AK HVAC chat in the Van🚐 (updates, podcasting and comfort zones)

[@brianmahoney154]

Dropped the hvac shoptalk podcast awhile ago. Really enjoyed Ralph and Zach. But for the longest time all I heard was hellos to everyone on the internet. Thought it was a lazy way to go and I went. I'll give it another shot now that you're onboard. Always watch your videos.

[@Tc-gt5vm]

I am right there with you feeling “dumb”... i too am jumping on the midnight combustion analysis train... I raise a glass to delivering the best service possible...

[@Rezcat-y6r]

Thank you again Andrew for your honesty. You can’t know everything. You are blessed that you work for a manufacturer that pays and sends you to school. There is stuff like combustion analysis that we service guys expected that our installers took care of and that we didn’t have to worry about that. NOT! We just needed to be concerned about heat exchangers and gas pressures. Like I’ve said before. Training is like dirty diapers. No matter how hard you try not to if you get involved. You’re going to get some on you. Thank you again. Have a great weekend. God bless.

[@AKHVAC]

Well said Blaze, thanks so much as always for your input and for watching!

[@HVACExtraordinaire]

Dude, I've commented on a few other of you vids. That bit about feeling uncomfortable not knowing and using that to learn is really they key to not only this career, but life in general.

[@AKHVAC]

thanks so much for the comment and for watching Patrick!

[@Rezcat-y6r]

Hey Patrick! I’ve taken down quite a few step down transformers and given away quite a few hours in what I didn’t know. That’s part of the trade. How many times have you started down the wrong rabbit hole to trouble shoot and then in another instance it ended up being the right rabbit hole. Gotta love this trade. Best of success in your journey. God bless.

[@HVACExtraordinaire]

Blaze Eisner oh, it's hard to even say? It's not that often, but every once in a while. If it's the wrong idea it won't feel right because it's not responding the way you hoped, so that changes the thinking pretty quick. Experience is a great teacher, especially experiencing mistakes.

[@mikeclark1756]

AK , I think its awesome that you and Zach teamed up . Adding your HVAC knowledge ( commercial and Industrial HVAC) just made the Pod cast a million times better ( hey what can I say I'm a big fan of AK HVAC). Oh , and Bro you got to tell what that Fluke meter probe is called . You just did a Instagram vid on it . The one you said would be great for checking wires on molex connectors.

[@AKHVAC]

Mike Clark thanks so much dude. The box the lead came in said “AC39” for a number, but I can’t find much online with that number. They are called the fluke insulation piercing lead👍. And yes, it works amazingly.

[@AKHVAC]

Correction it’s “AC89”

[@g.martinez2871]

Shop Talk! Whoop Whoop!

[@royamberg9177]

Things change constantly. Trying to keep up is very difficult. Education never stops

[@noblesks5769]

Hey, great content. I think you speak well about many aspects of industry, articulate. I’m very new to the technical of HVAC Refrigeration. Still first quarter at Tech college. I’ve been in construction, production welding and multi family residential maintenance for 20 years now and HVAC has gotten my attention! Still formulating an exit plan (from school next year) and my thoughts were to cut my teeth in commercial service first if possible. You’ve covered a lot in your industry overview video but was curious about the fastest way to learn right out of school: New construction/installation, service, residential or manufacturing? Union apprenticeship? I know I’ll be green as in industry but feel my work background has given me a head start. I have to remain humble and teachable though, I am that 37 year old NEWB, so in your opinion; what’s an ideal experience cramming part of industry? Thank you for your insight and willingness to share with the rest of us. Have a great day

[@drifter436]

Man they still raising tobacco there? I have not seen a patch around here in forever. I lived in a tobacco patch as a kid, last time i was in one i was 17 yrs old(45 now) and we had out 20 acers. thanks for the memories. Great video.

[@AKHVAC]

The tobacco is EVERYWHERE, thanks for watching!

