Ed's Heating & Air, Inc. - Getting
to know Ed
5/2/2008
I am Ed Pelto. Owner operator of
Ed's Heating & Air, Inc. I
graduated from Kellogg High
School in Roseville, Minnesota in
1981. Graduated from Dunwoody
Industrial Institute from the Sheet
Metal course in 1983.
Worked at Judkins Heating & Air
Conditioning in Rosemount, Mn.
from 1984-1997. Custom made
sheet metal for custom homes.
My duties were to measure, make
and install these heating and air
conditioning systems.
In 1997 I joined the Sheet Metal
union and worked at Erickson
Plumbing Heating and Cooling in
Blaine. The work was mostly on
the houses in the Metropolitan
Airport Commision soundproofing
project. Duties were to replace
furnaces or air conditioners.
Mostly I would be adding air
handlers ( fan coils) and full duct
systems to houses with hot water
heat. So Either from the attic
down or from the basement up I
would very neatly cut these
systems into the hardwood of the
beautiful 1930's neighborhood
homes by the lakes in South
Minneapolis.
In 1999 I landed a job at
Vollhaber Heating and Air
Conditioning. Every aspect of my
career was utilized at this high
paying position as I was now a
seasoned veteran in my field of
heating and air conditioning.
In the spring of 2003 we sold our
land in Woodbury. This gave me
the capital I needed to slowly
build what today is a very small,
but personal Heating and Air
conditioning business. Ed's
Heating & Air, Inc. was
Incorporated 11/14/2003.
1/22/2023
It's been almost 15 years since I
created this page. Seems like just
yesterday I wrote the words
above. Life is going by so much
quicker. We are still the small
personal business that I wrote
about in 2008. I am still the main
installer with Al as my apprentice
at the time of writing this. My son
EJ is the main service person and
has been since 2012. Usually the
summers are so busy Ej is selling
and keeping Al and I installing.
Our main objective is the
residential replacement market
and of course residential service
work. I specialize in fixing what
the new house guys did wrong.
This would typically be
undersized ductwork with too
small of an air filter and to make
things worse too large of a
furnace. Most companies,
homeowners or companies that
came and went are all too afraid
of being short on heat and
therefore put in too large of a unit.
If this is the case your furnace will
destroy itself prematurely. I am
constantly looking at duct sizing
and furnace air flow charts. If i
see we don't have the capacity to
move the amout of air I know a
furnace needs to move then we
better downsize the furnace or
add some ductwork. The larger
companies that have salesman
pushing the high end equipment
may be looking at these problems
or they might not. I do know for
sure they are concerned about
the volume of sales and keeping
thier 5 or 10 install crews busy
than they are about how long
your furnace lasts. I also know the
owner of the company is probably
not installing these systems and
checking them out properly. To
me making sure things are done
right is more important than
volume. I would loose my mind
trying to grow my business the
way I see others have done. This
all comes at the expense of your
comfort. If you see an hvac
company advertizing on tv,
billoards or hear them on the
radio that in my mind is a red flag.
You will no doubt overpay if you
call one of these companies. Your
job will most likely not be the best
it could have been either. Sure
they offer financing too. But at
what cost? Most likely twice what
it should have been. I have had
financing in place for my
customers twice in the last 20
years and only used it once.
When I don't use it the banks take
it away. I push entry level
equipment. No matter what you
pay for equipment it all will start
breaking at 10 to 15 years like any
other appliance.
