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Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

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Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#161

Post by thaumasiotes »

vel0city wrote: post #158
thaumasiotes wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whereas if you take the extraordinarily difficult step of opening Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox ), you understand the real paradox. Jevons observed that when steam engines get more efficient and individually use less coal, we end up deploying many more steam engines in many new industries and use cases, increasing coal consumption overall. What difference do you see in this paragraph comp…

> Steam engines get more coal-efficient and that means there are more of them burning more coal. This misses the key part that actually makes it Jevons Paradox: the reduced cost of operating the machine opened up new industries and applications that massively grew which made overall usage increase. Something could get more efficient and still have the same number of units in the end. Washing machines have gotten more…

That would require perfectly inelastic demand. It's not a realistic assumption... in any context. Its absence certainly doesn't qualify as a "paradox".

> Washing machines have gotten more efficient over time and yet it's not like we have tons more washing machines in the US.

Do you have any numbers for this?

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#162

Post by jeromechoo »

I got a $1500 quote to replace a stuck thermostat in my car from my local mechanic. After some Youtubing I was able to replace the part myself with $150 in parts.

I got a $5000 quote to fix my AC 2 summers ago and no amount of Youtube was able to help me DIY a fix.

Maybe in the long term there will be more HVAC techs than auto mechanics. Somehow I don't think that's likely.

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#163

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

"If you can make $30 an hour as a digital freelance marketer (a job that did not exist a generation ago), then you won't accept less than that from working in food service."

Yesterday's food service workers are today's web marketers. This might explain why the www has become so polluted with garbage

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#164

Post by stockresearcher »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #153

> From the article: If you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall. I can't tell if that's the worst AI boosting analogy I ever heard or the most unwittingly accurate. First of all, flat screen TV and plasterboard hole repair are in no way substitut…

> "Why is there a new TV behind the front door dear? The handle was bashing the drywall and it was cheaper than a handyman."

"Isn't the handle going to bash the TV now?"

"It's ok, dear; replacement TVs are cheaper than hiring a handyman"

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#166

Post by margalabargala »

locknitpicker wrote: post #67
margalabargala wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't see anything in their comment where they added "and therefore we ought return to rampant extreme poverty", did I miss it? They don't appear to be suggesting anything you say they are, just describing the effects of what exist. It can be true that consumer protection laws raise the price floor for certain goods and services without "and therefore consumer protection laws are bad".

> I didn't see anything in their comment where they added "and therefore we ought return to rampant extreme poverty", did I miss it? The US is already experiencing rampant extreme poverty. There are people in the US holding multiple jobs and still can't afford to eat, let alone healthcare. Again, this argument that things are expensive because the poor can't work and regulation somehow is suffocating businesses is pu…

> this argument that things are expensive because the poor can't work and regulation somehow is suffocating businesses is purely ideological and not supported by facts.

"This argument" is also theoretical, or a straw man. I'm not making that argument, the original comment on the thread isn't making that argument, the person I replied to created the idea of the argument whole cloth to argue against.

It's a big leap from "some regulations raise the price floors on some goods" to "businesses are being suffocated by no longer allowing near-slavery, thus near-slavery should be permitted."

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#167

Post by shadyKeystrokes »

maccard wrote: post #126
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the initial claim is just false — “if you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall“. I can tell you that this isn’t true in San Diego. Unless they’re using flatscreen tvs that cost less than $300? Or perhaps making extremely difficult-to-patch h…

I live in the UK, and it’s basically £100 to get a tradesperson to show up to my front door regardless of what I want them to do. I can buy a flat screen TV from £100 new from one of the UK high street retailers [1] , or £85 [2] if I go on Amazon [1] https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7623909?clickPR=plp:6:323 [2] https://amzn.eu/d/bVCBLv3

Its also for free to repair a hole in the hand after trying to knock a hole into the wall ;)

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#168

Post by oceanplexian »

quickthrowman wrote: post #142
landl0rd wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think people insist someone needs to be licensed, bonded, and insured? It's not really a quality question, it's CYA, a direct response to the rise of ambulance-chasers and increasingly-ridiculous jury awards. Morgan and Morgan are probably doing as much economic damage here as Baumol.

The HVAC technician working on your home accidentally discharges the propane based coolant while working on your cooling coil in the furnace. The mechanical room fills with flammable gas and then the pilot light for the water heater kicks on, igniting the gas and blowing up your house. It turns out the technician was working for a shady company that didn’t have liability insurance, now what? Before responding, please…

> The HVAC technician working on your home accidentally discharges the propane based coolant

Millions of unskilled people work with and around propane on a daily basis. It's not even remotely a big deal if you have an IQ above room temperature.

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#169

Post by turtlebits »

jonway wrote: post #44
turtlebits wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good mini splits aren't expensive. They're expensive because HVAC installers are fleecing US consumers. A majority of mini splits are made in China and are inexpensive and reliable because they're so pervasive in Asia. Most are rebadged Midea or Gree. You can get a decent mini split for <1.5K and install it yourself for $200 in tools.

It is expensive, but I think you're underestimating the costs. If the AC catches fire because your electrician skills are bad, what happens? I guess you can rent a ladder if you need one, but they're at least $200 if your split is on the second floor and ladders can be deceptively tricky, and load ratings must be considered. Condensation can kill you and be an extreme cost with mold. Your first mini split is going to…

If you're not comfortable with the electrical work, hire an electrician.

Of course don't DIY it if you're not comfortable, but a simple exterior wall install is fairly straightforward. On a second floor install, (with the condenser on the ground) you only need a small egress hole you can drill from the interior. You'd need a ladder just to secure/cover the lineset.

Re: Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury

#170

Post by lamontcg »

It seems we have a sort of Cantillon Effect in wages (spilling over from IT down into HVAC and food service), but not in goods.

And I'm not sure the AI/LLM focus sheds any light at all on the situation. Unfortunately, AI/LLMs aren't AGI and they're just a tool. They're just a better machine (assuming it all pans out) that radiologists all need to become experts in using. The way to analyze the situation isn't that the radiologists are the "bottleneck", the radiologists are the experts who are trained to use the tools.

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