one almost just like that one time,
my boss sent me to go change the bearings on
this thing. Oh my word. I was there all day long.
And if I ever come across that ever again, I'm
just going to quote them a whole new ventilation
fan. I'm not going to change the bearings on
this thing. That was a job. Oh, I believe it.
Yeah. I ended up, you know, I got a lot of fricking
super awesome feedback. Everybody's like, dude,
just, just replace it with a power pack. Heads
up for that particular model. They don't make
power packs. So I couldn't, um, would have loved
to cause Again, I didn't know that from Jump
Street. Anyways, the way I had seen it, I was
like, all right, a couple of bolts here, pull
that bad boy through. Nah, dude, there was like
torsion screws in there that had the keyway and
I didn't even have the proper hub, like the puller,
you know, with the hooks. I don't have that type
of puller. And now we know again. But like everybody
did warn me like, dude, at that rate, just replace
it with a power pack or just get a whole new
one. I was like, noted. And Adrian even told
me, bro. I text him like, Hey bro, like how's,
how difficult? Cause I watch videos. Everybody's
doing like the belt driven ones and, and regular
like PSC ones and he looks super easy. I'm like,
all right, well, this can't be too bad. And on
top of that, they're just nasty. Yeah, they are
nasty. I got to go return that by the way. I
just got my RMA. So yeah. All right. You gotta
return the motor? Yeah I gotta return the motor.
It's funny they actually emailed us back someone
else had gotten our somehow our return label
and uh what'd they say they're like uh it was
returned with the the wrong um the wrong switch
and the fan I was like I still have it so somewhere
along the lines they had crossed it so Victor,
I delivered my share of pizzas as well. That
was actually a very good high school job delivering
pizzas. Yo, you did deliver pizzas. You had a
wild journey, my friend. Alright, let's talk
about how Kurt got into HVAC. We're turning this
thing around right on you, bro. You know, the
first HVAC, it wasn't really HVAC. I was working
on air conditioners and vehicles. Mm -hmm. I
started working for a company that originally
was converting R12 vehicles to R34A. And they
just kept doing air conditioning work for vehicles.
And yeah, I was the grunt there. I was doing
all the hard work while they're running around
with them schematics telling me what to do. And
you're just saying. It was hard work and very
tight confined spaces. I mean to change an evaporator
coil You have to disassemble the whole front
of the Nah Nah, I Mean and sometimes you'd be
shocked at the size of the air handler that is
hiding behind the dash is huge It's the size
of a motor And you're just like no sir How long
did you do that for? a grueling six months. All
right, all right. Got your feet wet. Yeah, I
didn't like it. I didn't like it. And I picked
up, well, my wife gave me a book on HVAC and
I read it cover to cover like two times. I'm
like, I think I can go in and get a job. I know
enough about this stuff now to do it. Let's go.
I was kind of like you. I walked in. I know everything
there is to know. Yeah, I was ready to quote
I was ready to start quoting typical pressures
for r22 and everything else and I Didn't know
Jack. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you bro. We still
I'm still just winging it, you know We just couldn't
make it work, dude a buddy told me He's like
dude like 80 % of this shit. It's just communication
At least, you know, for us, you know, in residential,
right? It's just communicating with the customer,
understanding their problems, because more than,
I mean, it's not that difficult, right? There's
some things that can be a little bit more, like
more, you know, I'm trying to say difficult than
others. There's some very technical stuff out
there, yeah. For sure. Especially with, you know,
the way everything's equipment's being manufactured
now. But it's really just, you know, we're just...
customer relations that sometimes, you know,
we're therapists for people. I'm not a very good
therapist. Let's put it that way. I don't know,
man. I hear the way you talk to some of them
customers when you walk up in there. Sometimes
I don't have patience. Yeah, understood. You
know what I mean? For example, I could change
the battery in their smoke detector and be honest.
Here we go. You know what? I see those comments.
