I watched an instructional video the other day where the guy kept palming his gauge manifold and CRANKING down on the valves when he closed them. I've seen techs use channel locks—and even vise grips—to tighten down their gauges “just in case” when they have a hard time finding a leak or a vacuum that […]

When I started in the field, I was a 17-year-old helper with one year of tech school under my belt. In other words, I knew nothing. As I've mentioned before, a few experienced techs took me under their wings at different stages, but the most influential was a guy named Dave Barefoot. For whatever reason, […]

Our technician, Sam, sauntered into my office this afternoon like techs often do on a slow spring afternoon before the summer hits. It's been a long day for me, lots of training prep, a bunch of little fires, and errands to stomp out, and I still didn't get my article for the day written. I […]