HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

This short podcast is from the Bry-X stage of the 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium: Cheryl Klein's "Surge Protection for HVAC." Cheryl is with DITEK, a veteran-owned company based in Florida, and has extensive knowledge of whole-home surge protection and HVAC-specific surge protectors.
HVAC systems may have their lifespans reduced by power surges (tens of thousands of volts within microseconds) or sustained overvoltage. Surge protectors specifically protect the equipment from power surges, though DITEK manufactures products that help manage sustained overvoltage (and undervoltage, which surge protectors CANNOT protect against). Nearby lightning strikes and high voltage from the utility company (especially after undervoltage) are common causes of surges. Everyone in the country has risks of power surges, but some areas are exceptionally high-risk, whether due to utility causes or climate (lightning storms).
Degradation is the invisible damage that occurs over time with repeated surges. Destruction can be associated with a specific event, like a direct lightning strike or a blown transformer. Surge protection helps with both; when a surge comes through, the surge protector directs the surge to ground instead of your HVAC equipment. DITEK uses thermally protected MOVs (TPMOVs) to redirect the surge; TPMOVs react to surges and change from a low-impedance state to a high-impedance state, effectively pointing the surges to ground, and only a clamped voltage makes it to the HVAC equipment. However, surge protectors will degrade with each event; DITEK's surge protectors have LEDs indicating their health.
NEC 2020 requires surge protection on all dwellings, so many homeowners have whole-home surge protection already installed. Surge protection on the HVAC unit can still be added as an extra layer, which provides better protection for the HVAC system specifically. HVAC surge protection works at the condenser.
DITEK's KoolGuard2 (KG2) is a voltage monitor that works on single-phase equipment under 40 continuous amps. It cuts power if the power exceeds or dips too far below the typical voltage, and then it restores power after three minutes. It also does not require programming, but it has a few best practices, such as reducing lead length to improve the clamping voltage and keeping protected and unprotected wires in separate conduits. Ground must also be within code have low enough impedance to redirect the surges effectively; the resistance can only be measured properly with a megohmmeter or clamp meter. DITEK also has three-phase surge protection for commercial equipment and has options for BAS systems.
 
Learn more about DITEK's products and DITEK University at https://www.diteksurgeprotection.com/. 
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 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.
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In this special live panel session recorded at the 7th Annual HVAC/R Training Symposium, the three founders of Kalos Services — Bryan Orr, his father Robert (Bob) Orr, and uncle Keith Huntington — sit down together to celebrate the company's 20th anniversary and answer questions from the audience and online attendees. Hosted by Bert, the conversation blends humor, hard-earned wisdom, and surprising candor about what it actually takes to build and sustain a trades business over two decades. From humble beginnings with $100,000 in startup capital to managing multi-million-dollar commercial contracts today, the founders pull back the curtain on the messy, unpredictable, and deeply human reality of entrepreneurship in the skilled trades.
A recurring theme throughout the panel is that starting a business requires far more than technical skill — it demands grit, personal support, and an almost stubborn refusal to outspend your income. Bryan shares a raw, memorable story about living in a double-wide trailer with seven kids while Kalos was already nine years old, choosing to improvise a drainage workaround rather than take on debt he couldn't afford. The founders agree that the number-one ingredient for small business survival is grit — the ability to wake up the next morning after a terrible day and take the next step anyway. Robert adds a philosophical note that extreme negative emotions in business are almost never accurate; they pass, and tomorrow tends to look better than the night before suggested it would.
One of the most discussed topics in the panel is how to motivate technicians to care about quality — not just revenue targets. Bryan makes a pointed distinction: if you build a compensation system optimized purely for money, you attract people who are only motivated by money. Instead, he advocates building a culture where belonging is tied to quality of work. Practical tools like daily photo-posting of installs in Google Chat, public shout-outs for great work, and peer commentary create an environment where craftspeople hold each other to a standard — not because they're forced to, but because it's who they are. Keith echoes this, emphasizing that most technician frustration stems not from laziness but from unclear systems and expectations set by leadership. When people don't know what's expected, they disengage — and that's a leadership problem, not a people problem.
The panel also dives into the nuances of running a family business, with all three founders offering surprisingly candid takes. Keith notes that the key to 20 relatively friction-free years has been that all three founders are "120 degrees different" from each other — their strengths don't overlap, so they rarely fight over territory. Bryan adds that healthy family businesses require the ability to have real conflict for the sake of mission, not just harmony. He also speaks to the importance of organizational structure when family members are involved: his own son Gavin, at 21 years old, works at Kalos but reports through multiple layers of management precisely so Bryan doesn't micromanage him. The session closes with reflections on the riskiest moments in the company's history — and Bryan's honest admission that four weeks prior to the symposium ranked among the most stressful, as large promised contracts delayed in paperwork can shake even an established business to its core.
Topics Covered
Expanding HVAC services into electrical and plumbing — what technicians can realistically do and when to partner with specialists
The real prerequisites for going out on your own: craft knowledge, personal support system, and financial discipline
Why grit — not capital or credentials — is the single most important ingredient for small business survival
How to attract technicians who genuinely care about quality, not just technicians who chase commissions
Using internal tools like Google Chat to reinforce a culture of craftsmanship and peer accountability
The danger of building systems that look great on paper but don't survive contact with real-world field conditions
Advice on contractor mentoring programs — how to absorb outside coaching without losing your own identity and standards
Lessons from running a family business: complementary roles, honest conflict, and the importance of organizational separation
How Kalos Services grew from $100,000 in startup capital to a multi-trade general contractor over 20 years
The role of visionary vs. operator personalities in a founding team, and why both are essential
The founders' biggest career mistakes — including owning full responsibility for a six-figure grocery store power outage
Why private equity growth models don't translate to owner-operated trades businesses
Hiring to fill your weaknesses: from permitting to office management, delegating what you hate frees you to lead
Recommended training resources: HVAC School, Ty Craig / Skill Cat, Ruth King, ESCO, and Dirk Nauman
Why the riskiest stage of business is never behind you — it scales with the size of your contracts
 