There's got to be a, how many comments you think
per video do you get of that? It's like Kirk
got a good customer today. No smoke detectors
going off. It don't even got to have the smoke
detectors and they still bring it up. I know
it, but you know, part of it, part of me is like,
if these people can't take. The initiative to
change the battery in their smoke detector. Why
am I gonna do it for them? That's that's the
part of me that doesn't have the patience coming
through When I could change the battery and maybe
make a little more money, I'm just I'm just thinking
Man, you know what I ain't go a lot of you, you
know, we uh We were living with a Beatman smoke
detector probably for like three six months because
eventually you just tune it out or I just close
the door because it's on the other side of the
house and One of our friends came over like that
smoke detector still going off because I got
some batteries in the car Let me get you some
batteries like I didn't even notice You know
I went into one of my own to the office one of
the rental companies I work in And their smoke
detector was going off. Leading by example, that's
all they're doing, okay? You follow the leader,
that's all. And my ears just start twitching.
This ain't meant to be. Oh, those smoke detectors.
And some of the places I go into sometimes are
just so nasty. There was one that was so nasty
recently. I've got the job to replace the evaporator
hole, but the day I showed up to do it, nobody
would answer the door. And I just, I didn't follow
up on it because I didn't want to go back. I
mean, it was nasty. Dude, I feel ya. You know,
the bad thing for me is I use Jobber, right?
And Jobber sends a text message to the customer
to let them know I'm on the way. and you can
tell when they read those things. It's like,
damn it, should I hit this or should I just show
up? You know what I'm saying? Because that same
instance, you're like, you're hoping like, for
example, the other day I went to one and the
window was 12 to four, but I got there like 11,
40, and they answered on the ring. They're like,
oh, I texted you back through the message. I
won't be there. And I was like. That's okay,
I'll wait it out, but it's perfect prime example.
You're like, well, maybe they just won't be here
and I can leave. I've got this, you know, I'm
using Housecall Pro and I'm not using the calendar
on it. I really should because it'll text them
ahead of time, let them know I've been assigned
to it and all that good stuff. But I've just
got this habit, I call the customer before I
go out. Yeah. So, um, and if I can't get them
on the phone, I don't go. Oh, okay. Because I'm
going to say 60 % of the time these are tenants.
Yep. I want to make sure they're home before
I go. Yep. And, um, because I don't want to do
a wasted trip and even though The rental companies,
they don't want me to do a wasted trip. So if
they don't answer your phone, I might text them.
If I don't hear something like in five minutes,
I move on to the next. Yeah, no, totally concur.
I learned from when I was at that company in
Maryland, they were like, like, hey, cause that's
what we would do. We would always call the customer
before we were on the way. And if we didn't get
a call, I'd like just hit them up and like, Hey,
I didn't, I didn't get a response. We're like,
Oh, just go ahead and head there anyways. Maybe
they'll be there. You know what I mean? So like
from that point, like, That was always what was
kind of ingrained in me is just like head there.
But for the most part, like you said, we just
do the call through the voice answering system,
the call transfer, and also do the text message.
And then hopefully that way we can get a little
bit of scheduling on point, right? You know,
to let them know. Another cool thing is they
can kind of track where I'm at, you know? Yeah,
they can see you your path on the way there,
right? Yeah, so You know, it's I haven't had
too many issues where I show up and they're not
there. I had one about a month ago I was there
was like 930 and rang the doorbell I knocked
cuz or I knock first because you know what they
say is it seems more friendlier because friends
knock and Like solicitors bring the doorbell
or whatever. So I knock no answer ring the doorbell
and it's a recording doorbell Well, they ended
up calling like five hours later saying I never
showed up I said no no no no I take a picture
of the front door and then I back up before I
leave and take a picture of my van in front of
their house because I park on the street and
I put that in a profile and then we forward that
to the customer like Well, we we never saw them.
You know, I'm like, yeah. Well at least I you
were there. I was there like Then again, guess
what? Through our CRMs, we can geo -pin where
we're at and send them our location at what time.
Yeah, that's pretty swift. But yeah, there's
some good SOPs right there. Anything that backs
you up and makes you look more professional,
I'm all for it. Makes a small company look just
as professional as a big company. I like that.
Hell yeah. That's why I grow my hair out, man.
Cause you know, it looks more professional. Dude,
you look like the stereotypical, what you would
expect to show up when you call the HBHD tech.
Now, is that a good thing or a bad thing? No.
I mean, you are what people are looking for.
That's what I'm saying. So when I sell them a
$20 ,000 system, brother, I'm like, you know
what? You're taking it from the best. All right.
