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Also forgot to mention that the original compressor was single phase using a 208 contacter and start capacitor. We switched it out to a 3 phase compressor and contacter. Not a big deal, but it was my first time wiring anything 3 phase, so although it was simple, it was nice to get that experience under my belt.
Not much new today in class, we finished installing a gas boiler. Instructor gave us the silent treatment for most of class today, lol. The guy is a nice guy, and an excellent instructor, but has a tendency to become real childish at times. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of time left, so we'll need to address this with the office if it continues tomorrow. What started out as such a great class is starting to spiral into a train wreck because the instructors time logs don't match ours. We missed time due to Hurricane Sandy, and missed a few days because he took his family on vacation for a Wedding or something. He told the main office he made up all the time but he didn't. I guess they confronted him, and now he's going to make things even worse by not finishing the material we need to get through (like steam heating systems), and just being pissed at us because we want the time we paid for. I guess he doesn't think about the fact that we're all adults ranging from our 20's-50's that have families we need to support and are making a huge commitment with both our money and time to learn this trade, where as he's being paid to be there. Anyway, that was my day, hopefully yours was better! lol.
Hello All!!! Allow me to introduce myself my name is Ed or Eddie. I Live on Long Island New York. Im 32 years old. I grew up with a father who started out as a gas mechanic , then diesel mechanic , then operating engineer, then engineer. He is now sick with 2 types of cancers and is going threw home treatment so lets pray that he beats it.
My father always raised me right and has taught me allot along the way. I grew up helping to fix cars and trucks , then diesel boats and gas boats. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a father that owned boats and we always tuned them up etc etc... My first encounter with an air conditioning system was on my fathers boat and it was a 16,500 BTU salt water condesor cooled central Marine AC system. At the time my father had taken the unit out and pressurized the system to find a leak and braised it and vacumed it out and refilled the system... Worked for over 19 years after that... I went to automotive school for 3 years in high school. Got out of highschool and started working in the after market automotive industry.
I quickly moved to management and it was then when i met my now best friend Jack, He was a professional window tinter that would come in every day all different hours and tint the windows on cars and trucks that the company i was working for would sub contract out to him.
Being that i at the time was managaer I was the one who had to pay him. Well he would come in and lets say he tinted 3 cars I would have to pay him 450 dollars cash which at the time was my weeks pay. So i became friendly with him and asked every day if he would teach me how to tint windows.
Make a long story longer 3 weeks latter he told me if i quite my job and came with him every day he would teach me. So from that point foward I was in the Window Tinting Industry.
I have owned my own Professional window tinting company 3 month after til present day 1998 to 2012. I moved up from titning cars every day to tinting homes and building which is where the big money is in this business..
Well i hit it big one day and got a contract with over 274 locations of a huge commercial chain in the 5 boros and Jersey and Long Island. I was in my second year of servicing this contract when the head management personal began asking me if i knew anyone good that i could reccomend for air conditioning.
Now i have friends in this field and there all owner operators and they make huge money. This was something i always wanted to learn and get into but was doing farly well and with kids and family never pursuied. So I seen an open window and said no but i was going to be going to school for it soon and that after i graduate id be more then happy to service him. Well he was very pleased and has always kept in contact with me since and I still do business for him now to date and we speak on a weekly basis ...
Which brings me to this forum. I have been going to Bradford Hall in bohiema Long Island for 14 months now.... I have learned allot of basics and have had some hands on experience already out of school as well as in school... I do not know it all by any means but have helped friends and family for practice and have always found the issue and fixed there probloms fairly quickly and effictivly to date..
Also that commercial account I have previously talked about last summer I sold 40 phase protectors to and made some big money in a 1 month period installing them all over the city on basic package units and one advanced trane DDC unit..
I was also called in several times on issues with some of there package units and in most case,s it was a either a dead transformer or a bad contatctor or burned off wire off the contactor etc...
What i learned today in school was about algarthiums in DDC Direct digital controls and we hooked up a basic system to some relays and light bulbs to control. It was a honey well simplified programmable system.
The business that im in now we shade people and keep them cool, we can lower a homes heat load drastically be tinting a home or building and figured I should get into the HVAC-R business to expand and grow and take my noledge and icome to the next level...
Thanks again for letting me Join this forum and allowing me to introduce myself, And im sorry in advance for any miss spelled words and grammer errors as I am not great with a key board.
Thanks again Ed
Hi Joe, Was reading some of your posts and was curious as to what school your attending? I took all my heating mods the past 3 mods and now we are back onto commercial systems and refrigeration.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe7cri
I found that the school im going to hasn,t given me what I paid for either. We were told and promissed 50 percent books and 50 percent hands on. Well it hasnt been anything butt that. With the school going threw teachers like hot hookers and having up to 7 teachers for 1 mod because the teachers dont show for work is very discouraging and dissapointing to me and allot of my fellow school mates. For the most part it seems you have had allot of hands on. Also im surprised that you guys were trained and studied your EPA and took the test already. We dont get training and studied for the EPA we just take a test after we finish all mods.
