The Duke Mansion Mystery
This looks like a problem of &quot;flat hierarchy&quot; - there&#x27;s no one responsible for anything. If a problem arises, we all just scratch our heads for a while and go back to sleep.<p>&gt;  I noticed that someone had placed an oscillating fan inside the ductwork, just before the indirect heater. “What’s this for?” I asked the plumber.<p>&gt; “I’m trying to blow the heat upstairs,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be working, though, and that’s what’s got me stumped. Heat rises.”<p>&gt; “Actually, it doesn’t,” I said. “Hot air rises.”<p>&gt; “Well, same thing, right?”<p>&gt; “Not exactly,” I said. &quot;Hot air will rise, but only if cold air can take its place.&quot;<p>&gt; “I don’t get it.”<p>&gt; “Come here; I’ll show you.” I followed the large sheet-metal duct back to where it met the foundation wall. “Where does this go?” I asked.<p>&gt; “Outside,” he said.<p>&gt; “Where outside?”<p>&gt; “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t do outside. I do inside.”<p>[...]<p>&gt; I waded into the greenery and stomped around on it for a while. “The gardeners aren’t going to like that,” the plumber said.<p>&gt; “It’s okay,” I said. “I do outside.”<p>&gt; And that’s when my stomping made a hollow sound. I smiled. “Got a shovel?” He went to get one and I waited, and while I waited, I thought like air. If I were air, how would I get into this house? He came back in a few minutes and handed me the shovel. I dug down about six inches and hit plastic. Clear plastic. I moved some more of the dirt out of the way and saw the metal bars of the old air-inlet grate.<p>[...]<p>&gt; When the gardener showed up, I explained what we were doing and how the air wouldn’t move across the red-hot indirect heaters because there was no fresh air coming into the house. He understood but then explained how ugly those ground-level grates were and how they had decided to cover them all with sheets of clear plastic, topsoil and pachysandra. “That’s why the house is cold,” I said.<p>&gt; The gardener pointed to the plumber. “It’s his job to keep it warm. It’s my job to keep it green.”<p>&gt; “The problem’s outside,” I said. “He doesn’t do outside. You do.”<p>&gt; And we went back and forth like that for a while until the gardener reluctantly agreed to remove one of the clear plastic sheets, just to prove me wrong.<p>Clearly, the ultimate fault lies with the original architects, who unfairly designed a heating system that existed both outside and inside the house. But it&#x27;s also interesting to note that the plumber&#x27;s <i>entire job</i> was to understand how the house worked, and not only did he not understand it, he didn&#x27;t seem to feel there was any reason why he should understand it.