Would this, would this face lie to you? I work
on things, okay? I don't want to sell you this
system. Trust me, I'd rather fix it. But if you're
going to pay. Speaking of selling systems today,
I had to give a guy an estimate today because
he had a leak in our 410 coil on a 15 year old
system. Okay. And just finding coils these days.
Forget about it. the repair is so expensive and
it's 15 years old. I reported him a new system,
he's got a leak in coal and now it's gonna cost
him like a little over $7 ,000 because he's gonna
have to get a new system. Yeah, nah man, that's
generally when we get to a replacement repair
option, it's that same exact scenario. It's like...
you know, a Lennox or a Carrier, whoever. One,
the coil is going to be ridiculously expensive.
Then you got to mark it out. Plus your labor,
you're, you're at a third of what a new unit,
maybe even half, including refrigerant of, and,
and what you just said there lined it up perfectly
though. It's like, it, it makes sense just to
go with the new, the new system, you know? Get
you a 10 year parts warranty and just ride it
out. And then when, when he finally agreed to
do it, He started telling me that it just runs
all the time, it feels humid in there, and I
was like, well, we're gonna fix that. So what
you did is you gave him an extra ton, correct?
No. That's gonna fix all the problems. Oh my
God. And what I need to sell him is one of those
shades that go over the condenser. On top of
the shade, you need the mister. This guy's gonna,
it'll actually, it'll actually pay him back for
what he's paying for the system in the first
year. Did you know that? And make it blow out
32 degree air. Without freezing. It's unbelievable
what they're able to achieve these days. Oh my
God. I'm waiting for Tim Di Stasio to just rip
him a new one on that. He just needs to stay
on that guy's channel just take his 10 15 20
minute videos and just break them down Did you
would just gold mine this whole time? You know,
I know he is hilarious his reactions on those
videos is what gets me is when he goes Like well
Yeah, okay. He came in on one of my comments
on um that grounded compressor. I had it ran
for two hours and It was me, like, checking the
terminals at the, you know, the control panel.
So I'm just checking them there. I was like,
all right, obviously I'm gonna go check at the
compressor as well. But he's like, man, you need
to go inside and check it at the compressor.
And a lot of people were like, did you not watch
the video? And then he did respond. He's like,
sorry, video cut off. You know what I mean? So
I was like... They clicked on something else.
Trust me. Don't want to put something out there
that if Tim gets his hands on it I don't want
I don't want to be part of one of his videos
I basically let him know that I was saying please
don't roast me. I've got 1 ,800 videos out there
Please don't find one and roast me. You go find
something brother I'm sure I've probably Done
something that is roast worthy in all those videos
tons, dude. I mean I was yeah Can't act like
we're all perfect. We're not all saints, brother.
Oh, man. I caught some heat in one of my recent
videos because I didn't show myself protecting
the wires in a metal pull -through. Are you?
I'm going to tell you, the keyboard warriors
get fired up if you don't tell them you did something
or if you don't show it. Yeah, dude, I had an
issue for a while there like if I'm doing an
evaporator coil like most of my my work's gonna
be obviously at the evaporator I'm not gonna
be at the condenser like I wouldn't show that
like I hooked up the nitrogen or something under
it. Oh Oxidation you're gonna kill the coil compressor
TXV and I'd be like so like for quite a bit there
when I was doing it I would just go take a quick
video, hey guys, you nitrogen Nazis, I'm out
here, I got it hooked up, and then just go inside,
you know what I mean? But everybody's been pretty
kosher, I will say, it's been pretty good, but
you gotta think, that video you did yesterday
with the install, I mean, it was an hour long,
but were you there for an hour, Kurt? Was that
everything you did? You know, it's like - That
was a four hour job. It's like, do you want me
to do the whole thing, guys? You know? And really,
when I'm filming those, if y 'all don't know,
I'm editing with the shutter button on my camera.
What I'm doing is I try to film the important
part, shut it off, and that way when I come home
and I download all the videos, I just stick it
all together and I don't have to edit so much.
I do edit a little bit, but not much. I'm just
basically taking all those videos, those short
videos, sticking them together and putting a
little transition in there and that's it. And
those long videos do well. They do. That's the
truth. The truth, my man. Somebody said nitrogen
Nazis. They, yeah, I was like, man, I gotta coin
that one. But I would, I'd be like, you know
I did it, because they would. Instead of, you'd
see me in other videos, I would put like, flush,
flush. It's like, oh, you didn't flush the line.