So thats a plus... Keep your chin up and your nose in your book if your teacher is acting that way. And just make sure you learn somthing new every day and if you have issues keep up the compliants and get what you paid for..
Good Luck..... Eddie
Hey Eddie, thanks for the reply. I'm taking the full time course (5 days a week, 7 hours a day for 3 months) at BOCES in Westchester. The teacher is actually great, and all probably would have been fine if we didn't miss 6 days to Sandy, but now we only have 2 days (16 hours) of class left and still haven't done anything with steam or heat pumps.
Yes, we did have a lot of hands on which is one of the things I loved about the class. The instructor did a great job of explaining things to us, then set us free on bench units or other projects to practice what we learned. We really did a lot with installing and trouble shooting split AC units, Walk In coolers, Small appliances and stuff like that. We also did a lot of work with Hydronic systems from start to finish using both float controls and zone valves, also did a lot of oil burner work but then Sandy hit and things went down hill from there. We did some furnaces, and ducting using gas as a fuel, but it wasn't nearly as informative as the hydronic module was. Felt real rushed. Did a little more work with gas, this time installing a gas fired boiler, and finished that yesterday. Hopefully we'll get into steam today, but if yesterday was any indication of what we'll learn today, I might as well spend my day on youtube watching videos on steam systems lol.
All in all I would recommend the BOCES program (day program), as I said the instructor does have his temper tantrums at times but is very knowledgeable and does a good job explaining the subject matter. Even with this drama, I will give him a good review when class ends, but at the same time if we don't do anything with steam, I will be hitting BOCES up for some type of refund or credit to take a different course to help learn what we missed.
Forgot to answer your EPA question, we spent most of the first 2 months on air condition and refrigeration. After we finished those sections we took the EPA test. Got the results (passed all 3 +core for my Universal), but won't get our cards until we finish class.
Well after a rocky start today, class went well. We received a lot of information on Hydro Air systems, reviewed their parts, installation process and wiring diagrams. Unfortunately we don't have the time to do any hands on with the Hydro Air but the instructor did a good job explaining everything and at least I'd have a clue if I come across a Hydro Air system in the field. We also touched on steam a little today. I believe we'll do more tomorrow with piping diagrams and the Hartford loop. Supposedly we will also be doing some book work and hands on with Heat Pumps tomorrow. Looking forward to soaking up as much as I can tomorrow as it's the last day of class, then the job search will begin and hopefully I'll be able to learn a lot more in the field!
I understand about when "In the Lab" testing things that neatness is not a priority. Learning or testing or proving the project out is. Good work if it worked!Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe7cri
CT
Hello everyone. I'm new here and thought that I'd introduce myself. My name is Kimball and I'm a registered professional engineer. I'm a mechanical guy that does building design, most recently laboratories, data centers, and pharma/biotech manufacturing buildings. I've also designed automotive and aerospace test facilities in the past. Systems include all types of mechanical systems from chilled water to steam, industrial refrigeration, process utilities, and so on. Over the years I have also done commissioning, start up of systems, and trouble shooting of systems, so its not just design experience.
Today was the last day of class, I came away with a lot of knowledge, but I realize it's just a drop in the bucket compared to what I'll need to learn going forward to become a successful Tech. This is actually my 15th post, so I'll be asking for Pro status soon so I can read some of the more in depth threads, and hopefully I'll find myself being able to answer some questions in my head before I read the solutions that the seasoned guys post. Also received my EPA results today, kind of surprised I didn't so a little better in type III, but I was able to earn the Universal certificate, so I guess that's what's most important at this stage for me.
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Congratulations!Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe7cri
Your real education will start when you get into a service truck. Sounds like you have the will to succeed, good luck!
Thanks Chuck, I've enjoyed the learning process, and look forward to learning a lot more. Today we did a little heat pump work to finish out class, and it was a lot of fun to see how easily the basics of air conditioning could be changed to provide heat. We worked on a small water cooled packaged unit (like the ones you'd see in a hotel room), and it was very interesting. I know I'll be starting out at the bottom in this field, I just hope to be lucky enough to find a company with knowledgeable technicians to learn from, not guessnicians as my instructor calls people who just start changing out parts until they're lucky enough to find the problem, lol
Sitting around today thinking about a stupid mistake I made on our last project in class last week. We put together a gas fired boiler and the instructor told us to put a low water cut off on it. So I added it to the system, but couldn't get it to work right, it kept cutting out even though we had plenty of water in the system. After asking the instructor for help, he came to the conclusion that the safety wasn't working properly because I put pipe dope on it. I didn't see the warning on the side of it where it says DO NOT use pipe dope, lol. At least that's a mistake I won't make again.