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 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.
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This short podcast episode is Jeremy Begley's Bry-X session from the 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium: "Permanent Load Reduction in HVAC – The Hidden Driver of Long-Term Sales." 
Some common customer complaints we hear as HVAC contractors include high humidity, high electric bills, noise, and uncomfortable rooms. The typical HVAC solution is to change the equipment or ductwork, such as by downsizing the unit, adding ancillary dehumidification, or modifying the ductwork. If we can't solve the problem, the customer will ultimately choose a different contractor, no matter how hard we try to modify the HVAC system. However, we may be able to use our thorough load calculations to turn our attention to the building and find ways to reduce the overall loads. We expose problems with the structure and can solve them with permanent load reduction strategies, rather than the equipment and ductwork modifications, and serve customers better while earning more money.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) drive money in a business, and ServiceTitan has identified five KPIs closely linked to profit: callbacks, first-time fix rate, warranty claims, comfort complaints, and average ticket. Callbacks are often driven by comfort complaints, which may occur when we modify equipment but not the envelope and vice versa. Warranty claims occur when the equipment can't work as well or efficiently as intended, such as when the load doesn't match the equipment and strains the unit. When we solve these problems, we become trusted advisors and increase customer satisfaction. The customer will continue to work with a company that solves their problems and will recommend HVAC businesses to their family and friends, which also drives sales. 
Permanent load reduction requires us to understand load calculations thoroughly, but it's a means for HVAC companies to control outcomes. It requires a mindset change, but when we control system outcomes and increase customer satisfaction, we earn trust and earn more sales in return.
 
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 7th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.
Subscribe to our podcast on your iPhone or Android.
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Check out our handy calculators here or on the HVAC School Mobile App for Apple and Android.

