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HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Von: Bryan Orr
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HVAC School is the ever growing online source for real training topics for technicians in the Air-conditioning, Heating and Ventilation Fields. In the podcast, we will share recorded training, tech ride alongs, share challenging diagnostic scenarios. All to help make the industry, your company, and your truck a better place to be. Erfolg im Beruf Persönliche Entwicklung Persönlicher Erfolg Ökonomie
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  • HVAC Summer Service Calls: Rushing, Mental Fog & How to Stay on Your Game

    HVAC Summer Service Calls: Rushing, Mental Fog & How to Stay on Your Game
    Jul 16 2026
    In this episode, Bryan leads a live team meeting focused on getting technicians mentally and practically ready for the summer rush. He opens by asking the group to name what makes the season different, and the answers pile up quickly: higher call volumes, hotter attics, more irritable customers, and a nagging pressure to move faster than usual. Bryan distills these observations into a central theme that runs through the entire conversation — the tension between speed and thoroughness, and how the desire to rush during the busy season is the root cause of most costly mistakes and callbacks. A major thread of the discussion is the idea of "sharpening your ax" before the season's workload hits full force. Bryan pushes the team to build real confidence in their tools rather than assuming they work correctly. He walks through practical habits: verifying that a leak detector is properly calibrated, understanding its components well enough to troubleshoot it, and periodically checking a vacuum pump with a micron gauge so a technician instinctively knows what normal performance looks like. He also shares a story about a mentor named Howard Erskine, using it to illustrate how small, deliberate routines — from hose-rolling technique to truck organization — compound into real speed without sacrificing accuracy. The conversation then turns to drain lines and diagnostic philosophy, centered on Bryan's "wide, narrow, wide" framework. He explains that rushing tends to collapse a technician's focus into the narrow middle step — fixing only the immediate complaint — while skipping the wide assessment before and after the repair that catches secondary issues like sagging platforms, damaged insulation, or drainage problems before they become bigger failures. A detailed real-world example involving an oversized system in a heavily shaded, lakeside home shows how factors outside a standard load calculation, like mature trees and humidity, can explain why equipment isn't "keeping up" even when nothing is actually broken. Bryan closes by connecting these technical habits to business outcomes, urging technicians to fully document and resolve issues rather than telling clients to "keep an eye on it." He frames average ticket size, callback rate, and time on call as honest indicators of thoroughness rather than sales pressure, and encourages the team to lean into detailed measureQuick reports, thermal imaging, and clear client communication so that no problem gets punted down the road. He wraps up with an honest, encouraging note about the grind of the summer season, reminding the crew that the long hours are temporary and that consistent, unhurried practices are what ultimately make the season more profitable and less stressful. Topics Covered What makes the summer HVAC season uniquely difficult, from heat and call volume to mental fog and burnoutThe connection between rushing and increased callbacks, mistakes, and missed opportunities"Sharpening your ax" — preparing tools and routines before the busy season hitsProperly calibrating and understanding leak detectors, including the H10Using a micron gauge to verify vacuum pump performance and knowing when to change pump oilBuilding personal routines and truck ergonomics to work faster without losing accuracyCommon and costly drain line issues, including float switches, double traps, and pitch problemsThe "wide, narrow, wide" troubleshooting framework for full-system diagnosisA case study on an oversized system in a shaded, lakeside home and how site conditions affect loadHandling clients who report a system "not keeping up," including thermostat lookers vs. comfort-focused clientsUsing measureQuick reports and third-party verification to build client trustEvaluating ductwork, insulation, and equipment sizing as part of a full home assessmentWhy documenting a clear path forward beats telling clients to "keep an eye on it"Average ticket size, callback rate, and time on call as indicators of technician thoroughnessMaintaining a healthy mindset and work-life balance through the demands of summer Have a question that you want us to answer on the podcast? Submit your questions at https://www.speakpipe.com/hvacschool. Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 8th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium. Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android.
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    54 Min.
  • The House Always Wins! A Class On Building Science Basics - Short #294

    The House Always Wins! A Class On Building Science Basics - Short #294
    Jul 14 2026

    In this short episode from the Bry-X stage of the 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium, Tessa Murry gives a class on building science basics: The House Always Wins! Tessa is a building scientist who works with TEC.

