Switching from Mechanical Design to HVAC/R 3

[MechEng1977]

I am trying to help a former co-worker who used to work in the Automotive Industry as a Mechanical Design Engineer. He designed automotive componenets for a parts supplier. We both have approx 10 years experience and I have moved on and found a job and he is still looking and finding this recession tough for Mechanical Engineers. He has noticed a lot of jobs in HVAC, and I would imagine it is due to the increased infrastructure spending in times of a recession.

I am trying to help him but I have no experience in HVAC nor know anybody who does. Most of my university friends went into the automotive field.

1)What would help him transition into HVAC?

2)Would you recommend a college course, or is the stuff learned in university good enough?

3)Is most of the learning not handled by a course and instead learned on the job like Mechanical Design?

4)Point 3) leads me into: Is there any creativity involved in HVAC? I would imagine there is a lot of table referencing and chart lookups to solve problems? Is this true?

5)How is the pay in general compared to other Mechanical Engineering fields?

6)Are there any good sources on-line or books to reference.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PEDARRIN2]

While not a HVAC engineer, I work in a company that uses them.

1. Refresh on fluid flow - both air and liquid.
2. Generally what is learned in the university should be sufficient. If desired, maybe a refresher course involving fluid flow.
3. There is a lot of learning on the job. We get a lot of our HVAC designers/engineers right out of college and place them with a more experienced engineer to learn the ins/outs of HVAC design.
4. There is a lot of table referencing, but there is also a lot of creativity - especially with all the different approaches/options to HVAC.
5. I don't know the answer to $$$ comparison.
6. The ASHRAE handbooks are very helpful.

Hope that helps.

 

[tys90]

To answer #2, I took a 2-part series of classes in college, first was fundamentals of HVAC, second was practical design of HVAC. All of my coworkers with their degree in mech. eng. have taken similar classes.

 

[MechEng1977]

Thanks for the responses, I will advise him on the ASHRAE guides.

Has anybody done Mechanical Design and Switched to HVAC? What are your thoughts on the job and salary?

 

[mauricestoker]

I moved from machine design (and to several other jobs) before doing HVACR work. Machine design was very tedious, though working with the millwrights was great. No great future in it.

1. Being able to apply common sense and perform basic flow calculations would be of great benefit. I've had several MSME's, with PE, work for me, and either could not translate book smarts into application, or could not understand how basic principles apply to reality. Being willing to get dirty hands is a big plus. I would recommend, if it is possible, that you start with field work and not design.

2. The college courses I had applied general principles, and then went into research areas, as opposed to practical applications. Field work definitely teaches you application, as well as a better appreciation for O&M and whether a design is going to work.

3. Like machine design, most is learned OJT. Like machine design, the best teacher is listening to the peole who have done this for a living, and operate the equpment every day. Listening with the ears and not the mouth is not always fun and easy, a good attitude helps.

4. HVACR work is much more creative than machine design. While a lot of the business is ash-and-trash, challenges always exist. If it ever gets boring, you have not been looking for challenges. Remember that much of the guidance and specification is based on prior experience as an entire body; when something new, or a new way of doing things, appears, the challenge is even greater. If you get tired of putting VAVs in office buildings, try the hospital, lab, clean room, or animal/biological areas. There is more than any one person will learn in a lifetime.

5. I would not expect to be paid good starting out, unless willing to move. Pay is substantially better than machine design. Future pay will generally depend on performance. If you do not like the work, you will probably not be good at it. If a family business and worried about security, take an intertest in the ugliest sibling.

6. Pick out an area you think you might be interested in, and do a web search. PDH-ONLINE may be a good general overview, as well as get into details of mechanical engineering and HVAC. Content is free.

 

[MechEng1977]

Hey Mauricestoker, how were you able to transition into HVAC, all the job postings he looks at require experience?

I looked at the PDH-Online.org, they are pay refresher materials?

Hahaha I will pass along comment 5. to him although I know he only dates Asian women for reasons I'd rather not know

 

[PEDARRIN2]

I believe the pdh-online material is pay only if you take the quiz. You can download the course material for free.

Another source is

http://www.pdhengineer.com

 

[mauricestoker]

MechEng,

The switch went fom cryogenics to machine design, to energy consulting, to environmental management, to predominantly HVACR work.

I was doing unmanned cryo plant management and teardowns for manned plants when Bhopal occurred. Found a job down the street doing machine design. When the local steel industry went teats up, I took a job with a family owned energy consulting business. I made the mistake of not returning the affections of the wealthy man's only female relative, probably because I was engaged. Between the ensuing cat fight and breach of contract dispute (I signed a contract based on commission, was scheduled to be the highest paid employee) I took a job overseas to run the environmental LUST (leaking underground storage tank) program. Got overseas, program went bust, and I was asked, as the only English speaking mechanical engineer, if I would stay and work as an ME. Eight years later I had to get back to the States quickly, so I took a job with the Corpse of Engineers. Being gubmint work, if you were willing to do the work, you could get nearly any size and type of work you wanted. I started doing all the lab and industrial ventilation jobs. After 8 years, I took over as chief engineer for a large pathology/biological research institute. After 8 years of that I took a job as an energy engineer, close to where I was 25 years earlier. Best of all, the old energy consulting firm came around looking for business. The former owner's daughter now looks like she is 90 years old, has about 8 kids, and looks like she was rode hard and put away wet.

HVACR work has never lost its challenge.

 

[MechEng1977]

Thanks for the replies and amusing stories.
PDHENGINEER is an excellent site