How important are formulas from school to field work

[jtphoto95]

I am wondering if understanding how to convert ferignheight to celcious or rankan are real valuable field skills for commercial or residential service work.

Today in school we learned about Qs and QL formulas for btu stuff.

Is this important or will I mainly trouble shoot for leaks and dead loads change filters and clean stuff??

Are these formulas for attemting to better understand something I only need to know only specific info about.

[maintenanceguy]

The formulas are important. But memorizing them isn't. The important thing is to understand what the formulas are telling you. If you understand that one quantity goes up as another quantity goes down, or that one thing goes up exponentially as something else goes up much slower, that is when you understand what the formulas are telling you. That's when they become useful in the field as opposed to just being useful at a desk.

[R12rules]

Idealy, you would work during the day beside a Mentor who would show you the ropes. Then at night, attend class. And in short order, you would purchase most of your own tool bag stuff. Handfull of meters, couple handsful of tools. And a nice bag or bucket to lug them all around with.

Then, when you go to approach a piece of equipment, you'd be excited about using your own tools to do the diagnostics with.
There would be a level of personal pride in knowing you had the stuff, tools wise, in order to at least figure out what what wrong.
In time, the knowledge would arrive. And then as you worked on stuff in the field, you would naturally pick up how it functions together and would learn how to make the best repairs.

There is a ntoiceable differance between the one's who have been grounded with good solid understanding of the theory behind our industry, and those who just hit and miss their way thru the trade.

Pity.



Changing filters is done by rote. Washing RTU condensors is the same.
And in time, so will changing motors and welding leaks.
Diagnostics will always be a science though. And there is when the solid foundation of how everything works ... will really come in handy.



There are contractors out there who still take two screwdrivers and cross them together on relays and hope they locate the bad relay.
Some rap on the casing of the relay and hope it closes and the next sequence begins.

"By guess and by gosh" is NOT a safe way to work!

Learn all you can in class. Keep your notes. Ask question you think will get you laughed at in class. It will pay off in the long run.

The mere fact that your here on this forum speaks volumes about who you are becoming as a technician!!!

[davidr]

Nice post R-12.
I couldn't agree more.

[centrif mech]

FORMULARS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS YOU WANT THEM TO BE THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE THEORY OF OPERATION AND HOW TO CALCULATE HEAT LOADS FOR EXAMPLE THE MORE YOUR WORTH.

[Diceman]

In the remote chance ya ever need them you can look them up.
Learn how to use tools and fix things first.

[mattm]

Originally posted by centrif mech
FORMULARS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS YOU WANT THEM TO BE THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE THEORY OF OPERATION AND HOW TO CALCULATE HEAT LOADS FOR EXAMPLE THE MORE YOUR WORTH.

I was trying to sleep. Stop yelling.

[spiderkiller]

I took 4 semesters ,HVAC tech education classes, i wondered how cloud formations , and absolute Zero and PI r sqare would ever do anything for me...14 years later ,i use it all.just try to retain some of it and keep your books . its all good..

[mattm]

It just burns me to no end when I need one and I can't remember it exactly knowing it's in my head somewhere. Why does everything you pack away in your brain go to that area that got burnt up as a young pot head.

[Green Mountain]

A refrigeration mechanic can change a compressor.

A refrigeration technician can determine if a compressor is inoperable, determine the cause of the failure and also is able to change a compressor.

Which one do you want to be?

[honglo]

The formulas you are "supposed" to be learning is proof of what you are doing. Everything in the physical world can be explained by some sort of a math equation. If you ever expect to "prove" something to anyone about anything.... ie, customers for example, you will find that math is a universal language making it possible for someone not in the trade to understand what you are describing.

It's good for customer relations. "A much needed skill".
As far as the person you are talking to is concerned, if you can't explain and prove what you know, you probably don't know what you think you do.

[Diceman]

Originally posted by benncool
A refrigeration mechanic can change a compressor.

A refrigeration technician can determine if a compressor is inoperable, determine the cause of the failure and also is able to change a compressor.

Which one do you want to be?

I can do all that wihout using any formulas.

[John(Chicago)]

I use the formulas when designing something and when trying to determine something close with fenominas that are impersievable. Electrical formulas are good when you need to figure something out like voltage drop on long wire runs or the wattage of heat banks when all you got is volts and amps. Air formulas are important when setting CFM. So,.. some are important depending on what you are doing. If you just want to change parts when they break then you dont need any of them,.. but if you want to figure stuff out or design then you got to have them redily available. They are like tools in your bag,.. write them down and learn to use them and keep them close when you need them, try to collect as many as you can.

[Diceman]

I need a formula to figure out Johnny's first sentence.
Why is R-12 always trying to "mentor" some young boy?

[John(Chicago)]

What's wrong with finding a bad relay by tapping it and seeing it malfunction. I see relays that are energized but not switching, tap it and it works and then I know its bad. Whats wrong with that? I see techs fight with relays and schematics for more than an hour or two then I go and tap it and it locks and the damn things starts to run and then I give them the look like the force is with me and I come from a planet far,... far,.. away and you too shall learn the ways of the force.

[jdsandiego]

School is very important in learning HVAC, but you dont have to be a rocket scientist. Learning the fundamentals of refrigeration and air conditioning is a must have to be a good service technitian.
When it comes to formulas its best to keep your books and notes some where handy as most poeple wont remember half of what thier taught in class. Ive kept all my books and notes from class so when I need them and there has been plenty of times I've had to go back and use them.

I had a problem at work with a airhandler that was'nt makeing discharge setpoint. The supply water valve was full open and the filters had recently been changed. The question was why were'nt we making design temperture.
I pulled out my books, took some air flow reading and water pressure and tempeture reading, and used them in a formalur that I learned in class. The formula showed that water presure was the problem, we increased the differential pressure across the coil and succeeded in correcting our problem. My Manager was impressed and I got a that a boy. It felt good too...lol. Which also reflected in my evaluations.

So learning those formulas and how to apply them to on the job problems is the key to excellence. You wont always have to use them but knowing when and where to use them will definatly make you a much better service tech.

A service tech tool pouch must include tools and books along with the knoledge to use them.

Good luck to you my friend.


[Edited by jdsandiego on 10-15-2004 at 02:59 PM]