HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Camron Conlee joins the podcast to give us an introduction to ammonia chillers. He also explains what it's like to work with a poisonous refrigerant. The California division of TDI Refrigeration, where Camron works, primarily works on ammonia systems. We often see ammonia refrigeration in cold storage and food processing; ammonia refrigeration is usually in industrial applications away from the pu...

Adolfo Wurts from Arbiter Incorporated, designer of the UEI WRS line of Bluetooth scales, comes on the podcast. We talk all about scales and how to use them. You'll want to pull a scale off your truck every time you add refrigerant to a system. Many technicians choose to estimate how much refrigerant they have to put in, and they sometimes put in more refrigerant than they estimated in their quote...

In this quick announcement I talk about the launch of the revolutionary diagnostic and data management tool MeasureQuick

Todd Liles of Service Excellence Training joins the podcast. He talks about techs who shouldn't be on commission, how to make the most of your career, and facial hair profiling. Todd's skillset was mixed; he had some technical knowledge, sales experience, and communication skills. He took those skills into training, and he started his own business based on his skills; his first business didn't pan...

Jim Bergmann returns to the HVAC School podcast to cover some advanced topics in evacuation, including rig setups and triple evacuation. To increase the speed of evacuation, you need two large-diameter vacuum hoses to overcome the limitations of pressure. Core removal is also critical, as Schrader cores are a significant restriction. It's also unwise to use a manifold for evacuation; a manifold wi...

In this episode, Brent Ridley talks about the flame-free ZoomLock fittings and why he is using them for almost everything to replace brazing. These are tools from Parker, and they can give you leak-free fittings within seconds. ZoomLock works in residential and commercial applications. The fittings come in a wide range of sizes for the large piping of VRF systems and the smaller copper tubing of r...

Jeff Neiman returns to the HVAC School podcast to explain how we can perform leak detection on a low-pressure chiller. Jeff works on systems with glycol loops or other forms of secondary fluids, which may have leaks from time to time. When the chilled water pump on the suction side runs into a vacuum, air can get into the system via the shaft seal. Then, more leaks can occur in the glycol loop as...

In this episode of the podcast, Jim Bergmann talks about the launch date of the measureQuick (MQ) app, what it will do, why he made it, who it is for, and why it's different than anything else that came before. MeasureQuick is a universal measurement platform that incorporates Bluetooth to display, store, and interpret measurements. The initial release focuses heavily on air conditioning, but its...

James Bowman of Rectorseal returns to the podcast to discuss condensate switch codes and some best practices to comply with the codes. The humble condensate switch actually has installation standards; although there isn't a "law" about the codes, many areas follow and enforce the contents of the International Mechanical Code (IMC). Some states, including Florida, also adopt elements of the IMC and...

Les Fork returns to the podcast to discuss on-call rotations. He explains why being on call is necessary and how you can make the most of it. We are supposed to be on call for the sake of customer service; when a customer has an emergency, it's best for the customer (and the business) when someone is available to respond to the emergency. Of course, many of us dread being on call (although the pay...

In this podcast episode, Jim Bergmann continues talking about standard air, air density, and mass vs. volume as well as some other methods of "directly" measuring airflow. It gets pretty deep. Airflow hoods and vane anemometers can give you direct airflow measurements. You use static pressure probes, not pitot tubes, to measure TESP. When measuring static pressure, you put the negative probe in th...

Bill Spohn Jr. is a college intern working towards his business degree, but he took a week to see what it is like to work as an HVAC tech. He shares his impressions on this podcast. Bill is the son of Bill Spohn and has been a college intern working with TruTech Tools. However, he has just gotten his first real dose of the HVAC contractor experience in the full swing of summer. Bill started off by...

In this two-part podcast series, Jim Bergmann talks about measuring airflow in HVAC systems. He covers a wide range of airflow measurement instrumentation and readings. In this first episode, Jim covers ECM motor considerations, delivered capacity, laminar flow, and more. In the HVAC industry, many techs confuse static pressure for airflow. Although you need static pressure to have airflow, it is...