    Tessa's class is about how the house puts HVAC contractors in difficult situations. When people have indoor air quality or comfort concerns, the HVAC often takes the blame, even if the issue is with the house. There are usually several little home improvement decisions that create unintended consequences and add up. In many cases, when there aren't exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms, moisture stays inside and can cause indoor condensation. Air-sealing, adding or removing insulation, replacing windows, replacing furnaces with a different efficiency model, and even moving people in can all affect comfort and air quality.

    Comfort issues and complaints, such as hot and cold spots, often point to issues with the house, not necessarily just the HVAC system. Pressure boundaries and thermal boundaries in the building envelope need to be aligned, continuous, and consistent for HVAC systems to do their job well, but many houses don't have that. Those boundaries need to be clear between attached spaces like attics or garages. Those spaces create problems with energy efficiency and comfort, and humidity is a problem in some climates. Garages also have fumes we want to keep out of the house.

    Heat moves from hot to cold, and air moves when there is a pressure differential. Mechanical equipment and wind can drive pressure differentials. If there is a pressure difference and a hole, there will be air movement. In the winter, cold air sinks and displaces warm air, which rises and creates positive pressure at the top of the house. That air will push through gaps around can lights, vents, and more. When that humid air gets into a cold attic, the moisture will condense on the roof decking surface and cause an ice dam to form. In the summer, hot, humid air comes into the structure. Regardless of the house's issues with air movement, it's on HVAC contractors to make the decisions that put the occupant's health and safety first, including calling the contractors with the knowledge to diagnose the house's problem.

    Have a question that you want us to answer on the podcast? Submit your questions at https://www.speakpipe.com/hvacschool.

    Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 8th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.

    Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android.

    Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

    Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android.
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    25 Min.
  • Compressor Failures, What and Why w/ Ty

    Compressor Failures, What and Why w/ Ty
    Jul 9 2026
    In this episode, Bryan sits down with compressor teardown specialist Ty Branaman for a deep dive into what really kills refrigeration and AC compressors. After some lighthearted banter, the conversation quickly turns technical: Ty has spent years cutting apart failed compressors on video, and he explains why that practice matters so much. As he puts it, he is "all about making the invisible visible" — once a technician actually sees what happened inside a dead compressor, vague explanations like "it just got old" stop holding up. Bryan and Ty establish that a properly maintained compressor should essentially last forever, since it is a sealed system with no external contaminants — unlike an engine. The catch is that installation and service mistakes introduce the very contaminants that shorten its life. Copper plating tops Ty's list of the most common findings: moisture combines with POE oil to form acid, which etches copper that then plates onto moving parts, thickening them and eventually causing hard starts that get mistaken for a "tired" compressor. They also trace how a shorted or seized compressor is usually the end result of an earlier root cause, not the cause itself. The two work through the major categories of contamination one by one: solid debris from unswept lines and copper shavings left behind during deburring; moisture, which requires a proper pressure test, deep vacuum, and decay test to remove, plus heat to actually drive water molecules out; and non-condensable gases like oxygen and nitrogen, which throw off pressure readings and, with flammable A2L refrigerants, introduce real fire risk. Ty shares a memorable story about a compressor shell that ripped open after being left pressurized with nitrogen, and both discuss the surprisingly common problem of "wet" nitrogen and poorly maintained recovery tanks. The conversation closes on flooded starts — a hazard Ty considers hugely overlooked — where migrated liquid refrigerant mixes with crankcase oil and violently flashes to vapor on startup, often shattering scroll plates. They cover practical prevention methods, including crankcase heaters, pump-down solenoids placed ahead of the metering device, and reduced refrigerant charges, before wrapping up with Ty's quick field technique for cutting the top off a failed compressor to get an on-the-spot diagnosis rather than waiting on a full teardown back at the shop. Topics Covered Why compressors fail from external contamination rather than simply "wearing out"Copper plating as the most frequently found problem inside failed compressorsSolid contaminants: dirt, copper shavings, and proper deburring techniqueMoisture control: pressure testing, deep vacuum, decay testing, and heat-assisted evacuationWet nitrogen and poorly maintained recovery tanksOxygen and nitrogen contamination, including flammability risks with A2L refrigerantsFlooded starts, crankcase heaters, and pump-down solenoidsSuperheat measured at the compressor versus at the evaporator outletTy's quick-cut technique for on-the-spot compressor diagnosis in the field Have a question that you want us to answer on the podcast? Submit your questions at https://www.speakpipe.com/hvacschool. Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 8th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium. Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android.
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    1 Std. und 16 Min.
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