Don Gillis Archives - HVAC School

Don Gillis

Company name: The Chemours Company

Position: Technical Trainer

Don Gillis is a technical trainer at Chemours. Prior to his work with Chemours, he was a training specialist and HVACR instructor for Copeland. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry, having been an installer, sales and service manager, and service technician. Don has written several tech tips for HVAC School and is a familiar face at the HVACR Training Symposium.

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Does Air or Nitrogen Absorb Water?

There are many examples of teaching using metaphors to help someone grasp how something works without being EXACTLY correct. Some examples are how we often use water flow to explain electrical flow or refrigerant circuit dynamics. It's enough like the way it works to get our heads wrapped around it, but there are many differences. […]

Why A/C Systems Freeze

Let's start with the basics. Water freezes at 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius) at sea level and at atmospheric pressure. When any surface is below that temperature, and the air around it contains moisture, ice/frost will form. You can see how water freezes at the molecular level in the GIF below: In some situations, ice […]

Living in a World of Acids (and why HVAC coils are secretly crying for help)

Imagine a small IT room packed with servers, monitors, and humans. CO₂ levels easily spike to over 3000 PPM since the room lacks fresh air ventilation. Two overworked mini-split units churn away, cooling the space and unknowingly creating the perfect acidic environment. Fast forward a few months, and those shiny coils now resemble something pulled […]

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What You Need to Know About Feature A2Ls with Don Gillis & Christian Pyles

Easy As ABC with Don Gillis at the Chemours Booth

Flammable Refrigerant Update

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A2L Update With Chemours Live from AHR

Don Gillis and Dr. Chuck Allgood from Chemours join the show to discuss their new easy as “1,2,3” branding around the A2L refrigerants R454A, R454B, and R454C. They explain that A2Ls are not actually flammable like hydrocarbons; they are just mildly combustible with much lower burning velocity and energy than propane or butane. The […]

Intro to CO2 w/ Don Gillis

Don Gillis with Emerson joins us on the podcast to teach us the basics of CO2 as a refrigerant. He explains how it works and its applications. Carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is becoming an important refrigerant for commercial refrigeration (R-744). It is desirable because it has a low critical point and […]