HVAC: Home Edition: Undercutting the Contractors

I am now in month four at Erwin Vo. Tech for HVAC (Heating, ventilation, air conditioning.)  The last two weeks things have finally starting coming together for me.  The things that I have learned from the book are finally being put into real life practice.  And honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time.

You see, the A/C unit at the house had it's scheduled maintenance.  The company that maintains it said that it needed a few things.  First on unit #2, the dual capacitor was weak, and eventually it would need a new one.  The second issue with unit #2 was that the squirrel cage blower wheel needed cleaning. 

Well, after everything I've seen I wasn't sure how true it was.  I know a lot of companies perform the "inspection" for free, and then jack up the price on needed work.  What defines "needed work" can be open to interpretation.  Usually a capacitor either works or it doesn't.  There is no in-between.  Now I will be honest, in that, if a capacitor is weak it may be a sign of dying ...... sometime.  It could be a week, it could be years.  What you don't want is a capacitor to quit working, and then need an "emergency call" to the A/C company.  Then the price will really be jacked up.

So I wanted to get ahead of the curve.  I took a peek at the estimates for the work.  To change the capacitor was $194.24 (before discount,) and cleaning the blower was $256.10 (before discount.)  So if I could take care of this instead of the A/C company it would save a lot of dough.

My instructor was able to purchase the capacitor for $9.40.  I immediately paid him for it in cash, and was ever so thankful.  So when I made it home I got all my equipment and tools out. 

I took lots of pictures, so I will tell the rest of the story along with the pictures I took.  That way, you can understand what I am talking about.

First up, the tools.

And here is the $70, nay, $9.40 capacitor.

Here is the unit.

Here are the guts of the unit.

Here is a close up of the old capacitor.

I made sure to perform the correct math to make sure all the wires were going in the right places on the new capacitor.

So I put the connections on the new capacitor, and then drilled a new hole on the strap.  This capacitor was skinner, but longer than the old one.  So I adjusted the strap to hold it nice and tight.

And here is a picture of the all the completed work.

Honestly, I spent most of my time performing math and adjust the strap.  Other than that it didn't really take long.  So that was now out of the way.

A few days later it was time to tackle the squirrel cage blower.  Again, any little bit of dust on it can result in an A/C company saying it needs cleaning.  So before I even took anything apart, I took a peek at it.  You know what.  They weren't lying.  It needed cleaning.  It needed cleaning badly.  So I took it out and this is what it looked like.

There's nothing too technical about it.  It's just dirty, and I needed to get in there by hand and clean it out.  I used wire brushes, my big flat head screwdriver, and an air compressor to get in, and get that thing clean.  Did I mention it was dirty?  Because I looked like I rolled around in black dirt.

Again, it was more time consuming than it was hard.  I will say this.  My instructor showed me how to clean a blower just two days before.  I also knew that I would have needed a special tool to take the motor out.  If I could have removed the motor, then I would have used a water hose on the blower.  But since the motor was intact, I knew not to get water anywhere near it. 

Using the compressed air really helped.  I was able to get the little bits (and big bits) out of the blower.  I was surprised at the amount of dirt I was able to get out of it.  I ended up with a big ole' pile at my feet.  So this is what it looked like after cleaning.

Not perfect, but still ten times better than it was.  Once the unit was re-installed it actually sounded quieter.  That let me know that all the work I preformed was valid.  And hey, no one had to pay $450 (before discounts) to the A/C company. 

School Dayz: Sixth Week In: Moving At 2/3rd Speed

It was inevitable.  If you start going to a place with a lot of people like a school, you are going to get sick.  And guess what?  I got sick.  It was the usual stuff that gets me.  First my sinuses flow like Niagara Falls, and my throat goes raw. 

So, I start to raid the medicine cabinet.  I look around.  I'm running somewhat late in the morning so I have to do a "best guess" at this point.  I grab the Mucinex DM.

And the Robitussin DM.

