Wow! You are so lucky! I'm jealous, actually. I don't think there has ever been anyone sent here to do maintenance that did not destroy something or other. In fact "Manic Mower" showed up last week, despite me requesting to not have him blow leaves out of the back garden with his big-a**, rolling, blower turbine. I caught him in time to get him out of the lower back garden. Couldn't stop him in time on the side driveway garden. Watched from the window as he successfully broke off the surviving cane of my newly planted Pinata by the side fence. Rolled right over the poor thing. Blew away every last wood chip for five feet from that bed, too. WTH? I totally agree that a letter to your crews supervisor is well warranted. I am sure that they get plenty of calls about bad behavior for some crews, so one praising good behavior for that one would be so great for them! I've only ever written the begging/complaint emails to the property manager, unfortunately. I've given up, it doesn't help anyhow.

Gotta' nod my overly large head in Gary's direction. So often with electrical problems a bad ground is at fault. Check the obvious easy-to-do possible problem sources then, if the malfunction still exists, break out the wire brush and clean up those grounding points. I'd peek at the lightbulb areas first... some have grounding wires within the lamp. After cleaning the grounds spread a wee bit of anti-corrosive goop on the spot to help prevent future corrosion. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!

So your dad quit the auto repair industry, and went to school for aerospace engineering? That is what I wanted to do coming out of high school, aerospace engineering. I was on the doorstep to the Naval Academy in a bid to do just that, but fell short of my dream. I ended up becoming a mechanic because it was something I could do and figured I'd work a little while and then work my way through school. Only I never managed to make enough money to put anything aside in order to get to go back to school, got married, kid came along, and here I am in 2006 still working as a tech albeit self-employed. As far as me being "down this road before" when it comes to me attacking predujuices against my feild, you can be assured that I have been. I can't begin to tell you how many times a "customer" looked down their nose at me because I was fixing cars for a living, and their attitude showed right away that they felt for me to be doing this I either had to be dumb, or a crook, or you go ahead and fill in the degrading label as you choose. Many times it made me want to quit fixing cars, and physically throw them and their POS out the door. I'll bet your dad had similar feelings. The one problem though that I see reguarding your dads automotive repair credentials is about how you said he was only in this for two years. Many people try and start their own shop with little or no real experience, or training. That is one of the problems in this industry that has held pricing in this feild well below where it SHOULD be, especially if you compare what I(we) have to do to almost any other SKILLED LABOR field. When you wrote this "Now I figure with the rates higher in the NE...we should EXPECT to pay a higher charge for this service!! It's criminal." You pushed the button that got me on your case. My accountant told me just last month, with the investment that I have to provide the services that I do, and the costs that I am faced with to continue to upgrade tools and equipment to stay up to date, any other equivelent field would be charging over $120/hr with at least a 50% gross profit margin on the parts. That would work out to an average of right about $200/hr Gross Profit. Now that number is a little higher than industry average, first of all because I am one of a very few techs that specializes in engine performance, emission controls, and all vehicle electronics and has experience on just about everything on the street. Plus I have the mechanical experience that allows me to take on virtually anything, bumper to bumper. But one more factor, I also work by myself, which means the entire cost of the operation weighs squarely on the work what I produce. What this all means is that for me to work at full potential I would easily have to outprice all of my "competition" by more than 2 to 1, and anyone then that would compare prices normally would take the stance where you did earlier and use the word "criminal". That's pretty unfair, being called criminal because they don't understand the costs we are incurring to try and provide the best service that we can. Now in trying to keep that reputation from happening, the only thing that I can do is first, underprice, and second I have to choose what I am going to buy and which cars and systems I will no longer work on. Even though physically I have the means, without electronic support (O.E. scan tools) I have to turn ever more cars away. Right now if you by a 2007 Chrysler product, (Plus some 2004's and on up in numbers through 2007) I don't have the equipment that I truly need to function at the same level that the dealer does. Worse than that is I don't see where the $10,000 that I will need to purchase this equipment will come from, especially when I have the same problem to deal with multiplied by each manufacturer. Ten years ago, I had a single scan tool and I could do everything that showed up at my door. The cost for that tool was $3000 and change. That same expense today is over $250,000 for just that kind of equipment. That is an expense that we didn't have ten years ago, and one that virtually every shop out there is not making. Do you want to know just how big a quarter million dollars is compared to my shop? That amount is more than my shops total gross sales for a year. That amount is more than every tool and piece of equipment that I have collected over the last thrity years. Plus even if I hit the lottery and bought this stuff, it's not like buying a house and is equity. It's all depreciating assets. Ten/twelve years later the best expectation I can have is that they may still have occasional use (one or two times a year), and that I will be able to afford whatever their replacements end up being. After that, they are dust collectors, a quarter million dollars worth of garbage can fillers. That's the reality of the field I am in. One where we get no vacations, I'm always spending every available dime on something for the shop. We have nothing saved for retirement, same reason. Well, let me clarify, I have about $3000 in an IRA from a previous employment and we will have social security, plus I could continue to work at some level until...... So yea I take offense when I see a post like yours. But instead of getting angry, and just blowing it off, I take and grab the chance to help people get a better glimpse of exactly what it takes for their corner garage to be there. Now granted we are not all created equal, we have few if any standards (something I would like to change). If your dad retired from aerospace tomorrow, and wanted to open a shop we don't have anything inside this industry to make him prove that he is actually trained and qualified to do so. (That's something else I would like to change but I know it's beyond my abilities) Now, you wanted help with your Jeep. When you figure out what I am actually saying, you will find exactly what help I have provided. Granted it's not what you thought you were looking for, and it may take some time to understand it fully. But it's there. Me? I have to head to the shop today, I have a couple cars that I can knock out, and make more space on the schedule tomorrow for something else. If I was actually priced correctly, I would not have to work seven days a week. But If I was priced correctly for what it costs me for what I actually provide, I'd only ever get the nightmare cars that "no one else can fix". That would put me out of business in a month.

