From what I hear it can be stressful. Not so much from the difficulty, but the shear volume of work.
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I was wondering if becoming a certified Testing, Adjusting and Balancing tech/professional is a career worth getting into if you are working as a HVAC tech for a commercial company that is NEBB certified? Is it a highly stressful job or fairly cruisy? What are the pros and cons of being a TAB guy?
From what I hear it can be stressful. Not so much from the difficulty, but the shear volume of work.
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TAB can be a great career if you learn the fundamentals and how they apply. The biggest problem with doing TAB is you are at the very bottom of the power chain but nobody gets their retainer until you submit a report that is approved. The pressure comes from the contractors and you better be capable of handling it. When a system doesn't work as designed you are the first person they want to blame. You better know what you are doing or the engineers will eat you alive in the come to Jesus meetings.
The work is enjoyable except when the contractors or engineers try to tell you how and when to do your work.
You also have to resist some of them wanting a report with no regard as to the quality of work you do or if you do anything but a pencil balance. You will be hated by some but loved by others.
No man can be both ignorant and free.
Thomas Jefferson
It seems like the sweet spot, like wayne said, is the diagnostic balance. Anyone can say 'its broken' but when you can tell people what needs changed to fix it, then you get brought back... on those jobs that have an ear to listen.
Last edited by numbawunfela; 08-29-2019 at 12:24 AM.
Hmmmm....smells like numbatwo to me.
numbawunfela
No man can be both ignorant and free.
Thomas Jefferson
My first balancing job was a morgue. We were the sheet metal contractor. I was trying to find out if our stuff was installed right, and if we were anywhere near flow. I had an old analog hood that smelled of mold and was missing pieces, and about a year and a half in the trade.
I got a decent hood and read some stuff online and asked some friends. The engineer had used an abandoned incinerator chimney as an exhaust stack, placing exhaust fans on the 30th floor roof, the morgue was in the basement. The exhaust was 'sized' for around 300ft of smooth metal, not broken masonry. I had to do a finger pointing session where I got to explain friction losses to the design engineer.
We ended up with exhaust fans that pulled over 3" to get the flows right.
Hmmmm....smells like numbatwo to me.