Tech Tips

This article was written by Senior Refrigeration tech Jeremy Smith. Big thanks to Jeremy for his contributions to HVAC School and the tech community. Having spent many years in the trade and many years reading posts from techs on forums and social media, a big issue that I see is that troubleshooting is something of […]

As a technician gains skill, they will learn that regularly testing your tools is a huge part of success. It isn't long in the field before techs find out that just because a meter or gauge gives a particular reading, it doesn't ALWAYS mean it is correct. Vacuum is one of these areas. Everything in […]

The year was 1774, and a man named Tom traveled the Atlantic from England to visit his friend Ben in Philly. Tom was 37 years old, and he had already been through a failed business and lost his wife and child during childbirth. He was a troublemaker by some accounts—a free spirit at the very […]

This article (and many other great training articles) was written by my friend and great educator Jamie Kitchen. This article was originally posted on LinkedIn HERE and has been republished for your benefit with his permission. Thanks, Jamie! I remember back in college I was immersed in a particularly challenging problem dealing with poly-phase circuits. […]

I got a lot of comments that many of you discharge run capacitors with a voltmeter. I test this method vs. the capacitor discharge tool I created. Obviously, many of you use needle nose pliers or a screwdriver. While this is widely practiced, it could result in an arc, shock, or damage to the capacitor. […]

I was watching this video on the HVACR Videos channel by my friend Chris Stephens, and I was impressed by how completely he diagnoses the system both visually and with his tools. Take a look. I say this all the time, but a good, efficient technician is one who sees everything and can also quickly […]

When I first started in the trade, I used to advise customers with hot attics to install powered attic ventilators (PAVs) to “suck” that hot air out of the attic. It just made sense to me at the time; if the attic is hot, get the hot out! When I started learning more about design, […]

Many of us are aware that X13 and Fully variable motor failure has peaked over the last few years, and I'm sure there are multiple reasons for that. One of the reasons is fairly simple and can be traced back to two simple installation and service practices that can be easily implemented. Seal all air […]

When I started in the field, I was a 17-year-old helper with one year of tech school under my belt. In other words, I knew nothing. As I've mentioned before, a few experienced techs took me under their wings at different stages, but the most influential was a guy named Dave Barefoot. For whatever reason, […]