In this long-awaited live episode of HVAC School, host Bryan Orr reunites with three industry veterans — Jim Bergmann of measureQuick, Roman Baugh (Kalos), and Andrew Greaves of NAVAC — to tackle one of the most pressing and underaddressed challenges in modern HVAC: performing refrigerant recovery and system evacuation in extreme cold-weather conditions. The conversation was sparked by a real-world observation from technician Chris Hughes, who relocated from Louisiana to Minnesota and quickly discovered just how different — and difficult — cold-climate HVAC work can be. What follows is an honest, science-heavy, and often humorous deep dive into a problem the industry has largely ignored.
The episode centers on the growing prevalence of cold-climate heat pumps, especially inverter-driven systems capable of operating at extremely low outdoor temperatures. As these systems become the primary heating source in cold regions, technicians are increasingly being called to make repairs — and perform evacuations — in sub-zero conditions. The group walks through why this is such a challenge, examining the fundamental physics that make pulling a proper vacuum nearly impossible once temperatures drop below 40°F. The conversation draws heavily from refrigeration science principles that, as Jim Bergmann bluntly points out, were largely left out of HVAC trade education over the past several decades.
One of the most compelling moments of the episode is Andrew Greaves' introduction of the "heat provocation test," a term he coins on the spot to describe a technique for verifying whether moisture has truly been removed from a system by observing micron gauge behavior after applying external heat to cold-soaked components. This sparks a rich debate between Jim and Andrew about where moisture actually concentrates in a system — in the line set vs. the outdoor unit — and whether heat can realistically reach those areas in a real-world installation. The panel ultimately agrees that heat is the only viable tool when you absolutely must complete a job in cold conditions, but that prevention and scheduling remain the gold standard.
The episode closes with a fascinating dive into the phase diagram of water, specifically the concept of the "triple point" and how it governs moisture behavior at low pressures. Andrew uses a whiteboard diagram to explain why, below 4,500 microns, moisture can only exist as vapor or solid — not liquid — and why that makes sublimation the only removal pathway when heat is absent. Jim adds nuance by describing the self-refrigerating cycle that occurs during deep vacuum pulls, a phenomenon that makes the problem progressively worse the deeper you pull without adding heat. The group wraps up with practical field takeaways and a promise to revisit the topic, including the potential role of nitrogen purging and triple-evacuation techniques in cold-weather scenarios.
Topics Covered
The rise of cold-climate heat pumps and why they demand refrigerant work during cold seasons
Why evacuation becomes extremely difficult — or impossible — below 40°F ambient temperature
The physics of moisture removal: heat energy, vapor pressure, and molecular movement
Jim Bergmann's real-world demonstration pulling a vacuum to 135 microns on a wet system and still failing the decay test
Andrew Greaves' "heat provocation test" — using external heat sources to verify dryness after evacuation
The debate over where moisture concentrates: outdoor unit vs. line set
Why mini-split manufacturers don't allow permanent desiccant dryers — and workarounds using temporary bypass configurations
VRF systems and how shell dryers can be temporarily added and then removed post-evacuation
The self-refrigerating cycle: how pulling a vacuum on ice makes the system progressively colder and more resistant to drying
Phase diagram of water: the triple point (~4,580 microns) and why liquid water becomes unstable below it
Why sublimation is the only moisture removal pathway below the triple point
Gibbs free energy and its role in determining which phase (solid, liquid, vapor) a substance will occupy
Hot nitrogen purging as a method for carrying moisture out of open line sets
Push-pull recovery technique to maximize refrigerant removal in cold conditions
The challenge of vapor recovery in cold weather — leaving multiple pounds of refrigerant behind
Practical field solutions: insulated tarps, portable propane heaters, belly band heaters, heat guns
Dry ice cold-trap brainstorm as a creative moisture capture method
The dual-fuel argument: why Jim advocates for backup heating as the real long-term solution
How rapid industry growth in the mid-20th century led to mechanics being trained instead of engineers, losing foundational science in the process
Why this topic matters more now than ever as cold-climate compression refrigeration becomes mainstream
 
You can watch the original livestream on YouTube HERE.
Learn more about the book Review of Vacuum for Service Engineers or purchase it from TruTech Tools.
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 7th 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.

Training the refrigeration technician is about building technicians who think, not just fix. In this engaging conversation from the 7th Annual HVAC/R Training Symposium, host Trevor Matthews sits down with Billy Carlson to explore what it really takes to develop technicians who think critically and troubleshoot effectively.
Billy shares his journey in the HVAC/R industry, from residential air conditioning to commercial refrigeration, and ultimately specializing in supermarket rack systems and CO2 refrigeration. With only five years in the grocery sector, his company now dedicates 70-80% of its work to refrigeration, with 40% focused on rack systems. This rapid transition offers valuable insights for contractors looking to expand into commercial refrigeration.
Key Topics Covered:
Building Technicians, Not Just Fixers - Why understanding component flow, P&IDs, and electrical diagrams is crucial for developing thinking technicians rather than parts changers
CO2 Refrigeration Training - Billy's honest account of learning CO2 systems, including challenges with dry ice formation, charging procedures, and system tuning
Supermarket Rack Work - The unique pressures and rewards of maintaining systems that hold entire stores, including HFC and CO2 racks with multiple compressors
Effective Training Methods - Billy's approach to teaching his five-person team, from component identification to reading refrigeration schedules and understanding sequence of operations
Fine-Tuning Systems - Insights on slowing down ramp rates, adjusting flash tank pressure, and the importance of proper startup commissioning time
Controls & Communications - Why modern refrigeration technicians need to understand networking, gateways, and digital controls alongside traditional refrigeration knowledge
Billy emphasizes that patience and willingness to ask for help are essential traits for anyone entering supermarket refrigeration. He shares practical tips on charging CO2 systems, avoiding dry ice in lines, working with VFDs, and reading trend graphs to optimize system performance.
Whether you're a residential tech considering commercial refrigeration, a trainer developing curriculum, or a service manager building a team, this conversation offers real-world wisdom on creating technicians who understand the "why" behind every repair.
 
Check out Refrigeration Mentor at https://refrigerationmentor.com/.  
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 7th 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.