John Pastorello

When tightening down a blower wheel or a fan blade on a motor shaft, ONLY tighten it on the flat of the shaft. That flat is machined into the shaft on purpose. It gives the set screw a face to bite into instead of a curve to slide off of. On most residential motors, it […]

How does a typical single-phase motor know how fast to run? Typical induction motors depend on the electrical cycle rate of the incoming power (measured in hertz) for their speed. Our power in the US makes one complete rotation from positive electrical peak to positive peak 60 times per second, or 60hz (50hz, or 50 […]

Relays can be used for many different control applications, including controlling fans, blowers, other relays, contactors, valves, dampers, pumps, and much more. A 90-340 is a very common, versatile relay that many techs have on their truck, so we will use it as an example. A relay is just a remotely controlled switch that opens […]

 In this short podcast episode from AHR Expo 2026, Bryan sits down with John Pastorello for a discussion about the latter’s lifetime of HVAC/R. John was a chemist and an HVAC technician before founding Refrigeration Technologies in 1987, and he received the HVAC Tactical Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. Prior to entering the trade, […]

John Pastorello from Refrigeration Technologies joins us to talk about testing oil and refrigerant for contamination. He also explains what each test is good for. John developed the Checkmate testing kit when he recognized a need to test reclaimed and recycled R-12 for acid and moisture. The Checkmate method removed a small amount of refrigerant […]

John Pastorello from Refrigeration Technologies is back on the podcast to talk about leak detection procedures from start to finish. Big Blu was what started the Refrigeration Technologies empire. John developed Big Blu to create a bubble leak detector with a higher sensitivity to leaks than any other bubble test solution on the market. Big […]