The wind vane has broken and is dangling over the bow…

[alnelson]

Mine is the same way ec. Filled with posts from a year ago with no recent responses.

[davejohnsonnola]

I am relatively new to the service end of this field after 30 years spent mostly front of house in the hospitality industry.

 

Have enjoyed learning while lurking and reading your responses here and in hvactalk forum.

 

Can you recommend any other sites or forums?

[ectofix]

Dave, thank you for your kind words – both here and elsewhere.

 

You’ve already tapped into the only two places that I know of that has a forum for commercial food equipment (CFE).  There are other HVAC/R forums, but none (that I’ve found) have set up a similar sub-forum.  Maybe somebody else knows of one.

 

I take it you’re fairly new at this, so I’ll throw a bunch of stuff out here.  Maybe helpful.  Maybe not.  Maybe someone else will gain something from it.  Nonetheless, so begins my barrage of babble…

 

Interest in this CFE field can be considered as being just a small extension of the HVAC/R service fields, due to similarities in equipment designs for providing heating or cooling.  Yet, I know many food equipment techs that have never gotten HVAC/R training, have never done any HVAC/refrigeration work…and never will.

 

On the other hand, I also know many truly trained HVAC/R techs who will avoid working on CFE as if it were the plague.  Some of the bold few of ’em will still go there in order to offer better customer service and be assured of future work.

 

As for MY own training?  (although you didn’t ask)

I received formal CORE technical training during my military years –  primarily on electrical power generation equipment – with just a cursory overview on mobile air-conditioning (ground support for airplanes).  My twenty-year military occupation kept me focused mainly on the electrical stuff.  I even got to teach it for several years.  Then I retired.

So…like many who do this stuff, I never went through a full-fledged HVAC/R school either.

 

Entering the civilian sector brought me to doing CFE.  With no particular field of expertise in mind (other than military aviation support equipment), a CFE service company interviewed and hired me eighteen years ago.  Initially, I just did hot-side.  I DID attend some manufacturer’s factory service training and a few seminars.  All of those were EXTREMELY beneficial.

I took on the cold-side several years later.

 

I don’t know what training YOU’VE have, so I’ll recommend getting all that you can.

 

Gaining an intimate knowledge of electricity is particularly important in this field.  With THAT…and along with a knack for fixing stuff and getting several months of ride-along time with a seasoned tech – once they set you free to be on your own, you’re well on your way to confronting new challenges almost daily.

 

That’s tantamount to being a eventually great technician within this CFE field.  Expect that you’ll always be challenged by yet ANOTHER “something” you’ve never seen before – and so yet AGAIN, you get the opportunity to learn something new today.  It keeps you on your toes and wanting to master it.

 

I suggest indulging in ALLOT of reading.  Read & study books… for instance, on say – Electrical Theory.  Once you got what can get from it, find ANOTHER book on the same subject…to see it all again from differing perspectives on the topic.

Do the same for ANY technologies that are new to you…or you don’t understand…or have questions about it.  Look for answer on new stuff.  Dedicate some defined off-time for doing this.  You’re FAR better prepared for the next time.

You’ll also want to eventually become knowledgeable on applicable regulatory topics.  OSHA.  NFPA. NEC. FDA.  Etc.  Those organizations are all VERY broad in their scope, but they all touch upon CFE functions and proper maintenance, so you only need to know how each applies. 

 

I also do certainly suggest tapping into the manufacturer’s websites.  Go to them, learn to navigate them and see what they do offer (or don’t) as technical information.  Everytime you learn of another manufacturer (which there are HUNDREDS of), write the name down, go home and research their website.

 

Also put yourself together a list of manufacturer’s tech support phone numbers.  Do NOT be reluctant in calling them while on a job site.

Even after my fourteenth (and last) year doing field service work (I’m in-house now), I called at least one manufacture a day for tech support (THANK YOU for cell phones).  Bear in mind that you are the eyes and ears standing in front of the equipment and they can fill in that void of knowledge you’re needing about the equipment.  Whatever time you’re spending bumbling around trying to understand “what the heck” is going on…can quickly be explained and resolved through a simple phone call the manufacturer.

 

That’s all I have to say right now.  AGAIN…insofar as there being other forums or on-line resources to learn from, there really isn’t much.  However, I hope I’ve given you (and anyone else entering this trade) some directions on places to go and things to do.

 

So with that, be ready to get dirty, grungy, greasy, stinky, sweaty and to spring a few leaks (of blood) during your repair efforts.  Always be on the lookout for appropriately-sized CLEAN boxes to flatten and sit upon…when needing to hunker down on the floor in front of their broken fryer.

