Who says HVAC can’t be funny?

Who said HVAC can’t be funny!

Drop everything and come see my new furnace and A/C! I mean, really, it’s one of the bigger investments you’ll ever make at your house, and really, so worth it! At least our friends in our video think so.

We mix personal with political. We’ve always done the right thing, and here’s why we do what we do (and say what we say) https://www.facebook.com/WLAJABC53/videos/907960461333570

https://www.facebook.com/WLAJABC53/videos/919328459542926/?notif_id=1704479127251422&notif_t=mention&ref=notif

WLAJ 53’s Susan Angel interviews Larry Kirchoff of All Star Mechanical to talk about what being a “company of conscience” really means, and also, how All Star Mechanical thrives even while being politically outspoken.

Last week I wrote about changes coming in the industry that assure that everyone is going to pay more for HVAC replacements starting in 2024. I wrote about how these changes were at least some sort of attempt to combat global warming, even if I don’t think it’s the best path forward, at least it’s something. I also wrote about Heat Pumps and how I don’t like the way it’s being promoted, particularly because there are companies that are all too eager to sell something because you’ll potentially get a rebate, regardless of whether you’ll actually benefit from it. And then I talked about what we at All Star Mechanical are doing in our little corner of the world to assure you that you are getting what you need and not what will make the most profit for us. I mentioned that we size our equipment so that the equipment works as closely to the manufacturers specs as it can. I explained how my supplier told me that we bought about half of the smallest furnaces in the state of Michigan that Trane manufactures. It was something like 40 out of 80 of those furnaces were purchased by us in 2021. That’s pretty telling.

As I write this this morning, I have updated numbers to show even more, how the math is not mathing. The numbers are staggeringly out of whack. The smallest furnace is 40,000 btu. As of early Monday morning September 11th, 2023, in the last 365 days, 37 of these 40,000 btu furnaces were sold in Lansing. Every single one of them was to us. In the state of Michigan, they sold a total of 83. So again, we bought almost half that were sold in the entire state, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE SOLD OUT OF THE LANSING BRANCH right here as a small company in little ol Lansing. The next numbers I’m going to share are even more telling. In the last 365 days, my supplier has sold 390 furnaces at 80,000 btu. We purchased 1 of those. In the last 365 days my supplier sold 261 furnaces at 100,000 btu. We didn’t buy not even one of them. They also sold 119 furnaces at 120,000 btu and again we purchased zero of those. I’m not saying there aren’t houses that don’t need 80-120,000 btu furnaces, but there aren’t THAT many. In 15 years of business, I’ve installed only a handful of 80,000, a couple 100,000, and only one 120,000. I started out not knowing what I know now, and that’s why we sell so few of them, it’s just not necessary most of the time.

What this tells me is that other companies are installing 60,000 btu furnaces when a home only needs 40,000. 80,000 btu furnaces when the home only needs 60,000, and so on. We sell a huge amount of 60,000 btu furnaces, and a good amount of 40,000 btu furnaces. The last time we installed an 80,000 btu furnace was in a home that was over 5,000 square feet back in November of 2022. That was the only 80,000 btu furnace in the last 365 days. The furnaces we install are always getting as close to the efficiency as they are rated at. I can only imagine how inefficient so many of the furnaces that are oversized are. Not only are they inefficient, they are getting more wear and tear, and likely louder than they should be as well as not providing the best comfort.

It is my belief that these companies are content with selling you something that has a sticker that says it’s 96% efficient but installing something that will not operate to the design specs and therefore not getting its desired efficiency because the consumers only measuring stick will be if it reaches the set point on the thermostat. An oversized furnace will operate like a car in the city by starting and stopping hundreds of times a day. That wastes fuel and adds unnecessary wear and tear. The furnaces we install are sized closely to assure highway miles most of the time. A properly sized furnace offers the best efficiency, comfort, and noise reduction as well as longer lifespan of all the components due to less wear and tear. Global warming isn’t the only reason to size equipment properly, your energy usage and untimely repairs are money out of your pocket. If every company did what we do, we’d use A LOT less fuel, which would be more impactful than much of what’s being implemented next year. I often wonder why the energy companies don’t lobby for contractors to size equipment properly, maybe it has something to do with not selling as much of their product.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

The far right masculine bravado masks a deep cowardice of the modern world. They have devolved to more prehistoric tactics of pounding their chests and riling up those primitive instincts to convince anyone who might be influenced by fear, that what’s comfortable to them is at risk of being lost, when in actuality, what they fear is the unknown. And what they don’t know, is that if they’d let go of their fear, they’d open their minds to understanding. They’d soon realize that their fears are their own worst enemies, and behind that fear is acceptance, because fear is something WE ALL have in common. Fear has been used to divide because it’s easier than understanding. Understanding takes effort.