[@hvacslayer2929]

You work on some critical applications stuff I’d probably never come across sucks you can’t record your work but it is what it is. I couldn’t record any of my equipment either with out getting spotted, I could record some side work residential but I think we got enough guys on KZbin already covering that.

[@soundninja0]

I was on a new job site earlier this week on a service call and I couldn't figure out why I was continuously getting power to the RTU even with the disconnect off. Then I opened it up and saw that someone there before me had jumpered out the disconnect instead of replacing it so that the unit got constant power. I left the job site. I dont know what else these people have done on that roof. Told my office to send someone else and explained the situation...not putting my life at risk cus of hacks! True story.

[@mhoush]

I did a little bit of combustion testing on / off, until the last year or two where I do it on every gas appliance I service. I feel it's helped deepen my knowledge of how the systems operate and what effects the operations, I've also found a scenario recently where an appliance operated at higher CO levels in stack than I was comfortable with at the recommended gas pressure, while there's lots of safeties etc. it made me think of how a tech could leave an appliance running in an unsafe manor all while doing his job and having good intentions. Sorry for the rambling, keep up the great work!

[@AKHVAC]

As always thanks for your input and support!

[@hilikus4530]

Good chat bro

[@johnd4348]

Hell I took off 7 days and other techs got pissed because they had to pull 2 extra days of being on call. First time I have taken off in 8 months. I pull extra on call all the time. I have over 600 hours of overtime already this year alone. Can't wait to retire from this trade. Really not fun any more. A fellow tech I use to work with just got a stationay engineer job pulling down 90 k a year with ant on call duty and week ends off and 5 weeks vacation time to start. He has 8 years experience in HVAC field. I must have went down the wrong road some where. Just venting I quess. Glad you had a good time. Everyone needs it.

[@NorCal-refrigeration]

John D back in the day vacation was October- April only in 20 years I took one. Lol but true.

[@johnd4348]

@@NorCal-refrigeration I hear you . I try to take mine after October when it gets cooler, but had to take off due to family sickness . The first 14 years of my career I did not take any vacation time. needed the money more than the time. Now that I am older the Company can just do with out me. Life is too short to work all the time. I am on call year round. We do not get off on week ends or holidays at my company. We are required to be on call year round due to crappy management. None has ever been in the field. And we don't get paid to be on call. No extra compensation . And they took all bonus away . Starting to believe they will take our pay away soon.

[@user-xr4kf2ln9z]

@@johnd4348 sounds like you should do your own thing or send out resumes. There's always a better job out there no need to settle

[@HVACRSurvival]

@@johnd4348 Is the a reason you have stayed there this long? If it's that bad move on.

[@NorCal-refrigeration]

John D I got a stationary job back 2013. That’s my main job, with all the vacation and sick time, and I have my business for after work. It’s a great move as we get older.

[@jasonaguilar4929]

Good introduction

[@winkhvac62]

Very good chat buddy

[@SombraLocs]

I always enjoy your videos. Are you still doing the hvacomedy?

[@channelcatchaser9426]

Combustion tools are expensive. I’d like to get one someday.

[@void-_-9420]

You should do Hvac 101 vid

[@nugent5438]

Nice to hear from you again! I asked before, but I was wondering how you get around filming you company name (assuming that’s something you do intentionally). I am an industrial (and heavy commercial) boiler/burner/controls tech. I am thinking of starting my own channel, but was curious how you are able to keep you company name (and customer names) out of you videos. I assume it’s all in post, but I am not sure.

[@AKHVAC]

Shoot me an email at [e-mail] and I can talk about that with ya man!

[@nugent5438]

Hey man, I sent that email a couple weeks ago. I’ll send it again just to make sure. I have been shooting footage over the last couple days during some calls. I hope to get the channel up in a few weeks. Thanks again!

[@robertwalsh7494]

What part of Connecticut? I live in new haven. Grew up in Guilford.

[@AKHVAC]

Robert Walsh Middletown!

[@StephenRardon]

Dang IT man that beard is BEAUTIFUL!

