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The AI Cowboys: Negotiating With a Client Who Thinks They Have a Supercomputer on Their Side
Tech, Mechanic, or Craftsman
Why the New Guy Gets Fewer Callbacks
How to Eliminate Surprises on Install Jobs
The 1/7 (or 1/10) Rule for Oxy-Acetylene Torch Tips
Evaluating HVAC Tape Performance Under High Heat and Static Load (Part 1)
Oxy-Acetylene Torch Tips and BTUs
Using the Socratic Method to Meet Trainees Where They’re At
Stay On Your Game During Summer Service Calls
Why and How to Test Heat Pump Defrost – Short #310
Building a Business That Lasts: Why Culture Beats Strategy in HVACR w/ Tony Gonzalez
Tight Enough to Fail – Short #309
Your Thermostat Is Reading the Wall – Short #308
Next-Gen Filtration – Pressure Drop, MERV 16, and Bypass Prevention w/ Chris Howells
The Fuse Only Blows When You Leave – Short #307
Questionable CO Alarms w/ Bill Spohn
Same Charge, Different Numbers – Short #306
Tech, Mechanic, or Craftsman? Finding Your Fit in HVAC
#hvac
Tech Tips:
An informed customer can make our job easier. When someone understands what they’re asking for, we can have a better conversation about what’s possible and what isn’t. Most customers who research a problem, including those who use AI, are trying to understand what’s going on. They’re willing to hear what they may have missed. Then […]
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Put three good tradespeople in front of the same problem, and you may see three different kinds of enthusiasm. One wants to understand why the system behaves that way. Another wants to get the failed part out and make the repair. The third is already thinking about the layout, access, and details that will make […]
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I was going through a recorded service meeting with the Kalos techs, and Bert shared something that has been rattling around in my head ever since. His team went digging through their callback data looking for patterns, and after stepping back and looking at it, one showed up that nobody expected: The newer techs were […]
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HVAC installs sometimes come with surprises. Some of them are good, like when you have a really nice customer who buys you lunch or leaves you a generous tip. But HVAC installs can also come with plenty of bad surprises, like a defective part, not enough space to install the unit, an incorrectly sized platform […]
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We already know that oxy-acetylene torches have a lot of safety considerations attached: don’t oil regulator threads, bubble-test your hoses, you get the picture. But there’s one more we haven’t really covered: the 1/7 rule (or 1/10 rule, based on the latest industry guidance). This commonly cited rule reduces the likelihood of flammable acetone coming […]
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When sealing ductwork or repairing HVAC insulation, the tape you choose dictates the long-term integrity of the system. Temperatures fluctuate wildly in attics and mechanical rooms, and the tape must be able to withstand these environments without degrading. To better understand how different professional-grade adhesives actually perform under elevated temperatures, we decided to put them […]
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Oxy-acetylene torch tip manufacturers publish charts that tell us the ideal applications for each tip size, which is quite useful on its own. After all, a small tip may be great for a ⅜” liquid line but would hardly make a dent in 2” commercial refrigeration piping. But we can also take the information from […]
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We’ve all probably been in this situation before (maybe in both people’s shoes at different points of our careers): A technician is on the job with their apprentice. The technician tells the apprentice where the probes go on the service ports and exactly what the superheat and subcooling are. The apprentice’s eyes glaze over, and […]
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The summer is a season of opportunity for HVAC technicians, and by opportunity, I mean a super high volume of service calls with a greater chance of callbacks. We’re based in Florida, so our techs have to deal with the combination of blistering heat and higher humidity. That combo can cause all sorts of problems: […]
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Videos:
Podcasts:
In this short podcast episode, Bryan covers why and how to test heat pump defrost during maintenance. Heat pumps need defrost because the outdoor coil absorbs heat in heating mode. Moisture collects and freezes on the coil during this process, and the rate at which it happens depends on the temperature and the amount […]
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In this live stream episode, Bryan sits down with Tony Gonzalez, who has spent more than 25 years at Fieldpiece and now leads the company’s training department. Tony started out packing boxes in the warehouse straight out of high school, and the two longtime industry veterans use his experience to dig into why culture […]
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In this short podcast episode, Bryan discusses electrical connections and whether tighter is better (or if a connection is tight enough to fail). Torque is a turning effect; force is applied at a distance from the screw’s center, and that force creates pressure at the connection. A quarter-turn doesn’t tell us how much force […]
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In this short podcast episode, Bryan talks about why your thermostat is reading the wall, not the actual air temperature. A thermostat is an instrument designed to read temperature (and sometimes humidity); it displays those readings based on sensors and makes decisions. Most of these sensors are thermistors, which are resistors that change resistance […]
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In this episode of the HVAC School Podcast, Bryan sits down with Chris Howells, senior training manager at AprilAire, to talk about what really makes a filtration system perform. Chris has nearly thirty years in the industry, including fifteen as a technician, and brings a field-first perspective on why filtration is more than just […]
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In this short podcast episode, Bryan talks about the fuse that only blows when you leave. The service call usually goes like this: you replace a blown fuse, the system runs fine, you leave, and then the fuse blows again. There could be several causes of a blown fuse. First, ask what was happening […]
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In this episode of the HVAC School Podcast, Bryan welcomes back Bill Spohn to talk about carbon monoxide and a troubling trend in the alarms being sold online. They start with the basics: the difference between a standard UL 2034 alarm and a true low-level CO monitor. UL 2034 alarms were designed to avoid […]
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In this short podcast episode, Bryan talks about what happens when you adjust the condenser airflow: you have the same charge, different numbers. This short covers HVAC condensers and flooded condensers in refrigeration applications. When you increase condenser airflow by repairing a condenser fan or washing the unit, the pressure and subcooling readings change […]
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Some people light up when they find a difficult electrical problem. Others want a wrench in their hand or take real satisfaction in a beautifully planned installation. Those differences can shape how we learn, what frustrates us, and where we find satisfaction in HVAC work. Bryan and Bert explore three overlapping tendencies in the […]
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