As with most other trades, HVAC/R technicians need to have a solid set of hard skills to make it in the industry. Whether we pick up those hard skills by working on cars as teenagers, learning them in a trade school, or acquiring them on the job, we’ll have to rely on our hard […]

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the HSO (hard shut-off) or “non-bleed” TXV (thermostat expansion valve) and what makes it shut off, why it exists, and how it “magically” opens. Once you understand the forces inside the valve, it is quite simple, obvious, and sadly devoid of any magic. The Three Forces  The TXV […]

Proving flame is an important part of the gas firing sequence. Without proof of flame, you risk dumping unspent gas into the heat exchanger, resulting in an explosion. There are many ways to “prove flame,” but we are focusing on the flame sensing rod (flame rectification) method here. Here are the facts: Flame sensing rods, […]