I make my way to school, and try not to infect anyone.  After I was there awhile I started to feel funny.  Not sick funny.  I felt like the cover of Cream's "Disraeli Gears" album.

Everything, including my brain, started moving at 2/3rds speed.  It suddenly occurred to me that I was not legal to drive at that moment.  In fact, I was probably not legal to even sign my signature on some sort of official paperwork.

Suddenly, the song that made the most sense in the world at that point was, The Cars, "Moving in Stereo." 

Before I started to write this blog, I took a peek at the instructions of the Robitussin.  It said, "Do not take this if you take "this" type of medicine."  Guess what?  I take that kind of medicine.  So that now makes sense.  It seems that I had some medicines react with each other. 

So I vowed not to do it again, and just suffered with my stupid cold without any meds.  Luckily, I am now at the end of my uncommon cold.  But I will remember this.  Not to mess around with mixing meds.

School Dayz: Second Week In: Scholarship Edition

I just completed my second week of school at Erwin Technical College (formerly Erwin Vo. Tech.)  On Friday all of our tools came in.  And it wasn't just a few tools.  It was $1200 worth of tools. 

However, instead of pulling a "Tim Allen" and talking about tools, I wanted to talk about something a little different.  I wanted to talk about how I received those tools.  I know you're thinking, "Well, with cold hard cash right?"  In a sense that's correct, but it's a bit deeper than that.  So let me start at the beginning.

The first thing I did was talk to "Employ Florida" about going back to school.  They sent me to the Social Services section of Hillsborough County.  (It's still in the same building.)  To go to Erwin, I would have to apply for a Pell grant, then get turned down for the Pell grant since I have a Bachelor's degree.  Then, Hillsborough County would help out with their Greater Opportunities program.  Their reasoning is that, "It's better to pay to send me to school than pay for me to collect unemployment."

So, my tuition, books, and tools were all covered by the program.  For 15 months of school, the cost was around 3,700.  The tools were $1200, and the books were $400.  So it totaled a bit over $5.300.  Compared to the for profit schools Erwin is a fantastic deal.  At that cost the school isn't making any money.  The program is 15 months, and there are 15 people in my class.  I have two and sometimes three instructors at a time.  So I have to say it's a great deal, and a great program.

I know a lot of people complain about, "What is government doing for the people?"  Well, this is a social service that I believe that people can get behind.  I think this is the kind of thing that government should be doing.  And I have to admit, I am thankful for it.  I am very thankful.     

So I have come away with a new point of view on scholarships.  I always knew they were important, but now it's a bit more personal for me.  Otherwise, I don't think I would have been able to go back to school.  So I extend a very heartfelt, "Thank you Hillsborough County."

Back to School: First Week In

I'm almost hesitant to write a blog about going back to school.  After the first week I don't feel so smart.  But let me start at the beginning.

So, I managed to enroll, then get in an earlier class, then I got my financial aid all lined up to attend Erwin Vo. Tech.  Of all the funny things I found out, they changed the name to Erwin Technical College.  I guess they did that so it sounds more prestigious. 

This past Monday was my first day.  My two instructors shoved a bunch of info at us at once.  But even they admitted that they were trying to change up the things we learned during the day.  You know when you went to grade school you had English, math, social studies, and so on?  Well, we have been learning the basic design of A/C, OSHA certification, and basic tools.  So three courses are split up over six hours. 

I have a huge book on HVAC/R but it overwhelming.  It also costs $200.  While it is technically correct on everything, I feel a lot of it is going over my head at the moment.  I know it's only the first week, but I am really worried that I won't be able to keep up.  My two instructors tell us not to worry, in that, they are teaching us the basics of HVAC/R before we even get to that chapter. 

On a strange side note, my instructor Raul looks a lot like Conrad Keely of the band, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead.

But back to my worries.  As I look back on my blogs I see past blogs when I was hopeful, when I was confused, and when I had interesting ideas.  I also look back and see when I was extremely wrong about something, or about to make a major mistake in my life. 

