Squatch, before I got drafted I worked for a HVAC company which was the best thing I could have done at the time because we did everything and I learned everything. I had to install a commercial boiler once and it had to go through the sidewalk. I had to chop out a 6'X6' hole through the sidewalk. Cut up with a torch and hoist out the old coal boiler (with some help) Shovel into buckets the coal, hoist it up and take it to a dump, Then I had to steam clean the room, white wash the walls, hoist in a new boiler, put it together, pipe it, wire it, paint it, cover it with asbestos and lime, then paint that and insulate all the pipes. Put in an oil tank, and fill it with oil, cement up the sidewalk. I did all of that myself except for the hoisting. For a couple of years I did jobs like that mostly by myself because I went to school to be an electrician but I am a dam good plumber and would much rather do plumbing work than electrical because of the much less fittings. I also love to bend pipe and did many large jobs with 4" conduit. I especially like to do concentric bending which they don't even do any more because the skill or time is not there any more. I re did all the electrical/control rooms of the Chrysler building and installed the fire alarm system in the Empire State building. Of course the Playboy Club was my favorite and I was the general foreman for Penthouse Magazine, another place I would have worked for free. I had my share of varied work and I was very lucky for that. I was also a mechanic for Oldsmobile.
Copper is a hobby of mine and I like to make copper fountains that move all sorts of ways with water.
Car radiators are soldered as that is all that is needed and they run on 15lbs pressure. This simple lighting system has zero pressure, but of course brazing is always better, but sometimes not needed.
This top picture is me hanging off the top of the Plaza Hotel installing lights. Iused those same lights in my reef. That is snow covered Central Park below me.
The lower picture is me Cad welding on a New York City garbage incinerator.
This job I was most proud of. See the building to the right of the curved glass building? It is the second from the right. That is One New York Plaza. That dark band around the building is on the 20th floor.
That dark area is a 22' set back to the building's machine floor. The building sets out again on the next floor. I had to hoist a 37,000lb generator into that set back on the "left" side of the building from the street which is about 100 yards away. I did it in 3 lifts each one costing us $74,000.00 (30 years ago) and I used the largest mobile crane in the world at the time. I designed the method we used to do that and that method is used today all over New York City to lift things into set backs. My boss made millions on that job and took care of me (a little)
Designing the jobs is what makes my wheels turn and I loved it. Now I take out my frustrations on my poor fish.