NTT Blog

Air Conditioning Service Advantages: Why Education is Important

As average global temperatures continue to rise worldwide, the importance of air conditioning cannot be overstated. In commercial settings, having a well-maintained HVAC system will play an ever more important part in not only ensuring safety and comfort, but also ensuring that a business can operate properly.

Many businesses, for instance, rely on maintaining cooler temperatures for the proper operation of machinery and delicate electronics. Other businesses require a finely tuned HVAC system to keep food, pharmaceuticals or chemicals in a cool environment to maintain freshness and stability.

HVAC Training: Who Should Take It?

The HVAC industry is always changing. For many decades, it was dominated by mechanical systems that were straightforward in operation. Today’s equipment has increasingly incorporated computerized systems in an effort to maximize efficiency and save fuel. It takes continuous training to stay on top of these changes and to know how to troubleshoot and fix them when something goes wrong.

Another significant change involves the phasing out of Freon, the refrigerant that was most widely used for many decades in commercial and residential HVAC systems. As this refrigerant, also known as R-22, is phased out, HVAC technicians are needing to stay abreast of new refrigerants as well as update equipment that can use the newer refrigerants.

Depending on how your business is structured, you may want to have some of your maintenance staff trained in case of HVAC emergencies. It is just a given that HVAC companies are sometimes scheduled far ahead dealing with emergencies as they arise, and you could find yourself having to wait precious days till you find a company that’s free to address your emergency — particularly during weather extremes.

Even if you do not have someone on your team responsible for the maintenance, repairs and installation of an HVAC system, training employees so that they are familiar with how the system works, so they can do some elementary troubleshooting and maintenance, is never a bad idea.

For instance, say your company’s air conditioner developed a refrigerant leak. It could be helpful if you have someone on staff who not only can find the leak, but also recharge the refrigerant. By law, technicians who handle refrigerant must be licensed. You may well decide that it’s valuable to your operation not only to have someone with a basic understanding and ability to troubleshoot, maintain and repair HVAC equipment, but also be a licensed technician. Taking a college course of study is one way to go about that.

If you’re running an HVAC business, you definitely want your workers to be up to date on latest best practices, techniques and innovations, so continuing education for your team will be a given. However, if you simply want some of your employees to acquire basic HVAC skills, a seminar could be the way to go.

Here are some types of employees who might benefit from taking an HVAC course or seminar:

• Electricians
• Building engineers
• Mechanics
• Plant and facility managers
• Maintenance technicians
• Environmental health and safety personnel
• Safety directors
• Owners and managers

HVAC Basics for Your Team

As already mentioned, working with some of the new refrigerants should be included in any training you arrange for your team, including provisions in the Clean Air Act that apply to refrigerants, and recovering, recycling and reclaiming refrigerants. Otherwise, make sure the basics are covered, such as these:

• Principles of air conditioning and refrigeration
• Troubleshooting and repair of the most common types of air conditioners, including older systems, as well as some of the newer computerized systems.
• Learning to work with typical HVAC tools and equipment, including manifold gauges, recovery machines, charging scales, leak detection and micron gauges, vacuum pumps.
• Environmental laws involving handling and disposal of refrigerants.

Students in a basic course on air conditioning should also learn about condensers, compressors and evaporators and how they work. They will also need to know about tools and test equipment, including gauge manifold assembly, electronic leak detector, clamp-on meters and multimeters.

Other topics that might be covered in a training are these;

• Piping and accessories, including tubing, liquid receivers, sight glass and filter driers
• Metering devices, including capillary tube length and size, and thermostatic expansion valves

Hands-on lab exercises, to ensure the students have incorporated the skills they will need to work in the field, might include these:

• Measuring super heat and sub cooling
• Recovering refrigerant
• Evacuating, or pulling a vacuum
• Performing a pump-down
• Working with service valves
• Installing, removing manifold gauge sets

HVAC is a complex field of study, requiring intensive education, study and hands-on training. One of the best ways to ensure your employees have top skills in this area is through a training led by professionals, So, contact NTT Training find out more about the HVAC: Air Conditioning and Refrigeration three-day seminar today for your place of business.

For more information about National Technology Transfer or any of our programs click here: http://www.nttinc.com or http://www.nttinc.com/seminar-list-catalog/.