Handyman Roger Does Ducts

I’m not a repairman. I’m too impatient, clumsy, and kinda dumb. But sometimes I get presented with a problem that I think I can handle and I transform into Handyman Roger. It all started with the African tenants of property Chi.

Those nitwits called me Friday night to complain that their National Grid bill was very high and they weren’t getting enough heat in certain rooms. They’ve known about this problem for over two months but waited until now to tell me. I scolded them for not telling me this information during all the times my HVAC guy Gonzalez was there to fix the furnace. So I looked it up online and the most common solution to uneven heat distribution is to seal the heating ducts that sprout from the furnace. Evidently, heat can escape through the connections of the ductwork which causes less heat to shoot up into certain rooms. This also forces the furnace to stay on longer because it will take more heat to get the room to the desired temperature before it turns off. So I bought some duct tape (UL181A-type) and ordered a device called the Black & Decker TLD100 Thermal Leak Detector. I put an example of how it’s used on video, but I hate the way my voice sounds so I had to “Mr. Bean” it.




First I set it to the temperature differential that I want it to be (1 degree, 5 degree, or 10 degree). Then I turn it on and point it to an average area so I get the correct room temperature reading. After that, I point it at the joint or connection that I wish to check. If it goes 5 degrees under, the green dot will turn blue and that’s a joint where cold air is getting through. So in the case of the furnace ducts, if I point it at a joint of a duct and the green dot turns red, it means that heat is escaping from that joint and must be sealed with duct tape. The blue dot means that cold air is getting in, while the red dot means that heat is getting in. Easy enough? It's a neat little device and it only cost me 40 bucks on Amazon. I was supposed to go after work today, but I’d rather wait for the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, all the Africans are sleeping and I can do the work without anyone bothering me about more problems.

You know, the furnace problems at property Chi aren't all bad. I'm getting a lot of experience by fixing the problems myself. Anytime there’s a problem, I can learn how it gets fixed and try to do it without Gonzalez. While I don’t plan on being a handyman all the time, I can still be called upon to do the easy jobs. Any knowledge gained will help me in the future, as I plan on using this device on future properties to ensure the best heating efficiency per apartment. I may even do this with property Beta next week, just for the hell of it. Keeping tenants happy is not really a goal of mine. I'm not paying the National Grid bill at Chi so I shouldn't really care. But having an energy efficient apartment keeps good tenants in apartments longer, and that makes me stable money. And if I make them happy while learning something new along the way, then it's all good.