It’ll seem like chaos when you’re called there when there’s a full, Friday night dining room, but don’t be afraid to put a claim on your territory by telling the frantically busy and bustling kitchen staff to NOT attempt USING the fricken fryer that you’re working on…since IT DON’T WORK anyway!

 

By the way.  If you have to run to the truck for tools/parts, telling them to NOT walk on your clean/flattened box is pointless.  Lean it upright against the unit or pigeon-hole it somewhere if you want to avoid their tarnishing it with greasy/wet footprints.

[davejohnsonnola]

Once again, your reply is insightful and thorough.

 

I got an associate degree in HVACR in the late 1980s from a community college that was closing down it’s program and was taught by a fossil who said we’d never have to learn about recycling refrigerant,  “cause all that ozone layer crap is just propaganda put out by the commies”. The few pieces of lab equipment that were functional were WWII surplus. Took that scrap of paper degree and tried to apply it to a real university for mechanical engineering but differential calculus convinced me to stay in the hospitality industry.

 

I was young, tips were good, and the bar business in New Orleans was a blast. Wound up working in the same 1200 room hotel for over 23 years in a variety of beverage operations until Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the federal levee system put an end to that.

 

I’ve mostly done my own automotive and home repairs over the years. Not always in the most efficient or cost effective manner, but always with a hard head and stubbornness. I’ve often spent more $ on tools to do a particular job than it would have been to pay someone else to do it professionally and in half the time.

 

The past 11 years have been employed six months out the year at a horse racing track. 500 set restaurant, seven bars, seven concession stands, in the grandstand, four kitchens, walk in fridges/freezers and ice machines spread out over. I am not officially a maintenance person, much less a technician. I’m just the guy who runs the loading dock and does inventory controls, who happens to be handy and has a few tools in his truck parked out back.

 

My corporate employer apparently would rather pay service providers weekend and emergency call out fees instead of  in house employee benefits or preventive maintenance costs for equipment. Go figure. I can’t.

 

I generally receive panic calls during the middle of rush hour from minimal wage seasonal concessions employees who are not trained on the equipment they operate or have the least inclination to care about if they damage it. I try to triage and minimize the calls for service due to operator errors and obvious cords unplugged or valves shut off. If it is something I don’t know what I’m doing or looking at, will note the make and model information, take photos, and call to schedule the appropriate service provider. Before the techs come, I try to have product removed or otherwise have the area around the equipment clear. Yeah, I am your cardboard box provider as well.

 

A few years ago started putting together an inventory of the equipment’s model numbers and .pdfs of service and installation manuals. Put the refrigeration equipment on a schedule of condenser filter replacement and cleanings. Want to get into cleaning the ice machines on a regular basis. This is really not part of my job description, just something that caught my fancy and I try to squeeze in during my down time at the track.

 

This past year enrolled online at:

Learn Appliance Repair Online with Master Samurai Tech

am finishing the fundamentals course and beginning the advanced schematics course.

Also spend a couple of hours or more a day with youtube, khan academy or any other free online educational resource, not all CFE related. Also have interests in solar energy, LED conversions, automation controls and permaculture.

 

The other six months out of the year I piddle on my farm in Costa Rica.

Need to figure out a way to make money down there. Slowly moving my tools down every off season. Eventually want to be the overpaid handyman for rich gringos and clueless bar operators down there year round.

[alnelson]

That’s really cool Dave.

 

Hopefully your employer appreciates the great service you are doing for them.

[davejohnsonnola]

The F&B director does, and has tried to convince me to stay year round forever. Gives me a lot of free rein and appreciation.

 

At this stage of life I might not like it so much if I had to do it 50 weeks/ year!

[fixbear]

Dave, go to a refrigeration supply house and look for a RSES pamphlet on the counter. If you don’t see one, Ask. The will know when they meet and have contact numbers and the location for there meetings. They hold training seminars at every  meeting and the ability to get certifications in a lot of different parts of refrigeration and electrical.

They will also keep you advised of Manufactures training in you area. If you join they have a great magazine.

I would also recommend buying a copy of Modern refrigeration and read it. You will find all kinds of views from most everyone around, but having the knowledge of how something works and why the manufacturer made it that way will provide you with a insight to correctly diagnose problems and make corrections. After 50 years plus of working at this, 80% of the tech’s out there do not understand the core principles of the refrigeration industry. Especially defrost .