RSES Journal Winter 2025, RETA-RSES

Shop Talk

The Shade Tree Mechanic Volume LVIII

It ‘probably’ ain’t my fault Things in HVAC that’s out of my control.

Y a know, them Brothers Osbourne seem to be pretty good fellas. I like their music. They gotta song called “It Ain’t My Fault.” I was listening to it the other day in the shop. And you know what … it ‘probably’ ain’t my fault. But it got me ta thinkin’. So, I drafted a quick list of industrial refrigeration stuff that ain’t my fault and I sent it to Vern. Then Vern says, “Hey what about the HVAC stuff”? Well I reached out to my buddy Mike and we developed a list, cuz we get service calls in the HVAC business that just plumb defy description. I get a call that the furnace doesn’t work. I get there and find there isn’t any gas pressure. So, I goes outside to have a look. The gas is shut and locked due to non-payment. It ain’t my fault. Another weird instance. You ever get out to a house and find out the heating problem is that the registers are closed because “I had to close them. When the furnace turns on, it scares my cat.” Have you found the thermostat set on cooling but the temperature setting is 78 degrees? I know why the furnace isn’t working, but it ain’t my fault. Have you ever found that someone planted an ivy vine next to the condenser. Funny how that stuff can clog things up. Ain’t my fault. How about planting bushes around the condenser so we can’t get any air through. On

the same note, I found someone had put a huge house plant on top of their window air conditioner condenser. The plant grew and blocked the air flow. No air flow, no cooling. Ain’t my fault. Filters are only good for so long. When they get full and they get wet, they turn into this weird concrete lookin’ stuff. No air flow, no cooling, no heat ing. Ain’t my fault. Another window air conditioner issue: remember to remove the cardboard from in front of the fan before calling for service. No air flow, no cooling. Yet another window air conditioner issue: if you can see the condenser coil from your couch, but must go outside to use the controls, it’s in backwards. Remember, if you routinely hide things in the ducts of your house, please remove them from the ducts before calling for service. Old Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues block air flow. Definitely, on my top two list: if your kid is huffing the refrigerant from your air conditioner, the air conditioner will run out of refrigerant. I can come out and refill it as often as you’re willing to pay for it, but the problem isn’t me. Maybe you need to get Junior some help. But my all-time favorite is, when arriving at the house, we found the window air conditioner sitting in the middle of the living room floor running on high. The complaint was, “the room won’t cool down.” If you absorb the heat and discharge the heat in the same room nothing is going to cool. If you call me to help, I will, but before you start yellin’ at me, remember, it ain’t my fault. The shade tree grows outside of the little town of Broughton, Ohio. Where everyone is always welcome, the beer is always cold, and something is always needin’ fixin’.

RSES Journal will be publishing several volumes of this revered column regularly featured in the RETA Breeze .

38 RSES Journal WINTER 2025

www.rsesjournal.com