I'm like, here I go again, so I'm doing an install
video. Make sure you show you do the flushing.
I was like, at the end of the day, guys. I also
wire nutted everything. I didn't show you that.
I glued an elbow that I didn't show, but I showed
you putting the female end in of the drain line.
Didn't show you putting the thermostat on, the
tie downs, the, the, the panduits, the, you know
what I mean? All kinds of stuff, man. Okay. Which
dolly? In that video where I did, where I did
the mobile home air conditioner, I didn't have
a dolly. Okay. But people pointed out that there
was a dolly holding the door open. Okay, the
door was not open. I didn't have access to the
mobile home. Oh man. And I was doing the condenser,
okay? Yeah, exactly. And it showed up afterwards,
opened the door and there it was. So it's not
like it was there the whole time. That's so,
that's funny. I love it. But people were like,
if only he had a dolly, I'm like, if I could
just remember to load it on the trailer, you
know what I'm saying? Early in the morning. I'm
trying to get out because I know it's gonna be
a four -hour job Yeah, and I forget dude. I'm
the same way. I'm like, I'll get to the job.
I'm like Shit, did you did you did you guys bring
it? Did you you know, it is literally just me.
I'm like and so you're just like Man I'm gonna
tell you one time I had to do one of these on
stinger package units, you know talking about
I don't The ring dedicated horizontal package
units. Okay We call them stingers because they're
high static. Okay, but they're they're long.
They're not the square ones. It's the long package
unit We had to put that thing on a dolly Stand
it up and walk it through the backyard to get
it to where we needed to get it And man, let
me tell you that was That was a job Oh boy, I
believe it. That little dolly was not made for
something like that. I put something heavy on
mine. I forget which one. And it broke the welds
on the bottom. I mean, it's a nice dolly, you
know? I was like, yeah, it wasn't made for all
that either. We abuse them, man. We abuse them.
That's what we do to... All right. Let me see
what... We treat our tools like we treat our
bodies. Oh man. I'm going to pay for all this
one day. I try to stay in decent shape, but like
I'm starting to feel it in my knees. Uh -oh.
You look good, Gary. You be doing that push -ups
and pull -ups. You got that calisthenic workout,
don't you? I work out at Waffle House. Hey. All
right, Jake. I tried to prepare you for this.
This is towards the end of the show. So I'm going
to ask you what... crazy stuff have you seen
either in people's houses, in neighborhoods,
as you're doing service work, because I got a
good story to tell. I wanna hear yours first,
so. All right, well, you reminded me of a good
one when you said that, was the bear, okay? We
got black bears here in central Florida, okay?
Doing some service work, and I see all these
deer just kinda frolicking, right? Frolicking
through the ding. The neighborhood, I'm like,
that's a lot of deer. And I'm like, I wonder
what they're running from. And then all of a
sudden, this black bear just runs and darts across
the road. And the damn claws on this thing are
like this, and they're just scraping. And he's
running through houses, coming up driveways.
And I just recorded it the whole time. It was
kind of, you know. Yeah, that's cool man. And
then I was working on a condenser. Luckily this
customer had a fence, but the bear was on the
other side of the fence. Wait a minute, close
to you? Oh yeah, yeah. You know, the dogs were
barking and she had German Shepherds and she
was like, yep, the bear's on the other side there.
I'm like, alright, I'm just gonna come in for
a second, is that okay? But these people, man,
in that particular area... Like they treat these
things like they're their babies, you know, they
got names for them and everything. And I'm like,
yeah, I'm not I'm not doing all that. No, I know
being in Florida, I haven't ran across any gators
at the condensers or anything. But, you know,
I've I've been in proximity of little, you know,
retention ponds or whatever in neighborhoods
that, you know, you you see them. And snakes
will get inside those condensers all the time.
I had a raccoon that had gotten inside the duck
work and fell down and fried on the electric
heater. And possums. So it's all critter related.
That's my stuff. And then obviously you got the
hoarders, man, you know, the nasty. But that's
about it. Nothing extreme like some guys that
have really cool stories. I just, I got those.
