Help Keep America Comfortable: Become HVAC certified

Just about every house in America has a heating system and an air conditioner or swamp cooler. These installations need maintenance and repairs done and when they are beyond repairs they need to be replaced. The technicians who do this kind of work are said to have an HVAC career. They also do maintenance and repairs on refrigeration systems in commercial settings. Some are specialized in either refrigeration, cooling, or heating systems, but many are proficient in all three areas. They know everything there is to know about the parts of these systems. They know how to repair or replace the pipes, the electrical parts, the motors, the mechanical parts, the ducts, and the electronic parts like the fans and the thermostats. HVAC technicians can detect what the causes of problems are and take care of them appropriately. They have to make sure that everything functions properly.

The technicians that take care of these repairs and maintenance or install new heating systems, swamp coolers, air conditioners, and refrigeration systems were trained to do so. They either learned their skills as an apprentice with a certified HVAC technician or they became certified at the end of a formal program in a technical school.

Certified technicians can work for themselves as self-employed HVAC technicians. About fifteen percent of certified HVAC technicians work as self-employed technicians. They can make a lot of money doing so. This is especially the case if they offer service 24/7. Americans like the idea that they can get immediate help when their heating or cooling system does not work. They do not like to wait till the next business day. They want it NOW. Self-employed HVAC technicians need to buy all the tools they need. That can make starting up as a self-employed HVAC technician harder than accepting employment with a contractor, manufacturer, or wholesaler. Buying all these tools is expensive. New buildings, commercial as well as residential, need HVAC technicians to install new heating and cooling systems. They use blueprints to do this.



HVAC technicians are specialists. They have learned how to handle and even reuse CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) and even HCFC (hydro-chlorofluorocarbon). They know how and what to do with the old installation and they know how to clean up spills of the chemicals. Schooling of new HVAC technicians is done by some secondary schools, but postsecondary technical schools, community colleges, trade schools and even the U.S. armed forces offer more training spots. Training as an HVAC apprentice is still possible but it is becoming more complicated. The newer heating and cooling systems require more technological know-how.

HVAC job seekers can expect to start working at about twelve dollars an hour. That amount goes up pretty fast and an experienced HVAC technician makes about twenty two dollars an hour. The specialists in the field, the top ten percent, make over twenty five dollars an hour.

HVAC jobs are easy to find and that is not going to change in the future. HVAC maintenance jobs and HVAC technical jobs will always need to be filled, no matter how bad the economy is doing in America or the world. It is a specialized occupation and it is not recommended to try to fix these installations without adequate training. Without adequate training this job can be a risky endeavor.