The Runner and the HVACR Professional

For the record, I'm a runner. I didn't always used to be. In fact, when I was playing football and basketball, I looked at running not as a sport, but as something to be loathed. Despised. Hated. It was punishment for us because we lost by a certain score, didn't beat someone out on a play, etc. I think there is a part of my feet that will forever be permanently worn into the floorboards of the old indoor track upstairs at Loyola University of Chicago's Alumni Gym (that place was a sweatbox in the summer...that's why we always ran and played unofficial pickup games there).

Between the heat and the running, it was brutal. It was miserable. It certainly kicked my behind on more than a few occasions. But as I look back in hindsight, it also made me better. And almost ironically, now I love to run in the heat. I am not a huge fan of going outside when it's 45 degrees here in Chicago and trying to put in 10 miles. But if it's 90 and climbing, get me out by the lake and let me see if I can do 15+.

So just what does this have to do with HVACR in any remote manner? Like my loathing for running, many professionals I've met and spoken with would prefer to pass on attending seminars, training courses or workshops. This is perhaps because a.) they aren't working, and if their company isn't paying them while they train, it's valuable free time (which many of us don't have much of to begin with) they have to surrender; or b.) they would rather spend that time in the field staying on top of service calls and not getting behind. This is ESPECIALLY true during the busy summer months.

But when I was putting together an article on training and testing for the June 2011 RSES Journal, I took note of an interesting comment I heard from an HVACR professional who also serves as an instructor at a community college in southeastern Virginia. He noted that the HVACR industry was constantly changing, and "how can we ask our customers and students to never stop training if we are not willing to do so?"

As an example, tomorrow (June 4) RSES and its Central New York Chapter are teaming with Danfoss to put on a Natural Refrigerants Seminar. The program, which will have a focus on carbon dioxide, has attracted registrants from Missouri to Arkansas, and all points in between. We are hearing more and more about companies and industries exploring expanded use of C02, butane, ammonia, and other "natural" refrigerants. While these materials have always been used in the heat-transfer cycle, it appears the onus to put them into more widespread use is growing. And though it is true that these refrigerants must be handled very carefully (not that others shouldn't, but the toxicity/flammability issues with these are tremendous), they certainly aren't going away.

That hasn't been lost on the attendees going to tomorrow's seminar. It certainly hasn't been lost on the individuals that have been coming to training seminars held at RSES Headquarters in Des Plaines, IL (as well as at other locations around the country); and other organizations such as Emerson, Honeywell and Carrier have seen full-room turnouts at educational sessions they've held. What does this mean? It means that despite all the pain and suffering, industry professionals recognize the benefits of training. It makes them more employable. It makes their jobs easier. It makes them better. And it has them coming back time and time again.

The motto of "practice makes perfect" is true in many areas of life, from training for a marathon to preparing for a marathon day of service calls in 100-degree heat. But knowing that the training and continuing education helps make those calls a little shorter or a little easier is exactly why it is imperative HVACR service professionals never stop learning. And if you see that guy running by the side of the road waving at your service truck, feel free to wave back. I'll be glad to get home and step inside a cool room after I feel and enjoy the heat during that run.