Sole Education Spring 2020: Trades Fascination

This week, we asked Tod to discuss what fascinates him most about his field of study, and explain in more detail why he is choosing to pursue a career in the trades. Read on to see what he had to say!

The opportunity to do a job I love doing, and help people in need is a career to be proud of!

Ive always been amazed that I could walk over to my thermostat and hit a button and magically make my house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. How easy is that? How does that even work? When I was young I slept in the basement of my house. My bed was right beside the Blue Monster (our furnace). That old clunker made lots of strange noises, metal clanging, gas igniting, flames dancing around. I could see off the glare of the tile floor in the night, very scary stuff for a 9-year-old! Then in the summer there was that big square thing outside that had a big fan on it. It was always full of leaves and bugs and sticks, but somehow that made our house cool inside? I never really learned how it worked, I just knew when it wasn't working, we had to call a repair shop. Thats about what most people know about their heating and cooling, to call a service company when its not working.

Two years ago ...

My wife and I bought a house out in the country. I started tinkering around in the basement and I started working on the HVAC system. I started sealing duct leaks and insulating trunk lines and cleaning outside condenser coils, changing filters and draining condensate traps. All with the help of YouTube videos, showing how to do small DIY projects. Soon my tinkering went from just a hobby to a craving to learn more. When I saw an opportunity in my small business to add refrigeration training to my skill set, I jumped at the chance to enroll in HVAC-R program at my local Community College. There is no class available for just refrigeration, you must take HVAC-R to get the refrigeration part. Now, well into my second semester, I have already diagnosed furnace problems, and with professional help, I changed out a 90% efficient furnace for my friend Harri last December. Our class is getting ready to install a new 80% heating system in my next-door neighbors garage next week! She has two old hanging heaters up in her ceiling that both quit working and the service company couldn't get repair parts.In just a few short months Ive been able to help two people get squared away on major heating issues. The satisfaction of being able to help people like that is hard to put into words. I can say for sure that its a big reason Im excited about continuing through with my studies in the HVAC-R field.The opportunity to do a job I love doing, and help people in need is a career to be proud of!Follow along with our students progress here. Learn more about the Generation T movement here.

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