HVACR Technician

HVACR technicians ensure people’s comfort by installing and maintaining heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems for homes and businesses. It’s a career field that demands a variety of skills of its technicians, and as long as summers are hot, winters are cold and food needs to be refrigerated, it’s a job that will never be out of demand.

WHAT DOES AN HVACR TECHNICIAN DO?

HVACR (sometimes written as HVAC-R) stands for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration. HVACR technicians are specially trained individuals who install, service and maintain heating and air conditioning systems in homes, businesses and multi-unit residential.

HVACR technicians work with systems such as oil burners, boilers, heat pumps, central air conditioning and hot-air furnaces. They also work with components and appliances such as commercial grade ice makers, refrigerators and freezers. Some day-to-day duties include: • Perform annual inspections and servicing. • Replace old, outdated technology with more energy-efficient, greener models. • Maintain ductwork that carries air from the heating or air conditioning unit to various parts of a building. • Repair systems when they break down.

WHAT’S NEW? Thermal-driven air conditioning • Uses solar energy, backed up by natural gas on cloudy days or at night. • Solar panels generate high enough temperature to drive a double-effect chiller. • Provides a low-cost alternative to conventional air conditioning units. Ice-powered air conditioner • Another low-cost alternative to conventional air conditioning. • Freezes 450 gallons of water in a tank overnight, provides cooling for up to six hours. • Once ice melts, system switches to backup air conditioning unit. Geothermal heat pump • Makes use of heat from the earth by way of looped piping placed into the ground.

• Fluid in this piping loop absorbs heat, which is carried back indoors to provide heating. • Can also be used to supply cooling. • Advertised to be up to four times more efficient than traditional systems. Smart thermostats • Whole-house control systems that monitor and maintain climate control. • Device “learns” owner preference and automatically adjusts rooms to those settings. • Turns itself off when room is unoccupied; provides

Wi-Fi enabled remote monitoring.

WHERE DO HVACR TECHNICIANS WORK?

A tech might work for a company that is appointment-based, going from home to home installing and maintaining cooling systems. Or, in industrial or commercial settings, techs might report to the same job site all day long for weeks at a time. Often, a HVACR tech’s van or truck is their office and workshop rolled into one.

HVACR techs may work full time, regular hours or they may be assigned at least part of the time to on-call to handle emergencies. These calls come in during business hours, on weekends and holidays, or in the middle of the night. After storms or blizzards and the normal changing of the seasons are almost guaranteed to generate a lot of overtime.

WHAT’S THE JOB OUTLOOK?

There were almost 3,100 HVACR technicians and installers in Arkansas in 2018 and that number is expected to grow a whopping 16% by 2028, per the U.S. Department of Labor. Arkansas’s job growth is expected to exceed that of the national average.

To understand job growth, remember even the best HVACR system has a practical operating life of about 15 years. Imagine how many houses, apartments and commercial buildings are built or remodeled every year; that’s about how many systems need replacing. HOW MUCH CAN I MAKE? • Lower range wages (bottom 10 percent) — $26,940 annually/$12.95 per hour • Middle range wages (median) — $41,120 annually/$19.77 per hour • Higher range wages (top 10 percent) — $58,960 annually/$28.35 per hour

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL? • Soft skills • Active listening • Communication • Customer service • Critical thinking/troubleshooting • Mechanical/construction skills • Physical skills/stamina

HOW DO I LEARN THE CRAFT?

HVACR technicians require specialized training and licensing. The level of complexity of today’s systems means most employers prefer to hire workers who have received specialized instruction after high school, either through a community college or a 3- to 5-year paid apprenticeship.

Apprentices acquire their skills both in the classroom and on the job, with the cost of the training often paid for by the employer. In Arkansas, HVACR technicians are also required to hold one or more licenses, depending on job responsibilities. Following your formal training, you must sit for an exam to earn your license.