All right. I've been saving this story just for
you, Jay. All right. I get called to a mobile
home. OK, it's in a part where I'm still working
right now. And of course, I call ahead of time,
but I called the lady of the house. She said,
going over there, my boyfriend's there. I said,
would you please let him know I'm on the way?
I don't like to surprise anybody. Well, that
call never happened. I go knock on the door and
I don't know if you've noticed when I knock,
I knock hard. I want people to know I'm there.
You're like the police brother. And this guy
must've been six foot six built like a Green
Bay linebacker with tattoos and dreadlocks. Yeah.
He opens the door and says, what do you want?
And in that moment, I kind of looked down and
I noticed he's got an ankle monitor on. Nah,
brother, that's jewelry. And I said, hey, y 'all
called about the air conditioner. I'm here to
fix it. And his attitude changed like that. Oh,
there we go. He was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
come on in. And I take a step in the door and
I watch him. He runs straight to the air filter.
Oh, yanks out the air filter. it's just like.
Reaches in behind it and pulls out a A. R. fifteen
oh boy you're like. And I was like. Yes I'm gonna
act like I didn't see that. We're good here right.
Trust me I'm gonna tell nobody. I don't think
I was supposed to see that. Yeah, he was like,
shit. That's what it was. I thought he was going
to go change the filter. I thought that's where
we're leading down, but the AR kind of kind of
threw me off there. Yeah, I was like, no doubt.
He's like, yeah, we're good. We're good. Yeah.
And I was thinking to myself, you know, that's
probably not a good place to store it. It might
get wet. Well, what ended up being the problem?
Oh, I don't even remember. I just have this visual,
this giant of a man pulling out an AR -15 in
front of me. Oh, man. That's funny. Well, I'm
glad you're okay. We're here now. Okay. Well,
most of the time, even though you might be in
a bad neighborhood, once they realize you're
there to help them. Boom. You know what I mean?
There's no animosity of any kind. You know, you're
the best buddy. You're the guy that wanted to
see you. You're my guy, bro. Yeah. I love it.
Well, good story. I love it. I love it. Yeah,
I don't have I've I've heard numerous countless.
Well, there's a guy who does a crawl face confessions
and stuff like I, you know, have had ran across
snakes and seen crazy snake skin and and stuff
like that. And, you know, it's not fun, but.
It's gotta do it. Well, I'm starting to get more
experience with these R454 systems now, and I
hadn't had any serious problems with them. I
have the trailer one that I put in. I've got
to go back and put in a A2L sensor. I have known
this, but I couldn't find one locally. I have
to order one from Johnstone. Man do you with
your with your codes and permitting do the inspectors
ask for anything different in your area? Because
of a 2l mm -hmm. No well we got one and They
want to see it on pressure for an hour and Of
at the rated 450 psi so you got a time stamp
your photos to be able to submit that it held
pressure for an hour and then they want they
want the Evacuation they want to see your microns.
So that dude that's gonna add that's gonna add
I Just think just an hour there say an hour and
a half two hours additional to an install Wow,
yeah, we did one matter. Let me see if I got
the if not I'll send it to you later But you
had the inspectors is this is an orange County
mind you this is in Orlando. So they're a little
bit more more goofy. I heard stories of guys
saying they had to wait until the next day. They
had to stay on pressure overnight. You gotta
be kidding me. Nah, man. They're ridiculous.
Well, I do have one inspector that has this certain
requirement that really pisses me off. He wants
you to do the install and then come back on his
time to be there to inspect it. So you got to
coordinate with the homeowner with him. and take
time out of your day on like maybe two days later
to inspect it that's and you're just like oh
okay buddy let's see i'm trying to find ash ray
15 .2 section 2 name type the refrigerant piping
system shall be tested in accordance to the manufacturer
after completing vacuum one system is at 500
like it's asking for 500 microns from the the
thing The cash shall not rise. You can't get
above $1 ,500. Where's the time for the pressure
test? Yeah, it's in there though. They want an
hour on that pressure test, man. And then they
want at least 10 minutes of decay. And if it's
a rough job, you may be there for nine hours
doing an install or something. Yeah, dude. You
know, it's... I don't know, I don't know. In
Florida, are you still using Duckboard on your
installations? Oh yeah, man. I know, I'm not
a fan of it either, but I mean, you gotta think,
bro, a lot of our stuff is in garages and attics,
right? So, and the envelopes aren't very good.