I worry that I will look back at this post, and see where I was trying to turn my life around, but managed to screw it up.  I know I don't handle stress well, and am worried that something bad will happen. 

Having to learn all these new terms has me extremely stressed.  It's not like when I was college that I learned English after taking 12 years of English.  At that point I was just building on what I had already learned.  Right now, I am starting from the very bottom, and I feel like a child trying to learn math for the first time. 

As school goes on I will update my blog for better or for worse.  With a little luck, it may not be that exciting at all.  I kind of hope it will be nice and boring.

Cause Growing Up Is Hard To Do

So here I am again.  I'm looking at my life, and decide I need to grow up.  You can say what you want to about inner reflection and all that, but the truth is I need to grow up.  I have decided to go forth with a few steps to change my life.

First step.  I have enacted an exercise program.  Every day I try to walk two miles,  bike 6 miles, and lift my one 25 pound kettle weight.  I really needed to get my weight down.  I have noticed some results.  It's been slow going, but like my doctor told me, "If you lose one pound a week, by 20 weeks you'll have lost 20 pounds.  You can't do it overnight."

Step two.  I really need to find long term employment.  The problem is what I have my education in doesn't translate well into jobs.  I have a A.A. Lib Arts degree and a History B.A. degree.  I haven't really done much with this.  I have my luthier's certification.  I should work in China, South Korea, or Indonesia if I wanted to build guitars.  Namely, since that's where they are all made now.

I went to Roadmaster for truck driving school.  Then I became a truck driver, and found out why they always claim to need truck drivers.  Mainly, since they are paying them a lower wage now than in the 1980's.  The other problem is that, I live in Florida.  There's not much freight going in and out of Florida. 

If I lived in Atlanta I would probably still be truck driving.  I could pick up loads in the morning, deliver them, and be back home at night.  But by being stuck in Florida I could only get over the road jobs.  That got old really quickly.  Now, with my health and medical conditions I know I couldn't be an over the road driver.

So that leads me to going back to school.  This time Erwin Tech.

I decided I needed a job that would let me stay in the Tampa Bay area, and still make a decent wage.  That job is HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning.) 

It has been a bit of a whirlwind the last few days.  I was supposed to enroll for the January 2017 class.  However, two openings came open for the May 9, 2016 class.  So I had to run like crazy to get my financial aid in place.  I had to file for a Pell Grant, so I could get turned down.  I was then able to have Hillsborough County to help me out.  Next, I was able to take my school voucher to Erwin, and get registered. 

Now comes the realization of what I have to do.  I have to learn like crazy for 15 months.  I have to keep my grades up to keep my grant from the county.  I have to stay on top of my game.  I feel I have to work harder since I am an old dog trying to learn a new trick. 

One thing I have to deal with that I didn't expect was that Erwin has a dress code.  I understand that I have to wear leather work boots, but I don't know why I have to a solid color shirt.  Seriously, part of the dress code is that, I have to wear a solid color shirt.  That means all my flannel shirts can not be worn.  But that's okay, I have plenty of shirts, and have even bought a few more.  I will be the best dressed student there.  I have plenty of long sleeve, button up shirts in black, gray, and red.  I also have a few polo shirts in various colors. 

I will receive my books and tools on the first day of school.  But I also need to buy school supplies.  Namely, pens, paper, and a Trapper Keeper.  That's right.  I just went all 80's on myself.  I used a Trapper Keeper from first grade all the way through college.  It has always worked well for me.

Step three.  So now that I have school, this puts a ding the job I now have.  I will now have to find a new job.  So, I decided that now was a good time for a respectable haircut.  On a side note, I did donate my ponytail to "Locks of Love."

Maybe this will help me be able to land a job.  I'm not sure what I will do as far as part time work, but I will do my best try to get something going. 

So that's been my life changing/ growing up plan.  1.  Exercise program.  2.  Enroll and attend Erwin for HVAC.  3.  Get a haircut to try and find a new job.  It's not easy growing up, but we all need to do it sometime or another.  I'm just a late bloomer.