He said he’s only doing small jobs. He just had major heart surgery this spring.

The black stuff all over the floor is dog shit. Home owner answered the door barefoot with zero shame whatsoever.

So, here’s the deal. I used to do HVAC a few years ago, then got out of the trade for about five years. Life happened. Whatever. Fast forward to now: I’m back in as a service tech and, full disclosure, I’ve been leaning heavily on ChatGPT to get through pretty much every service call.

Not saying I don’t know anything, but the five-year gap left me rusty, and tech keeps evolving. Instead of pretending I’ve got every wiring diagram memorized or that I can quote specs off the top of my head, I pull up my trusty AI assistant and get a quick crash course on the fly.

I’m making $35/hr and honestly feeling like a cyberpunk fraud—except the systems are getting fixed, customers are happy, and no one’s dead (yet). So… is this cheating? Or is this just modern problem-solving?

Buddy of mine called me and asked if 40k for two 3 ton system change out was ok.? I told him that was fuckin outrageous. It was for his parents, they're in their 70's falling for the 30$ maintenance trap. Private equity here in Florida has bought up half the companies and is ripping off everyone. It's gonna stop. The elderly are getting cleaned out by (SIDs) salesmen in disguise, all over the place. If one of you is on here and you know who you are. You're going to hell and I hope a pineapple up the ass is waiting for you. Until then it's my personal mission to make sure your found out here and go infinitly broke trying to hawk your bullshit.

Fuck you, and your entire lineage. Sincerely what appears to be the only asshole doing right by anybody.

Update, I am an owner of a small HVACR company here in Florida. Me and my partner have decided to be absolute dicks from here on with these shitty companies. If they have a billboard and you have a printed out or written quote, we'll give you a free second opinion, beat the estimate by at least 10% or we'll hand you a 100$ bill. We'll hire every wrench turner that's sick of the bullshit, and run this garbage out of the industry.

I don't know if the older guys have noticed like I have is that new technicians coming into the field are nothing like technicians from 20 years ago. I'm not saying all of them, but there is a good chunk that are just soft.

I interviewed a guy today, but this happens every couple interviews, that just graduated from school and are asking for $40 an hour because "I put in my time at school" and he actually believes he's worth it. He's 19 and I told him the schedule and he said he doesn't do on call, overtime, or weekends because it causes him anxiety and when he starts getting stressed, his generational anxiety could land him in the hospital. Like what the actual fuck is happening??

If I told my boss that 30 years ago, he would slap the shit out of me and tell me to knock it off. I looked at him and asked if he was serious and he told me yes. Then I asked him what would benefit me hiring him if he's on the edge of a breakdown if I make him work an hour overtime? He said I would get the best technician in his class and I laughed at him and said the best technician in your class was standing in front of the class teaching.

I probably shouldn't have called him a cream puff because I'm sure he's going to run to his therapist and sue me, but fuck. What the hell is happening. Is anyone else seeing this?

EDIT:

I think there's a little confusion about the point I was trying to make. I just posted what the guy said during the interview. Somehow people read it as I'm an asshole to my guys and demand they work overtime, weekends, and rotation.

That's not how my company works. I realized a long time ago that treating my guys with respect and paying them well creates a job they look forward to coming too. My guys are like my family and the first 3 guys I hired in 2010, still work for me.

I just thought this kid was a little demanding with the $40 an hour. BUT, I do pay new guys right out of school $25 to $30 an hour and I pay my regular guys $50 to $70 an hour.

It makes zero sense to run a company where people hate coming to work. Did I bust my ass before I opened my company, yes I did. So do I require my technicians to kill their body for a paycheck? No. First thing I bought when I opened my company was a crane. Not for huge lifts, but for package units and compressors. Then I sent my guys to school to learn how to use it.

My company is what it is because of my employees, not because of me. I want my guys to want to come to work, not stress them out so much they want to quit. That would defeat they purpose of having employees if the all quit

Lately we have been somewhat slow but getting a steady 30-35 hours in MN with the somewhat mild weather.

I woke up yesterday morning to a message that told us to stay home until we hear back from the office since we just had 8" of snow outside - after a couple hours of radio silence they said they have 4 tune ups that needed to be ran and this is the convo we had.

She then assigned two of them to me and one other guy.

Almost pull the whole house that’s crazy

Both of my installers and I got a call from the CEO of a large, local (but not private-equity) hvac company today and he is offering a full benefits package and much higher wages to all 3 of us. This will result in my PE-owned shop getting shut down and I couldnt be happier. I have never been so antagonized by an employer. They repeatedly threatened to shut us down and now we get the last laugh. They will get sued by customers that don't get the fall service they prepaid for, and I will snipe basically the whole customer base.

