Tech Tips

If you own your HVAC company or are involved in management, you may have realized that our industry is currently facing a shortage of new A2L refrigerants, particularly R-454B and R-32.  Our own company has faced limited availability and long lead times, mainly due to supply chain disruptions and the increased demand now that our […]

It's incredibly useful to understand wet-bulb temperature and air enthalpy when calculating actual system capacity and human comfort. Dry-bulb temperature is a reading of the average molecular velocity of dry air. However, it does not account for the actual heat content of the air or the evaporative cooling effect of the air. When air is […]

I want to share something that came up in a recent discussion with Roman Baugh about VRF systems, and it made me realize I might have had a blind spot regarding scroll compressor designs. We were talking specifics, and he brought up high-pressure shell compressors. My immediate thought was, “Hold on, aren't scrolls low-pressure shell […]

There are three things we never discuss at the dinner table: religion, politics, and which wire to break with your float switch. A float switch fills with water whenever there is a drain backup, and it breaks power to one of the low-voltage wires. We clearly want the HVAC system to stop producing more condensate, […]

Our company recently had an incident where someone was operating a scissor lift and hit a fire sprinkler with it. The sprinkler activated, and the area flooded. This issue, unfortunately, isn’t that uncommon in the electrical, construction, and HVAC trades, but it’s preventable with proper training and attention to detail. Those of you who work […]

Being in an industry that requires a lot of travel—local or regional—can be a great thing for people who enjoy driving. It also comes with several more risks and opportunities for roadway accidents than someone who just has a round-trip commute to a single location every day.  We’re all aware of the issues of texting […]

A few times in the past, we’ve heard the phrase “the house is the biggest duct” because of the way air moves through it. Well, we can take it a step further and see that there are similarities that go just beyond air movement.  A building has several layers to keep things like moisture, heat, […]

Delta T is the difference in temperature between two points of the same medium. It is commonly used by scientists and engineers to analyze the amount of heat transfer in a system. In general HVAC terms, it is the measurable change in temperature between an air input and air output. However, it could also be […]

DISCLAIMER: HVAC School is NOT an official OSHA safety training resource! Although we provide safety tips in good faith, our website is not a substitute for safety training from an authorized OSHA training source. Many things may deter people from working in the HVAC industry. Perhaps surprisingly, exposure to heights could be the deal-breaker. (Not […]