I mean, building code, I think here is probably
one of the worst, you know, I would assume from
a lot of states. They just sweat. Now back in
the day, back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, I've seen
metal duck work and it was wrapped in that like
asbestos stuff and it's still holding strong
and I'm not a fan of the duck board and spaghetti
junction, you know what I mean? Wait a minute,
is... All right, Zay, what's your question? No,
I mean, I'm... No! I was going to say, because
Zay's from Louisiana, right? Somebody asked me
the other day if I was from Louisiana. I'm like,
no, I'm from Maryland. Someone else also said
like Alabama. Come on, be proud of that. I'm
from Maryland. No, I mean, I get down with Maryland.
I represent the squad, you know? But, you know,
now I'm here. Wait a minute, there was somebody
else I noticed from Maryland. Gil! Gil! Yeah,
Gil's from Maryland. Shout out to the squad.
Yeah, Gil's good people, man. I can get down
on my boy. What do you got? Wait a minute. All
right. What's your questions? What are we installing?
Yeah. I tell you that last one I just did. It
was so rough. That mobile home one? Yeah, that
was. I wanted to ask, I've never done like a
mobile home, so I see you did the condenser.
Do you just swap the evaporator? Is that all
you do? You can on those, like the one I just
did, that's basically changing the air conditioner.
You're leaving the air handler, the blower, and
the heat strips. Okay. But in this case, I need
to go back and put on that A to L sensor. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah, I saw you were just in there. I was
like, because I used to see John Israel, and
that's, you know, because I guess it's like...
Framed into the like closet or wherever they
put it. Uh -huh So I'm not a I'm getting I'm
getting Better with them. They've been a lot
More functional like we're that's what we use
we use rude, right? That's our primary Manufacturer
and outside of those first couple we did it's
gotten a lot better With the 454 aside from you
know now these other regulations we have to deal
with in my market and the extended amount of
time when you're charging a system. Cause you
know, you gotta, you gotta let that thing run,
boy. Yeah. And so think about that. Plus, I mean,
you can do all this other stuff when you're doing
your vacuum and pressure testing, but golly,
that slows you down. Then you got to charge it.
That's another hour. It takes a little while.
I noticed on the one I did the other day. Superheating
subcooling it took a long time for that to settle
down and get to where it looked like I didn't
need to add anything. Yeah It just takes more
time than what I'm used to I don't know if it's
Fractionation happening and it just has to get
all mixed back up or something I don't know but
it does take a while it for sure, which is annoying
Whatchamacallit, what was I gonna say? I haven't
had to buy any 454 in a while. Is that still
an issue? Is it still expensive? It's still expensive.
It's just not as expensive. It's still like in
the $600 range. Oh, okay. It still came down.
Yeah, last time I got it, it was like $850. I
wanna say. Yeah. You know, I bought a half a
pile of 410 at the beginning of the year. Yeah.
I'm still working on that same half a pallet.
Yeah, for sure. You'll be you'll be set. I saw
um What did I see? It was I went to a carrier
man. They had a lot in my area. I had to take
a picture um of some 410a equipment that they
still had Really? Yeah, dude. It was I mean it
was up in a hundred I mean I say a lot I mean
it was hundreds and there might have been a thousand
skew on there somewhere I was like damn we still
at this point. This was probably a within the
month, within 30 days. I was like, damn, okay.
Well, hello Alan from the Philippines. Alan,
shout out. Thanks for dropping in. Philippines,
good morning by the way. Oh my God, it's past
my bedtime. Yeah, it is. You got to make sure
you get your warm glass of milk too, Kurt. Oh,
put some bing gay on my joints. Loaded up, man.
I hope you will come back on. Be a frequent guest.
Dude, I'm always ready. Just just hit me up.
Give me a call. Shoot me a text. I'm here for
it. All right, well guys, we're going to go ahead
and call it a night. So thanks for dropping in.
I don't know if we can get hand gestures. Come
on. Come on on this one. Not today. Damn. So,
y 'all, thank you for dropping in. I enjoyed
the show. Thank you for coming along. Jake, stick
around while this ends and