Any ideas?

[rumblefish]

I'm getting ready to start training for HVAC/R. I really don't know exactly what field/area to get in to when I finish my training. A little help to understand would be good.

[Shophound]

Ask yourself what you can picture yourself doing once you're ready to enter the field.

Driving from house to house all day answering residential service calls? Working in attics, crawl spaces, basements, closets, and outside? (Residential HVAC)

Working on top of strip shopping malls, regular shopping malls, industrial parks, warehouses and office buildings? Working above suspended ceilings servicing air handlers, ductwork, and water source heat pumps? (Light Commercial HVAC)

Working with chillers, cooling towers, boilers, hydronic systems, DDC, enthalpy controls, VAV/VFD systems? (Heavy Commercial HVAC)

Working in supermarkets? (Market Refrigeration)

Working on ice machines, walk-in coolers and freezers, reach-in coolers and freezers, beer coolers, display cases, shake machines, ice cream machines? (Commercial Refrigeration)

Working on HVAC as well as almost everything else to do with the infrastructure of a building? (Facilities Maintenance)

As you can see, there's many ways to go. Think about which one floats your boat and aim toward that end.

[Edited by shophound on 11-10-2004 at 05:32 PM]

[rumblefish]

well that sheds a lot of light on that subject. Thank you

[Shophound]

You're welcome.

So which one interests you?

[rumblefish]

probably light or heavy commercial HVAC. when I start training I'll get a better picture of what I want to do.

[rumblefish]

Just out of curiosity... how hard is it to learn everything?

[R12rules]

Originally posted by rumblefish
Just out of curiosity... how hard is it to learn everything?

You, my fine friend, would be THE first!


Shop only spoke of half the industry.
There is more.

Then to add diversity to these plus those not spelled out ... there is the choice of Union or non.
Contractor or employee.
Mega-loppolis or medium sized city.
Geography.
OJT.
Mentore relationship.

[Shophound]

Originally posted by rumblefish
Just out of curiosity... how hard is it to learn everything?

As R12 alludes to, to learn EVERYTHING there is to know about this trade is...well it would be a superhuman task. And you know what? That's great. It means there's only one person to blame if you get bored in this trade. Yourself. Many techs get into a rut and think that's all there is to the trade. And if that's where they want to stay, that's their choice.
I'm not fond of ruts. Too muddy and the sides are slippery and it doesn't smell all that great.

Commercial HVAC is a good aspect of the field to investigate. I've done a lot of residential and light commercial and I'm just now getting my feet wet with heavier commercial via our building's large tonnage VAV/VFD system. More complex than light commercial or resi but it's also more interesting. Also reminds me of my snipe days in the Navy when learning the ship's engineering plant was an ongoing challenge and there was always something new about the plant to learn. And just when you thought you had it all down pat.

R12 I realize I gave our friend just an overview. Even I probably am not aware of some aspects of our trade, and I read trade related stuff a lot! However, I found when I was new and in training I would picture myself working on systems and asking what kind of stuff I wanted to be found working on. Commercial has always appealed to me, especially larger equipment with interesting control systems. Resi is still interesting but if I had to focus all my energies there, I'd look into total system design, like airman1 does down in Houston to deal with humidity control and overall comfort.

[rumblefish]

BTW... when I said everything... I meant everything like in a basic HVAC/R training course

[thehumid1]

Working on ice machines, walk-in coolers and freezers, reach-in coolers and freezers, beer coolers, display cases, shake machines, ice cream machines? (Commercial Refrigeration)

Or more accurate did you like cockroaches crawling over you while you lay on a restaurant floor working on a cooler? Do you like scraping MSG off of coils in chinese restaurants? Or ever try to clean a filter in an Indian restaurant? Do like leaving your house at 1 a.m. because some prep cook turned the tsat on thge walk in cause he was too cold in there and left that way all day.If you enjoy getting caked with dirt, exotic smalls(like curry,roach repellent,etc), and enjoy being on call 24/7 commercial refrigeration is for you. And on the bright side you do get offered quite a few free meals but I lost my appetite a long time ago either in the attic of a pizza parlor which was homing pigeon central or sticking my hand under a piece of equipment and being nipped by a rat stuck in a trap.

[rumblefish]

Originally posted by thehumid1
I lost my appetite a long time ago either in the attic of a pizza parlor which was homing pigeon central or sticking my hand under a piece of equipment and being nipped by a rat stuck in a trap.

That's just really f***ed up. Barf!
Dirt and nasty smells aren't really a problem for me. I've been through wilderness survival training where i lived in dirt for a month, and my dad has a problem with continually puncturing the urine bag on deer when we go hunting...

[thehumid1]

my dad has a problem with continually puncturing the urine bag on deer when we go hunting...

Lets not bring family into it now..lol... but that's the reality of the job. and expect to be doing all the maintenance services for awhile first(basically your a glorified filter changer and coil cleaner). But if your employer has some strip clubs as accounts it can break the day up nicely.

[rumblefish]

Originally posted by thehumid1
But if your employer has some strip clubs as accounts it can break the day up nicely.

Excellent point. Time to start looking

[rumblefish]

Out of curiosity... are there any fields that integrate computers with anything to do with refrigeration? I'd imagine that there'd have to be for ammonia refer right?

[rumblefish]

someone wanna give me a little help here?

[rabram]

Originally posted by rumblefish
Out of curiosity... are there any fields that integrate computers with anything to do with refrigeration? I'd imagine that there'd have to be for ammonia refer right?

Control work.

[megaton]

I prefer facilites maintenance because there's more fun stuff to do, like playing with the fire pump!

[rumblefish]

what the hell is a fire pump?