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Years ago, we would get slow in the middle of February. This slow period would last until late June when schools let out. These days, the phone rings year-round. I am not complaining, just trying to understand why.

When I started, we used to focus on tune-ups on residential oil-fired boilers every spring. Most homes featured older General Electric boilers (along with a few warm air furnaces) and some other brands of more modern cast iron boilers. About half of them were steam, and the other half were hot water. Today, we do much less work on residential systems and almost no oil-fired systems. The geographical area we serve is the same, but many customers have got rid of their underground oil tanks or indoor oil tanks. The gas companies have run underground natural gas lines to the more populated areas of the state. Thankfully, most of the new gas lines are considered high pressure, and have ample capacity for the load.

As we got more into commercial heating systems as the business grew, we would open clean and close commercial boilers after the units were inspected by the state and/or the insurance company. This work was great for us, as we could schedule it, go there when we had the time and the had the manpower. The customer was happy as they planned a shutdown and the tenants or students were not put out.

The heating business used to slow down in February—today, the work never seems to stop. Courtesy of Scott Secor

Today, many customers neglect their heating systems. I am not sure if it’s a generational thing, or they’re all working crazy hours and forget about the heating systems? Maybe their budgets are so stretched from paying for huge mortgages? Perhaps I was used to the people that were born before or during WWII that took care of everything they owned and did not live in the disposable world? Do businesses, schools, apartment house owners and homeowners not care about maintaining their heating systems anymore?

I suspect they do care. I also suspect they are so busy with other things that they simply forget about their heating systems. We have learned to remind the customers in various ways, and it seems to be working.

Our current fleet of trucks consists of four vehicles. My son drives an eighteen-month-old F350 extended pickup truck with a large box on the back. Looks a whole lot like the Good Humor Truck that many of us grew up with. This is the workhorse of the fleet, as this truck is on at least ninety percent of the jobs we do. The truck is packed with almost every tool and part you can think of. Unfortunately, because there is so much stuff in the truck, it can be difficult to find things.

For example, today we are doing a repair job on a 2.5” copper heating pipe. I was asked to check stock to see if we had the fittings needed at the shop. I checked and found we had everything, but no pieces of copper pipe. When I arrived at the jobsite (small apartment house), I dropped off the fittings and told my son we don’t have any 2.5” copper pipe (this is not at all typical). While on the job, my son asked me to grab a roll of sand cloth from the truck; when I opened the back door, I looked at the pipe rack inside. Low and behold, I found a ten-foot-length pipe buried in the pile. It made me happy we did not have to spend roughly five hundred dollars on a ten-foot length of pipe when we only needed about one foot!

In addition to the “work horse,” there are two older E350 vans. We have not used the vans much this winter, as our helper typically works with my son. In addition, these work vans are not known for being great in the snow. Being it was a snowy winter, I thought it would be best to not push my luck.

I normally drive my F150 pickup truck. I am amazed at how handy this truck has become; I can easily pick up pipes, fittings, parts, tools from the shop, go on estimates, grab lunch for the guys on occasionally, etc. I can also deliver a boiler or water heater if the supplier cannot get to an emergency job in a timely manner.

As I tap away on my keyboard, the mounds of snow from the winter are finally melting. This week is supposed to be in the sixties and seventies during the day. I think next week may finally be time to wash the trucks, do maintenance on the trucks, do maintenance on the tools, clean the shop and start to convert the trucks from no heat call mode to install and maintenance mode.