Fear requires nothing but teaming up in numbers to alienate those who don’t submit to societal constructs. It’s unnatural. Fear begets fear.

Love beget understanding. It requires effort. It requires forgiveness. It uplifts and empowers us to be our authentic selves.

What makes a society safe is not god, not organized religion, societal norms, or acceptable constructs based on nationalistic ideology. What makes a society safe is compassion and tolerance. What is happening is a breakdown of civilization, our ability to be civilized.

am personally saddened by the image we have been reduced to as Americans. I grew up believing we were the envy of the world. That we were first of all, free; but we were also supposedly leading the world by setting the example for the rest of the world in kindness, in civility, and humility. Instead, we have proven by our own actions that we can’t even take care of our own, let alone lead the world. Our corporations continue to exploit their workers in the name of greed. The rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Our politicians can’t get elected unless they can raise millions for a campaign and that type of money carries strings. The representation is often tainted by racism and classism. The police enforce laws but not equally, and the justice system protects them when they abuse their authority.

The poor and the underprivileged are the ones who are on the receiving end of injustice. People are getting sick and becoming broke while insurance companies profit off of their misery. Teachers buy supplies for their students out of their less than honorable wages, while bureaucrats deliberately deny funding to one of the most important institutions we have. Our higher learning has become unattainable for most people and drowns many who do go in insurmountable debt. Land and property were the staple of the American dream, and now wages have not kept up with living expenses, let alone housing, which has become a profession that often exacerbates an already unhealthy living situation with an unhealthy home situation. I’m just scratching the surface of what saddens me.

The symbols we display have lost their significance. The scales of lady justice have tipped with judges who are not blind, but rather have been partial to showing favor for those who make contributions to their extravagance. The term patriot has been reduced to someone who shouts about the second amendment but claims nothing can be done about the blood shed daily while they turn a blind eye. Even the flag has become a reduction of freedom because according to many, I don’t deserve to be here and I should move. The same people who would banish me fly the confederate flag alongside the Stars and Stripes as if they are equally American.

I have my own fears. I refuse to let my fears define me. I have made efforts to claim them and it has opened my eyes. I’m not gay, but I can see where my silence in the past was a contribution to the violence against them. I’m not black, but I can see where my privilege has afforded me more opportunity when someone else was denied for only one reason. As I listen to the rhetoric, I remember when I didn’t have the understanding I do now, and I understand how irrational that fear was. My personal revolution is rooted in love. My hope is that more and more people will choose love over fear. We are more than big salaries, big churches, big guns, big trucks, and a plate full of bacon.

People who are intellectually honest must be in earnest with justice and fear no consequences by speaking truth to power even if those in the public spotlight resort to their most primal instincts and use fear for power and respect, but what may appear as respect, is often just fear of losing power.

Let love rule

Policy is front and center when it comes to change, or lack thereof. Policy is what directly affects our daily lives. We can sit and bemoan day and night and when it comes to progress, our hands are tied if we don’t have the proper plans in place to see the desired outcome for a more beneficial life. Everyone wants to talk about the 1st, and the 2nd amendment which are certainly impactful, but on a micro level there are conversations that need to be had about how the government is failing us, and why.

We are, by and large, scientifically illiterate and are quite naturally drawn to pseudoscience because it doesn’t require the empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since the 17th century, but instead only relies on statements, beliefs, and practices that only claim to be factual and scientific. It’s why there are people who believe the earth is flat, and on a level closer to most of us, it is why people believe in the fake news conspiracy.

Frankly, we are moving farther and farther away from a civilization that demands our leaders to understand science. I believe that in 1995 when Republicans gained control of the Senate and the House, they defunded the Office of Technology Assessment because they deemed it as wasteful and worked against GOP interests. The was the one office of administration that would examine issues involving new technologies, assess their impacts, and analyze alternative policies to avert crisis, and call on scientific expertise to advise the executive branch.

Now, with no one reporting to congress potential ways to assure we are teaching our kids ways to be skeptical, we are raising the next generation to have to filter all of the information they are getting on a daily basis. What we have is a recipe for disaster, and we are already watching it unfold. We have abandoned all of the criteria that have gotten us many of the advances when science mattered.

