Additional Duties as Assigned 

The employee would like to clarify that she never enrolled in HVAC school.

No application was submitted.

No tuition was paid.

No certification was requested.

The employee had other plans.

Unfortunately, the universe occasionally ignores the employee’s plans.

The situation began when the employee’s air conditioner stopped cooling.

The employee assumed professionals would handle this.

This assumption proved optimistic.

What followed was a lengthy educational program involving warranty companies, service calls, contradictory diagnoses, replacement estimates, refrigerant discussions, drain lines, evaporator coils, capacitors, contactors, airflow calculations, and a surprising amount of time spent staring at sheet metal.

The employee learned many things.

Most of them unintentionally.

The employee learned that a system can be diagnosed several different ways by several different people.

The employee learned that expensive recommendations often arrive much faster than definitive answers.

The employee learned that some repairs require immediate action.

Others merely require immediate signatures.

The distinction became increasingly important.

Eventually the employee developed a habit.

Whenever someone announced a major failure, the employee began asking inconvenient questions.

What testing was performed?

What evidence supports the diagnosis?

What alternatives were eliminated?

Can you show me?

The Research Department observed that enthusiasm occasionally declined after these questions appeared.

This was noted.

The employee also discovered that warranty companies are neither miracles nor villains.

They are contracts.

The Research Department recommends reading them accordingly.

The employee’s own warranty company had occasionally demonstrated a remarkable ability to discover exclusions, modifications, upgrades, code requirements, installation expenses, and various other costs that appeared to exist immediately adjacent to coverage.

The employee found this educational.

Expensive.

But educational. Also, checking with Home Depot on parts first before deciding anything.

The Research Department would like to clarify that this experience did not eliminate the value of coverage.

Replacing an entire HVAC system without any protection can also be expensive.

The employee therefore recommends arithmetic.

Coverage has a cost.

Lack of coverage has a cost.

Determining which cost is higher remains a case-by-case investigation.

Months later, the employee’s daughter reported that her own air conditioner was leaking.

The employee immediately began discussing drain lines.

The employee would like to emphasize that this realization was deeply unsettling.

At no point in her life had the employee intended to become the person discussing drain lines.

Yet here she was.

Reviewing photographs.

Examining refrigerant lines.

Identifying access panels.

Explaining evaporator coil locations.

Estimating possible failure points.

The employee eventually informed her daughter that, before authorizing a major repair, it might be wise to determine what was actually broken.

The Research Department considers this a reasonable position.

The employee’s recent educational experience suggested that water on the floor does not automatically indicate system replacement.

Sometimes it indicates a clogged drain.

Sometimes a frozen coil.

Sometimes deferred maintenance.

Sometimes a cracked pan.

Sometimes a disconnected fitting.

Sometimes a sales opportunity.

Further investigation is generally recommended before determining which category is present.

The employee has noticed that many people become remarkably comfortable spending money that does not belong to them.

The proposed repairs become larger.

The urgency increases.

The estimates expand.

Meanwhile, the owner of the equipment remains responsible for the invoice.

The Research Department considers this an imperfect arrangement.

The employee also advised her daughter to consider obtaining additional HVAC coverage through HomeServe instead of completely relying on American Home Shield, which we both have had since purchasing our homes a few years ago.

The daughter indicated that she was likely to enroll that same day.

The employee acknowledged that the coverage would not assist with the current incident.

The daughter acknowledged this as well.

Both parties understood that the recommendation concerned future disasters.

The Research Department has observed that many protection plans are purchased immediately after discovering why they might have been useful.

This appears to be a common human behavior.

The employee’s recent interactions with warranty companies had produced strong opinions regarding backup plans.

The employee would like to clarify that these opinions were acquired through extensive field research.

The field research was expensive.

The employee later suggested that her daughter simply take photographs of the system and allow artificial intelligence to assist with troubleshooting.

The employee considered this an elegant solution.

Her daughter disagreed.

“How about I just send them to you,” she replied, “since your AI is already trained in HVAC?”

The employee would like to note that this was not an official certification.

No governing body had reviewed the employee’s qualifications.

No examination had been administered.

No license had been issued.

The Research Department nevertheless regrets to report that the employee immediately began identifying components and discussing condensate drains.

The daughter appeared entirely unsurprised.

The employee suspects this may be how expertise actually develops.

Not through formal recognition.

Not through certificates.

Not through titles.

But through repeatedly surviving problems until other people start calling for advice.

The School of Hard Knocks therefore offers the following recommendation.

When a system develops a problem, identify it before purchasing a solution.

This policy applies to air conditioners.

It also applies to life.

The employee has found that both are prone to misdiagnosis.

And both become significantly more expensive when assumptions are mistaken for facts.

The employee never received an HVAC certificate.

The employee did, however, receive an education.

The invoice arrived first.

It should be noted that the employee did, in fact, repair her own HVAC when the warranty company sent a contractor and a second opinion that could not agree on a diagnosis.  The actual issue turned out to be a pressure switch, which was not on either radar.

The Research Department considers this deeply concerning.