No more turning wrenches at work

[Chillerman]

I've worked at my current position for almost 20 years, servicing centrifugal and screw chillers. A chiller is a large piece of equipment that makes cold water for air conditioning and process cooling. They have motors, gears, transmissions, refrigerant and control systems that require periodic maintenance. The work can be very physical and I have already had injuries that required surgery on my back and knee.

So, looking into the future, I decided I needed to try to make a career change before it was too late (I turn 45 this summer). I applied and interviewed for an engineering position within my company (worldwide HVAC manufacturer) and found out last week that I had been given the job 

No more turning wrenches for me! I will now be giving technical support to technicians and offices around the country and traveling to sites in the Western region that have issues that cannot be solved over the phone and will have input to the design and manufacturing of new equipment.

Hopefully this new job will get me through the next 20 years and I will have more time to ride the Valk! Going from hourly to salaried and from union to non-union will be a challenge, but one I look forward to.

Here are some pictures of a SMALL chiller I had to take apart to install in a building and then put back together again. I'm still sore from this job 

[Skinhead]

Congrats!  I hope it works well for you.

[Gary]

Congrats on the new position.

Keep in mind, a "salaried" position doesn't necessarily mean less hours.

In my field it usually translates to no more overtime and now more gratis hours (after hours, weekends and holidays can apply).  Some instances of comp time apply but less and less as the $$ belt tightens. 

[Chillerman]

Congrats on the new position.

Keep in mind, a "salaried" position doesn't necessarily mean less hours.

In my field it usually translates to no more overtime and now more gratis hours (after hours, weekends and holidays can apply).  Some instances of comp time apply but less and less as the $$ belt tightens. 

I'm not expecting less hours, I will actually be working more, 60+ hours a week (although it won't be like real work!). I will have more off time though. A month of vacation and 12 paid holidays to start 

[Willow]

Congratulations!   

[Tundra]

Congratulations, you are fortunate to have the opportunity within the same company when your body says "it's time for a change"

[Spirited-6]

Guy, you don`t know how much that I want you to come out on top on this. I love sucucess storys that work out.   

[Chillerman]

Congrats!  I hope it works well for you.

Congratulations, you are fortunate to have the opportunity within the same company when your body says "it's time for a change"

Congratulations!   

Thank you all for the support. Perhaps the days off will allow me to go to Inzane this year. I went to the Frisco Inzane for one day and met a few people but it was Sunday and folks were moving out.

[Chillerman]

Guy, you don`t know how much that I want you to come out on top on this. I love sucucess storys that work out.   

Thank you, I hope this turns out as well as I expect it to 

[jimmytee]

So ya still UA? 

[Chillerman]

So ya still UA? 

No, I will still pay my dues to keep my membership (Pipefitters Local 208) but I will be a non-union salaried employee.

[bigguy]

Congratulations!

[BF]

How many tons is that "small" compressor?

[old2soon]

Good on ya.  Long time ago I was doing building maint for an outfit and those pictures of the chillers brought back some memories.  And IF memory serves they were Carriers.  RIDE SAFE.

[Chillerman]

How many tons is that "small" compressor?

If you mean weight wise that compressor weighs 4000lbs. If you mean tons of refrigeration it is a 300 ton chiller. 

[sandy]

At Motorola in Phx, I worked at a site with 110 acres. Numerous buildings and all had chillers. One building had 4 - 2000 ton chillers that worked overtime in the summer.

[Chillerman]

At Motorola in Phx, I worked at a site with 110 acres. Numerous buildings and all had chillers. One building had 4 - 2000 ton chillers that worked overtime in the summer.

Like I said, the chiller I just put back together was a small chiller. I've had my share of 2000 ton chillers and want no part of those anymore! I overhauled two at the same data center and the compressors weighed 16000 lbs! We had to have a structural engineer come in and figure out how we were going to rig these things. It cost more to install the structural support than it did to overhaul the chillers 

I'm glad to be done with the heavy work.

[Charlie McCready]

From 1969-1974 I worked for National Geographic in Maryland taking care of AC equipment. I want to think the chillers we had were 800 ton Trane units. They were HUGE and pulling the heads to rod the tubes out was a real chore. A local machine shop fabricated a fixture to bolt to the chillers (we had two) and swing the heads out of the way to get to the tubes. I think they were about 21-22 feet long. Getting old and don't remember all the measurements other than BIG !!

Good luck with your new position.

[Robert]

Congtrates on the promotion and getting out of the field. But I do have a question for you, on a large house say 10000 to 12000 sq feet would a chiller system be better than regular ac units?

[Chillerman]

Congtrates on the promotion and getting out of the field. But I do have a question for you, on a large house say 10000 to 12000 sq feet would a chiller system be better than regular ac units?

An older 2500 sq foot home usually would require a 4 1/2 to 5 ton unit. So figuring 12000 sq feet would be somewhere around 20-25 tons of cooling a chiller wouldn't make any sense (unless you were cooling the whole block  ). They do make smaller capacity chillers  but running the electrical and water lines would be cost prohibitive. Several split systems would probably be a better bet.

[Chillerman]

Here is a 1500 ton chiller that I overhauled on a ship. Talk about a rigging nightmare! I was hanging things from pipes.

[BF]

How many tons is that "small" compressor?

If you mean weight wise that compressor weighs 4000lbs. If you mean tons of refrigeration it is a 300 ton chiller. 

Yes, in tons of ref. 

I operate and maintain three, 330 ton York units for close to a 1000 tons or refrigeration combined.  Each has one hi stage and a low stage compressor, two intercoolers (a high and a low), one condensor, a desuperheater, a surge tank and two ref pumps.....running on R22.  It's a wet system pumping ref to either a couple different coils (in plenums) or several different heat exhangers (HX's having either CACL or R30 in them).....depending on what I need to cool and where. 

I use them to freeze airplanes.   

[jimmytee]

So ya still UA?  

No, I will still pay my dues to keep my membership (Pipefitters Local 208) but I will be a non-union salaried employee.

I was local 440 for many years.  I also worked for Carrier at one time ,out of Indianapolis. Have moved on only work on a few screws here and there now. Do more unitary work and controls.

[Chillerman]

How many tons is that "small" compressor?

If you mean weight wise that compressor weighs 4000lbs. If you mean tons of refrigeration it is a 300 ton chiller. 

Yes, in tons of ref. 

I operate and maintain three, 330 ton York units for close to a 1000 tons or refrigeration combined.  Each has one hi stage and a low stage compressor, two intercoolers (a high and a low), one condensor, a desuperheater, a surge tank and two ref pumps.....running on R22.  It's a wet system pumping ref to either a couple different coils (in plenums) or several different heat exhangers (HX's having either CACL or R30 in them).....depending on what I need to cool and where. 

I use them to freeze airplanes.   

That's a system I would like to see. I have worked in several plants that had ice banks where they run glycol through the chiller and to coils submerged in a tank of water. They make the ice at night to keep the electrical peak down  and use the ice for air conditioning during the day.

[.]

Congratulations Chillerman. More time off and less physical stress goes a long way as we get older. I wish you much success, sir.