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The Work We Do: Edwin Moran, Burt’s Reliable

I’m Edwin Moran. I’ve been working for Burt’s Reliable for the last 18 years.

I’m a heating and air conditioning technician. I first started working for Burt’s doing water mains when they were digging all the roads. That’s actually what I got hired for.

Luckily, thanks to the Romanelli family, they gave me the opportunity to learn the business by sending me to school for heating first. And after that they sent me to school for air conditioning. I’m very loyal to this family. There’s not too many out there like them anymore. The training was for a full month in Massachusetts. It was a really good experience. Of course, most of the work is done in the field and learn that way.

My favorite part about the job is that especially in the winter time, when it’s 10 degrees out there and it’s a 70 or 80-year-old person, freezing and they need heat. That’s one of the things that make me the most happy. I like helping people and make them have what they need. It makes me very happy and proud that I can get there and give them heat.

On a normal day, I get in around 7:30 or 8 a.m. If I’m not doing annual service on units, I’m doing an installation, so every day is different, which makes it interesting because I’m not doing the same thing over and over everyday. We do heating and air conditioning, so both seasons we’re busy. I’ve been here for 20 years. I was born and raised in Guatemala. Basically, not knowing any of this business of course, because we don’t have heating and air conditioning equipment in my country.

I finished high school back there and decided to come here for a couple years.

Twenty years went by, and I don’t regret it. I have a set of beautiful triplets. And that’s what keeps me going everyday. That’s my goal, to have them grow up, go to school, college and the whole nine yards.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See photos on Instagram @thesuffolktimes.