An update: I need some more advice I did go ahead and buy the 3T RUUD unit last year as guided. It has worked very well and I got the tax credit too. A/C worked well last summer however this past winter we had a reasonably cold February here in Houston. The HP did have to "work" long cycles to get the area somewhat warm. I am concerned about the unit having to really work long cycles and produce not really warm air. Is running a lot - to warm the space... The performance seemed to be much better when the temperature went to 40F during the day when the units would kick on. During the coldest part of the snap it struggled to get adequate heat into the space. The last heat strip units ran 25 years and did a good job, however much more expensively. Going forward I is trying being as efficient as I can be. I have a second unit to replace...I nursed that old 2nd Lennox HS unit thru this past year and don't believe it will last at all this season. I recognize that I have another unit to buy and the HP did save $$ on the heat and A/C side this year. Markedly... Besides Texas still have funds left for rebates on efficient units. Want to get that B 4 it runs out. So I need to act. Since I am all electric (NO Natural Gas), I am looking for another unit at 2.5T for this other side of the home. Manual J says 2.5T is needed. The rooms in this living area are the sleeping quarters, bathrooms, master BR and showers along with the den. I need to make sure that the heating aspect will provide more heat than what I experienced with the 3T heat pump in the main room this past winter.... I need to feel warm in the winter in this other space since there is a risk of catching cold / other by stepping out of the shower. if the heat is not present in qty. AND another consideration - when we get up to go to work its usually in the early AM, when the temps are most likely to be at the lowest part of the day and the HP will probably be the least efficient that is when the heat is needed. I need to address this aspect in the choice I make today... Contractor who did the last install did a good job... I have no issue on getting another RUUD and using him He is quoting another RUUD 2.5T HP similar setup as last year's 3T HP UPQL-030JEZ AH RHKL-HM3617JA 7.5KW HS 15.5 SEER / 13 EER New supply and return Plenums 5" Pleated Filter System New Copper Lineset Crane for roof Top Mounting $7,000 installed to code If I look at the RUUD website, the unit is not rated as an energy credit qualifying unit. In addition the warranty that is published ion that unit is only 5 years as the warranty on the other units is 10years. The last units I had that were HS Lenox units lasted 25 years. I want to make a wise investment so the unit I will buy is a solid sturdy unit that can last a very long stretch.. 5 yr stated warranty seems light to me.. Can you give me some insight on the unit quoted..?and some suggestions on what other Ruud units might be "A Step Up" and sturdier and a "value". Manufacturers update lines all the time. Maybe further improvements were made on some Ruud units ..AND - Maybe he is quoting a good solid workhorse unit and that's fine.. A good solid unit is what I want. Increase HS capacity to what level? Can the other unit be retrofitted w additional heat capacity? Vertical Vs Horizontal AHRI Data will be a great help on your suggestions. Thank you in advance...