Wednesday, 02 January 2008
Roy Wins the Thermostat War
By Nancy Leitz
I first told this story in abbreviated form as a comment on Kenju's Imagine blog and everybody seemed to enjoy reading it so I will retell it here.
Roy was just a young fellow starting out in the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) and he got a call from the contractor he was working for. He was told to go to the Villa for Retired Nuns because the boiler had to be replaced.
Roy and his crew did a good job of installing a new boiler and he thought that his work was finished there for awhile. But after a week, problems arose with the boiler again and he went out to see the maintenance man and find out what the trouble was. Here was a brand new boiler and it was acting up as though it had been working for years. What could be the matter?
The maintenance man told Roy that he was really puzzled because the boiler kept going on and off many times a day. After inspecting it there seemed to be nothing wrong but just during the short inspection time, it went on and off two or three times. This was a real problem and had to be solved.
The nuns had a large recreation room where they sat during the day to watch TV or read or knit. Roy decided to go to that room and see if the thermostat was working properly. As he entered the room one of the nuns felt cold and went over and turned the thermostat UP. Two minutes later another nun came into the room, thought it felt warm in there and turned the thermostat DOWN. As he watched, several nuns turned the thermostat either UP or DOWN depending on how they felt. The boiler was ready to expire from being overworked. Now he knew what was happening and what the problem was, but how to solve it?
This is what he did. He got a brand new thermostat and installed it in the next room. The old thermostat was left exactly where it had always been but with no wires attached so it was completely useless. But the nuns didn't know that. The maintenance man sets the temperature once a day on the real controls and the nuns continue to push the fake thermostat UP and DOWN all day and are very content, living happily ever after in complete comfort.
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
Comments
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Nancy I enjoyed reading this story once again.
Posted by: Grannymar | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 at 04:15 AM
LOL Nancy -- I love it!!!! Roy is a very creative fellow!!!! Hope you're enjoying the Florida sunshine!
Posted by: Kay Dennison | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 at 04:35 AM
Such innovative thinking. Roy certainly must have succeeded in his job with such ingenuity. This story started my morning off with a big grin.
Posted by: Darlene | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 at 05:46 AM
I'm sitting here just grinning. Thank you so much.
Posted by: Mage Bailey | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 at 09:21 AM
I am late getting here, but I also enjoyed reading it again! Thanks, Nancy.
Posted by: kenju | Wednesday, 02 January 2008 at 09:30 PM
This was very cute Nancy. Roy is a sharp cookie. Thanks for the smiles.
Posted by: Joy | Thursday, 03 January 2008 at 08:25 PM
Brilliant!
Very sad to hear that Roy passed away. Sending my love at ths sad time xx
Posted by: Barbara | Friday, 03 May 2013 at 09:20 PM
Thank you, Barbara, for reading the story and thanks also for your kind expression of love and sympathy.
Posted by: Nancy | Monday, 06 May 2013 at 06:16 AM