Today, I called a friend who called a friend who is a licensed hvac contractor.
I asked him about changing the smart valve on my gas hvac unit myself, and he said he could probably train a monkey to do it in a couple of days. But, he added, it's gas, and there are some things to watch out for that the average DIYer doesn't know, and if it was done wrong, there's always the possibility of the house burning up.
I had just called the parts supply store, and they said that they didn't sell to the general public. I asked what was needed to open an account. A tax resale number, and a business license. I have both, one a LLC for
****** Property Management Services, which he said they would accept. So, I went from idiot member of the general public to account holder status in just a few words of a phone call.Then I called my friend, and it was the attitude of the hvac guy that turned me around. He didn't talk down to me. He was more down in his comments about the intelligence of the average hvac guy. Had he talked to me the way most of these hvac guys do in the newsgroup, I would have gone over to the parts store with my documents, become a hvac account holder, and done the work myself.
I apologize to the good hvac guys. To the rest of the big butt crack bubbas, my comments stand.
I paid $463 for the job, which was not broken down in parts and labor. I imagine it was about $350 labor. But the guy came over, went and got the part, came back, and had it fixed same day. And it's done and done right.
Steve