Obviously there are still those who are working in private sectors who follow the scientific method, but what happens 10 to 15 years from now, when they are fewer and farther in between? Scientists are not born, they are nurtured through careful and purposeful means of education. We have to bring the scientist out of the individual and we are falling behind because our senses are being dulled with all of the screens in front of us with information overload. It is not hard to believe almost anything you see, especially with AI and CGI, social media, people are influenced easily and often.

Critical thinking becomes paramount for the future and there must be involvement from the scientific community to advise Congress and the Executive Branch of our government to come up with ways to educate our children and get them interested in what science is and how it is different from pseudoscience.

There is fake news, it just isn’t what conservatives are saying it is, they are the fake news, and they are responsible for its stranglehold on our youngest citizens.

The destruction of intellect is completely on the laps of our populace that elected them. The republican right has played the long game and they have damaged our image beyond repair. 2023 us looking in the mirror at 1980 us are two completely different images. From our intent to our impact, we are miles apart, and the only semblance is empathy. That’s the difference between the left and the right. It is what drives me more than anything else

I want to thank everyone who reads these essays. Every week I write about something that I believe in, and there are weeks where I struggle to think of what I want to say, and this week is no different. It is rare that I know what I am going to write about before I start typing. There is certainly no shortage of topics, but I try not to dive into topics that I don’t know enough about, even if I have a strong opinion. I often wonder if what I share is helpful, or if I am part of a bigger problem. Politics and religion are among the most divisive topics. What I do believe though, is that we are all connected and that being alone is the worst feeling, so I am just sharing how I feel, and I do think that it keeps us from feeling so alone.

I try to stay humble, but I am so far from perfect that I can admit my mistakes, that I embarrass myself, and that I am still learning and trying to be an example for others to look to as they go through this life.

As I approach 53 years on this planet, I appreciate life, and I look at everything in my past as a stepping stone to where I am now. I have never been seriously suicidal, but I know in my darkest hours that I wondered why I am here and whether anyone would miss me if I was gone. I want to be here for so many reasons, but the one thing that keeps me going is people. I think it is so important to be connected to all of the life around us. I want to pet every stray dog I see, or watch a pigeon bobbing its head looking for crumbs, and for just a moment to get close enough to me to know that I am its friend. I want to smile at strangers and say hello.

I want to acknowledge those who have been made to feel invisible on the streets, with people judging them without even a thought of how that came to be. We were all loved at the beginning. We were all the center of someones affection at the moment we were born. Every single one of us was held, and loved and at least for a moment we were blessed by the universal language of unconditional love.

When I drive around and see someone asking for a handout, I do not know how they got to that point, but I know they didn’t choose it. I try to, at least for a moment remember that they are someones child, and they were loved. I imagine their mother or father dancing with them when they were a child. I imagine them being read a bedtime story. I imagine how they were before their circumstances changed.

This world is not an easy one for so many. I want to be at least one reason for someone to want to live. The world can be cruel and punishing without having even made a mistake. To me, kindness is the key to everything. I can either be a reason for someone to continue, or I can be just another reason for them to feel invisible and unwanted.

My life has been a mix of survival and perseverance. I have survived childhood sexual abuse, homelessness, jail, and depression. But I was never alone. Sometimes I had friends to lift me up. Sometimes it was my abuser(s) who was/were there for me (it was still better than being alone), and there were many times where complete strangers were the ones to keep me going. For me, I was lucky enough to meet someone who accepted me, red flags and all, and I had to understand that I needed help, but more importantly, I needed to learn what love is. I didn’t know how to love, let alone be loved. I am still working on some of this baggage that I carried for so long, but I am inspired to continue because my story is like so many others.

I often wanted to have been born into wealth. I wonder if my life would’ve been any easier. I don’t think that is a given, and I look back now and I love myself for being here still after everything I have gone through, but I couldn’t have done it alone. I wouldn’t change my circumstances, it has made me who I am today, and as much as I look back and see how much pain I was in, it made me stronger and it has been my privilege to share with anyone who considers my words worth reading.

In a society full of greed, exploitation and wealth, denial and corruption, most of us don’t have the means to survive one bad turn, so kindness is the key to acceptance, and acceptance is the key to healing. Everyone belongs here, nobody should feel alone, and we all deserve happiness.

We speak out loud – very loud – in Lansing’s local City Pulse newspaper. And we’re going to keep on doing it. Here’s a trio of our ads in the May/June issues of City Pulse. Click on each one to view/read larger.