Full disclosure: as a technician, I was guilty of setting the fan to “on” at the thermostat for many years. I never really thought of any of the negative impacts that could happen. I wanted to circulate the air and keep air moving through the high-efficiency air filter that most of our houses had. Later, I […]

Capacitors are traditionally tested with a capacitance meter (commonly found as a function within a multimeter), with the component taken entirely out of the circuit. “Bench testing,” as this method is referred to, is hands-down the safest method of checking capacitance in microfarads. All other methods require the capacitor to be wired into the circuit […]

In HVAC, we work with thermocouples for temperature measurement all the time, but we may not understand the difference between a thermocouple and other types of temperature measurement sensors. A thermocouple is just two different types of metal connected at a “junction” that generates a small voltage with a temperature change. Older furnaces would often […]