This photo is of a blower door test we performed at my own house using a Retrotec blower door. You will notice the 15-passenger van outside the window, which is a dead giveaway. A blower door is used to measure the tightness of a building and is often discussed in terms of an ACH50 number. […]

Testo 557 vacuum gauge and Appion core removal tools shown I've had a change of heart. Back in the early 2000s, during the big construction boom, I did many system startups on residential units for a large company I worked for. When installers ran the line sets prior to startup, they weren't always very careful […]

We already know that oxy-acetylene torches have a lot of safety considerations attached: don’t oil regulator threads, bubble-test your hoses, you get the picture. But there’s one more we haven’t really covered: the 1/7 rule (or 1/10 rule, based on the latest industry guidance).  This commonly cited rule reduces the likelihood of flammable acetone coming […]

David Holt with NCI returns to the podcast to discuss the evolution of HVAC training; we cover the past, present, and the possible future of training in the industry. In the past, we had a lot of hands-on training, whether it was one-on-one or in a traditional classroom setting. These learning practices remain beneficial today, […]

David Holt from NCI comes on the podcast to talk about airflow testing and its importance as a customer service tool for the HVAC trade. Charging and airflow are closely linked. Even though the charge may be correct, the system can't operate correctly if the airflow is off. For example, we can only get the […]