The Clear the Air history.
Mike Stom retired from NASA's Space Program in 1990 and started Clear the Air the same year. Three and a half decades later his son Jason runs the company from the same Pearland shop. Here's how the company got from there to here.
Mike Stom's NASA years
Mike grew up in Buna, Texas, served in the U.S. Navy, and went to work for NASA's Space Program. He spent the next several decades on Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle hardware, primarily life-support systems and astronaut crew trainers. Two of his proudest moments were helping put a man on the moon and being part of the team that brought the Apollo 13 crew home. The thermal-systems discipline that came out of that work later became the spine of Clear the Air.
Founded in Pearland
Mike retired from the Space Program and started Clear the Air the same year. He set up shop on County Road 130 in Pearland and worked the South Houston neighborhoods one home at a time. His sons and daughter all came into the company over the years.
Building the Pearland customer base
The first decade was Pearland, Friendswood, Alvin, and the surrounding subdivisions, which were filling in fast through the 90s. Mike personally trained every tech who joined. Many of those techs are still on the team.
Second generation
Mike stepped back from day-to-day operations. His son Jason took over as President. The transition kept the same standards Mike had set: written quotes before any work starts, real diagnostic measurements, no upselling.
Mike passes
Mike passed in 2012. The standards he set still run every truck that leaves the shop. There's a memorial page at /remembering-mike.
HVACR Business Tops in Trucks
HVACR Business Magazine named Clear the Air a 2014 Tops in Trucks winner. Jason was also profiled in the same publication's 20 Questions interview by Terry Tanker. Both pieces are in the press archive.
Webers Air and Heat joins
Webers Air and Heat, a longtime Pearland fixture from the 1980s, merged into Clear the Air. The Webers customer base, warranties, and the old phone line (281-485-4357) all stayed intact and rolled into our service.
ACHR News features
Four feature appearances in The ACHR News through 2018: Five Ways to Fail-Proof an HVAC Business, Smartphone Smarts, Cost / Refrigerants Shape the HVAC Replacement Market, and Refresh / Unwind / Vacation. Independent third-party trade press, no paid placements.
R-22 phaseout
EPA banned new R-22 production on January 1, 2020. We rebuilt the install practice around R-410A as the standard refrigerant and started carrying coastal-rated equipment for Galveston, Kemah, and the bay-side coverage area.
Winter Storm Uri
Uri hit Houston with 4°F overnight lows in February 2021. Pure heat pump systems on electric strip backup struggled. We worked through the storm and afterward shifted our heat pump quotes toward dual-fuel (heat pump plus gas furnace backup) for any customer with existing natural gas service.
R-454B transition
Manufacturers began shipping R-454B equipment to replace R-410A. Lower global warming potential, mildly flammable A2L classification, updated leak detection and safety practices. Same install math; same right-sizing discipline.
Family-owned, second generation
Jason and his wife Dawn run the company. Their children Liam and Holly are part of it now. We service 40 South Houston cities from Pearland to Galveston, with daily routes through Friendswood, League City, Alvin, Clear Lake, Houston, and the rest. Same County Road 130 shop. Same standards.
More about the family
The memorial page for Mike covers his life, his Navy and NASA years, and his family. The about page covers the company values and how we run service today. Independent trade press coverage of the company since 2014 lives at /press.