[@HVACRSurvival]

Are you doing any repair videos anymore? Seems like a talk show nowadays? Love to see some more chillers and industrial stuff. Great videos, love your energy level and showmanship otherwise.

[@AKHVAC]

Thanks for the comment, my channel’s content is organic to whatever my schedule or work locations allow. My guess is the reason there are next to zero chiller/industrial focused channels is because it’s rarely an ideal environment. During times of longer periods in facilities I can’t film in reasonably, I create content like this to stay in touch. Example, back in February I got in trouble at work because a customer saw footage that I had posted. I have to be very careful now about selecting those opportunities.

[@HVACRSurvival]

@@AKHVAC Yeah, there's very little on chillers or large Industrial stuff. We do a lot of work on them but because those jobs pay more and most of my experiences in the Light commercial residential world along with all the other stuff I shoot video of they try to keep me there. Which kind of sucks because I came here to get into the big stuff. I can fully understand what you're saying. Thanks for replying, don't take what I asked in anyway negative, you do great videos!

[@thehvachacker]

Without doing a combustion test how do you set up or test on maintenance a power flame burner? Whether you need to open or close the air baffle. Won't know how a resi unit is burning to full efficiency. You will figure it out. Many techs use it without understanding the science, just to hand in a printout of there test. Need to make sure Co2, oz, and flue temps are within manufacturers specs.

[@AKHVAC]

I do and have done the tests, what I was saying is I would LIKE to further understand the science rather than go through the motions. Hearing him speak so effortlessly on the science of it was what I was saying will drive me to learn to speak on it as eloquently myself. Thanks for watching!

[@thehvachacker]

This isn't an attack it is for everyone reading my question/ post to think about. Most of us go through the motions with a combustion analyzer cause we are told to use them on startups. Once we learn how to use the analyzer as a troubleshooting tool and how to correct issues it becomes an important tool. We are all students in this field. I get too comfortable often. Then a difficult call pops up. I enjoy a call that kicks my ass, makes me take the gloves off and adds experience for next time I run into a similar situation. Hard for one to become a better tech if one doesn't find themselves in difficult situations. Its why when offered I will go to any factory training. Just did 2 days last week at Trane. 20 years in this field I may only know 1/10th of the information about this trade. Every day is a learning experience.

[@AKHVAC]

The HVAC Hacker I know it wasn’t an attack, that’s why your comment got a ❤️. I concur and agree with your sentiment. Thanks for sharing!

[@leifhoganson4554]

The real question is it burning safely, a furnace can appear to operate properly and produce extremely dangerous amount of CO, had on a couple of weeks ago, burners where miss aligned producing over 400 ppm. But with out combustion testing it looked great. Makes you wonder my Boss demands ever gas fired piece of equipment maintained or operation restored has combination testing be done.

[@jameswagoner8456]

Just started a course for hvac with uei. I am learning disabled and not good at math. Can anyone give me a simplied ohms law equations

[@edwardhvacr4815]

What town are you from CT .

[@AKHVAC]

Edward Hvacr middletown

[@jonathanvigil1273]

Just thinking that you might have received some good feedback if you would asked for permission to film your work away from the school kids. They are educators after all and you are providing some education for those of us interested in this trade. Next time show them a video, you might even pick up a few more followers and inspire someone to do something Similar. You do a great job!

[@HVACShopTalk]

NIce video, I do enjoy the podcast as well.......

[@NorCal-refrigeration]

HVAC Shop Talk Podcast what’s a pod cast. ???

[@HVACShopTalk]

I get that a lot. It’s the hottest idea since the wheel

[@clintglasgow5633]

👍

[@NorCal-refrigeration]

Jacket on ?

[@AKHVAC]

Nor-Cal Refrigeration & H.V.A.C 40’s-50’s this week!

[@NorCal-refrigeration]

AK HVAC oh man I’ll be in the 70’s.

[@harrydickson4575]

👍👍

[@natewalker7064]

I can’t record 90% of my work

[@jasonaguilar4929]

🤣🤣🤣

[@MG19100]

first