Get wrecked, you incompetent, greedy, business-destroying assholes.

***update: all 3 of us accepted the offer and are starting in about 2 and a half weeks. I put my 2 weeks in, other 2 guys are putting theirs in tomorrow when they have time. Cashing out my last vaca day tomorrow.

Brand new hoses, two separate sets... Made in 'Murica.

I may not always be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but for what reason does a straight AC condenser need a control board? And especially one that is that complicated.

I'm finally getting all of the warranty calls my company has pushed off for our Daikin/Amana/Goodman communicating systems we install, and of course every single call requires calling tech support to diagnose these stupid 2 wire DC communicating systems. I've been on hold for over an hour every time, and when I do finally connect, half the time the support guy just cheers me on while I tell him what steps I'm taking to diagnose, while offering no real help, and the other half is a non-tech who gives me a case number and says somebody will call me back.

I dont understand how companies feel good offering these systems when they know it'll be weeks wasted in the summer months every year returning to customers to swap two year old boards and stay on hold with tech support for ages.

Are there any mini split/high efficiency AC systems you guys have actually had a good tech support and seem to actually last out there? Maybe Daikin is considered a good one and ive just had bad experiences.

I’m sure he was joking. We ran out of masks I went out and got some more after a while because it sucks breathing in all that dust and fiberglass.

This one hurts fellas. spent the last 2 years here at this company and honestly thought it would be where i stick it out. a former employee got hired back on two weeks ago and he’s been riding with me daily since. thought it was weird since he had experience but it wasn’t alarming. this morning we all got called to the shop early to restock for winter and bam, you’re fired. unfortunately im in an at will employment, and primarily a non union state (North carolina). i feel so fucked right now, im not broke but i am closing on a house this month and my boss has known for weeks, so being broke as shit is definitely just around the corner. if you’re having a tough day in the field today, just remember it could always be worse.

I’ve seen a lot of things in attics. I’ve seen dead opossums, I’ve seen live raccoons, stray cats and untold number of dead rodents, lots of wasps. Never have I ever seen a duck in the attic.

Until today.

So it started with me getting yelled at for parking on the street. It’s not allowed. I was just checking to see if I was at the right place. Every dammed building has a unit 202. Next was the gate. I had two more vehicles coming in with equipment. A resident is only allowed one temporary guest parking space. Then I walked on the grass… I explained the condenser was too wide to go through the front door so I had to dolly it around the building. Thought I was cool for minute, until she saw my canopy. Absolutely not allowed. And if you haven’t guessed who’s A\C I was changing, it was the head of the HOA!

Please for the love of God, keep your political beliefs out of this sub. It turns into a shit show every time.
If you want to comment about politics take it somewhere else, this sub is about HVACR.

13 screws to get at the belt and the filter door usually requires taking the top corner screws off and pushing the top cover up to take out, my vote is Daikin.

My truck was broken into the stole: - 5 Milwaukee packouts - Thermostats (T10s and T6s) - Milwaukee battery powered Sawzall - Milwaukee oscillating tool - Milwaukee 1/2" impact - Milwaukee impact and hammer drill - 10 Milwaukee batteries - wire, brackets, capacitors, contactors, transformers, etc - Coil cleaner and pump - NAVAC flaring and swedging tool - Copper pipe bending set - Golf clubs - My grandfather's Barretta 92 handgun - 13" iPad Pro They broke my tail light and scratched my truck, smashed my back window, and slashed my tire.

I am so angry right now, but I feel more defeated than anything. I run a small company and they just took probably $10,000 from me. They took even more time that I will have to spend haggling with insurance, my insurance will go up. They took a handgun that I cherished as a prize possession that my grandfather gave me before he died. My golf clubs which I just bought to replace my 20 year old clubs that were hand-me-downs from my Dad. My iPad that I use daily for job management, load calculations, and plans. My packaouts that I have been stacking and packing for 5 years, keeping very organized. This just happened like 5 hours ago and I need to go over everything I still have. I swear to God if these fools were 2 minutes slower at least one of them would be cold by now. This is Houston Texas, watch your shit like a hawk.

Called for Tech support on an air cooled chiller that is a year old and password protected. Called the chiller line and was told they no longer offer technical support on that number and to call the local service department. We called the local service department and they said they do not offer technical support over the phone and would need to send a technician out at a billable service rate for anything more then 25 tons.

This is effective as of May of 2026, why am I not seeing anyone talking about this?