I've been reading a book called Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything, and it got me interested once again in the history of air conditioning and refrigeration. Like many things, the people who are credited with “inventing” are the ones dogged enough to make an idea commercially successful, not the idealists forever tucked away in the […]

Do you know how a solenoid valve works? Really? On the surface, I think we all understand how a solenoid valve works. The coil energizes, creating an electromagnet. That temporary magnetism lifts an iron plunger within the valve allowing refrigerant to flow. But is it really that simple? It turns out that the answer isn't […]

Measuring airflow is easy. Measuring airflow accurately is quite a bit more difficult. In many cases, when we as technicians measure airflow, we are trying to get to the almighty CFM (cubic feet per minute) volume measurement. You can take CFM readings fairly easily with a hood, like the Testo 420, but even a hood […]