Growing in Productivity and Confidence as a Tech w/ Refrigeration Mentor

Trevor Matthews returns to the podcast to talk about growing in productivity and confidence as a tech to avoid feeling stuck in your career. They talk about personal development within your organization and in communities or training courses beyond your organization.

Confidence and productivity work hand in hand, and techs can grow in both areas when they prioritize the one that matters most to them. In many cases, repetition helps build confidence, especially in the trades and other professions where you work with your hands. Scheduling is another strategy that improves your productivity, which can boost your confidence in the long run.

As humans, we tend to fixate on fears and problems. We can build our confidence by reframing our fears, giving ourselves (and others) grace when we make errors, and focusing on building our skills to work through challenges. It's also important to find people in your organization who will uplift you, not hold you back.

Developing unhealthy habits is a possible consequence of over-focusing on work, and it could be detrimental to your personal and professional life. Your physical and mental health are also important to your productivity and progress.

Trevor and Bryan also discuss:

Using a calendar to manage productivity
Learning new skills to build confidence
Communicating with your employer and building a relationship
Training programs
Self-assessment and going out of your comfort zone
Caring about yourself to care about others

Some of Bryan and Trevor's favorite books on the topic:

Check out Trevor's Refrigeration Mentor program at https://refrigerationmentor.com/.

Learn more about the HVACR Training Symposium or buy a virtual ticket today at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.

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HVAC School – For Techs, By Techs

Real training for HVAC ( Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration) Technicians. Including recorded tech training, interviews, diagnostics and general conversations about the trade.

In this short episode, Bryan clears up the confusion behind pumping vs. compression.

Pumping is usually associated with liquid. Liquid, like vapor, is a fluid, but it’s a lot denser and is essentially incompressible because the molecules are close together. Liquid volume varies based on temperature and density, but we can’t squish the molecules together. That’s why compressors with very little axial and radial compliance fail when flooded; they can’t compress the liquid. A circulator pump in a hydronic system is an example of a pump that pushes liquid along, but the pressure difference across the pump is minimal compared to that of a compressor; the same is true of liquid vs. vapor CO2.

However, vapor molecules are far apart and can be squished together to take up a smaller volume. That’s why vapor can go through compressors, which take a fluid of one volume and apply pressure to shrink it to a smaller volume, raising the temperature in the process. Pneumatics, as opposed to hydraulics, utilize compression to move vapor around in a circuit. Recovery machines need to be able to compress vapor refrigerant and pump liquid into the recovery tank.

Compressors and pumps can either be positive displacement or non-positive displacement systems. A positive displacement system creates a trap and forces a fixed amount of fluid through a system, like a scroll compressor or a circulator pump. Refrigerant volumes may vary because vapor density varies with temperature and pressure (the volume flow is the same, but the mass flow varies). A condensing fan motor, on the other hand, is dynamic and varies the volume of air it moves in response to pressure, as the mechanism relies on velocity and kinetic energy to move air.

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