When I graduated from high school, I decided to follow my parents’ advice and learn a trade.
So I signed up at a trade school to learn the Heating, Ventilation and A/C trade.
The training was intense, lasting six months. Upon completion, I was hired by an experienced HVAC technician and gained lots of experience in electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. After a few years, I decided to work for myself. After a bit of advertising, I was called on my first appointment to service a furnace in an old farmhouse. The elderly woman explained that her gas furnace wasn’t working and showed me how to get to her basement. As I went down the stairs, I could hardly believe my eyes. There was so much junk in the basement that I actually froze in place for a few seconds while trying to take it all in. There were boxes and bags piled on top of one another, tables, chairs, Christmas decorations, garden hoses, toys and mattresses. I wondered how I was going to find the furnace, much less repair it. I finally could see where the pipes and ductwork were poking out of the debris and climbed over the piles of items to get there. The first thing I did was to replace the air filter, which was very dirty. Next I checked the electronic ignition system and realized that ignitor was bad. After replacing it with a new one, I was able to ignite the burner and waited long enough to check that the pilot stayed lit. The last thing that I had to accomplish was to find a way back to the stairs, which turned out to be the most challenging part of the entire service call.