There’s no glitz or glamour here. No information on mergers and acquisitions. No tips on how to run the office and relate to customers.

Service Hotline is down and dirty. It deals with malfunctioning systems and such pleasant challenges as compressor burnouts, rising head pressure, refrigerant leaks, motor failures — you know, the fun stuff.

Half of the Hotline each month is written by you, the contractors and service technicians who carry toolboxes each day to jobsites. You write the questions, detailing your toughest field service problems, and we route it off to an industry expert for a real-world answer, void of sales pitches.

Fact of the matter is, if you don’t like the answer we publish, you can write in and offer your response. Take a look at the upcoming June 5 Service Hotline to see that aspect depicted with comments from the field on an answer given in the April 3 Hotline.

You are encouraged to submit your questions for a couple of reasons:

First, to get the answer you need;

Second, so your fellow technicians get answers to a situation they probably have encountered, but just didn’t write in about.

As an incentive to author a question, we will pay you $10 once it appears in print. It’s not a lot, but it is enough for a drink of your choice, or a few gallons of gas, or an elegant meal at the Golden Arches. If your question is picked as best of the month, you’ll get $50 — enough to take your significant other out to a pretty nice meal.

You can send your letters via snail mail to Hotline, Business News Publishing, 707A Davis Rd., #103, Elgin, IL 60123; or you can e-mail to Powellbnp@aol.com.

A caveat: Anwers are not instantaneous. Your questions are routed to the correct industry experts for their responses. But as soon as we get an answer, we mail it to you right away, even if it doesn’t appear in print right away.

So, do you need an answer to a tough question?

Do you need some gas money?

Would you like to take your significant other for a night on the town?

If you answer yes to any of the above, give the Service Hotline a try.