“Fans?” he asked
My six year old son came home from school one day while the HVAC technician was doing a regular tune-up. He asked me what was wrong with the air conditioner and I explained that our HVAC unit needed to be regularly maintained for it to stay healthy, like when we go to the doctor for a check-up. He understood that but then he asked me who invented HVAC units. I was at a loss. I really had no clue what the answer was. But, I knew I could still continue this conversation until I was done baking cookies and could do some research with my son. “How do you think heating started? How did people keep warm years and years ago?”, I asked my son. “Fire”, he answered. “That’s right, people built fireplaces,” I responded.I explained that heating and cooling technology must have advanced as a process. Then we talked about some old heaters I have seen and some old houses I have been in and I promised to look up HVAC technology as soon as I was done baking cookies. I wanted to encourage my son’s interest so I asked him if he knew how air conditioning started. He surprised me. At first I knew he was stumped. “How do you think people kept cool before air conditioning was invented?”, I asked him. “Fans?” he asked. Then we talked about different types of fans and different types of air conditioners that I had seen and I once again promised to research HVAC technology with him when I was done baking cookies. And that’s exactly what we did.