In this podcast episode, Bryan talks about brazing basics and tips. He goes over safety, regulator settings, torch positioning, flowing nitrogen, heat control, and more. Whenever you're going to be working with equipment that creates fire, you will want to make sure you know all of the safety procedures and have appropriate PPE. Make sure your gear is in really good condition; make sure your hoses...

Bryan talks to Ralph Wolf from T&N Services on YouTube and the Working Joe's podcast. We talk about blue-collar life, how the trade has changed for us, and what experience gives a tech that can't be read in a book. Ralph started off doing sheet metal work in the Navy before going into HVAC. He started as a sheet metal installer and learned most of what he knows about HVAC on the job. Taking accura...

This episode is a rebroadcast of a very useful episode from the Corbett Lunsford's Building Performance Podcast at https://buildingperformancepodcast.com/ . Corbett talks to building moisture control expert Lew Herriman about moisture, ventilation, and what happens when you're drying "stuff." When we think about humidity control, we have to ask if we're drying air or drying "stuff." Dehumidificati...

Restaurant HVAC and refrigeration tech Nick Messick comes on the podcast to talk about restaurant equipment, especially the "hot side." The "hot side" refers to equipment that heats the food; it includes often deep fryers but has a lot of variation. The "hot side" also includes specialty equipment for frying noodles and performing other unique functions. In Nick's opinion, the worst service call h...

Phil Zito of Building Automation Monthly comes on the podcast to discuss building automation and what HVAC techs should know about it. Automation essentially refers to control systems; we started off with pneumatic control systems, and then we went to analog and electromechanical control systems over time. Building automation refers to the process of automating controls on a larger scale, such as...

In this podcast episode, Bryan and Mike Layton of Shore Distributors explain how HVAC contractors and distributors can build a great partnership. Shore Distributors is a wholesaler in Maryland that carries Carrier, Bryant, and Payne. The job of a territory manager is to help HVAC contractors, so they're there to help contractors. The territory manager's job is to help set contractors and dealers u...

In this episode, Bryan talks with Jamie Kitchen from Danfoss about why and how thermostatic expansion valves (TXVs) fail and how they function in the first place. As fixed orifices become a dying breed with the development of higher-efficiency systems, TXVs take over the mantle as the primary method of expansion. Expansion valves meter the flow of refrigerant by aiming for a certain suction line s...

In this second part of the podcast, Jim Bergmann wraps up the steps to check a system charge without connecting a gauge manifold. You can check the charge without gauges if you use the following process (and know your DTD, CTOA, etc.): Take the dry-bulb temperature. (Let's say it's 70°F in this example.) Subtract the DTD (35°F). Add target superheat (10°F). Check the suction line. It should be 45°...

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about gauges. Jim Bergmann from Redfish Instruments   and the   MeasureQuick app explains why you may want to check a charge without using a gauge manifold. (That's not clickbait; if you've already connected gauges to a unit once, you can probably check the charge of that unit WITHOUT gauges moving forward.) HVAC units manipulate temperature and pressure in...

In this episode, Jack Rise talks about duct design regarding ACCA manual D, friction rate, face velocity, duct velocity, and what is ACTUALLY wrong with flex duct. Manual D causes a lot of confusion for technicians, and most techs have a limited understanding of it anyway. When determining a blower wheel for commercial ductwork, Jack Rise calculates pressure drops for all of his elbows in the duct...

In this episode, Bryan speaks with Eric Shidell about some of the basics of system freezing, what causes it, and what to do about it. Freezing is a normal part of some equipment, such as low-temperature freezers and outdoor units on heat pumps. On straight-cooling systems, freezing is NOT normal and indicates poor operation. Ice formation starts on the evaporator coil and may spread to the compres...

Corbett Lunsford from the Building Performance Workshop and the Proof is Possible tour talks to us about the moral superiority of building performance testing, blower door testing, and much more. Building performance and HVAC have been becoming much more closely linked lately. So, it's a good idea for HVAC techs to learn a bit about building performance. In the HVAC world, we often see homes with...