I had only been on the job for a couple of days when my mentor told me he needed me to go to an elderly gentleman’s house and change the air filter.
I had no problem changing the air filter, but it seemed odd.
When I got there, he showed me where the air filter was. I thanked him and stood there, waiting for him to leave. He waved toward the furnace and told me to get work. I couldn’t believe he was going to watch me change the air filter. Once I got the air filter changed, I was hearing some odd noises coming from the furnace and inspected it. I found a lot of dust around the components and quickly dispatched it. Once the dust was gone, I cleaned the entire furnace and checked the ductwork. I wanted to make sure there were no clogs in the ductwork that were disrupting the airflow and possibly doing damage to the major components of the furnace. The entire time I was doing the inspection, the homeowner sat on the steps and watched every move I made. When I completed the job, he asked if I thought I forgot anything? I shrugged and said I was pretty certain I hadn’t, but if there was something more he wanted me to do, I would gladly do it. When I got back to the HVAC company, my mentor asked how things went. I told him how I thought I thought it was strange the way the old man watched me and my mentor laughed. He said the old man was his dad. He was also his mentor when he first became an HVAC technician, and I passed the test.