Best home heating & air conditioning books according to redditors

if you add 50psi of gas to a system at 70f, it can't magically get to 200psi at 70f while nothing is running. while the 50psi may change a bit with temp and pressure, it cant suddenly gain 100psi+.

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your pt chart shows you the saturated conditions when liquid and vapor are in the system and at a balance for the temperature, ( this is why a pt chart doesnt work for superheat or subcooling but allows your to find both.) . if the system is under charged it will be all vapor so a pt chart no longer works.

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instead of wasting time worrying about what your gauges say, pull out your reclaimer, pull the charge into your recovery tank, weigh it. this will let you know very quickly what the charge is. as you knew the old charge you will know instantly if there is a leak. if its fine add the recommended charge to the unit as per the manufactures recommendation.

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buy this book and give it a read, it can help a lot with simple things, its very well written and easy to understand / look up issues in.

https://www.amazon.ca/Commercial-Refrigeration-Air-Conditioning-Technicians/dp/1428335269




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https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-Available-CourseMate/dp/1428319360/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1536407709&sr=8-

But buy it used. Like 30-40 bucks.

Try this book

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1305578295/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_L4yRzb3HM8Q59

If you can’t afford it, I can send you the digital version

RSES has some great instructional stuff. The study materials for the NATE tests are also good. I feel it's really important to actually understand the refrigeration cycle and the physics behind heat movement.

If you can find a copy or PDF of this book it's the main text for most HVAC programs.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1111644470/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1488250772&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=hvac+book

Either one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-MindTap-Course/dp/1305578295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526763783&sr=8-1&keywords=hvac+textbook

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Refrigeration-Air-Conditioning-Refridgeration/dp/1631263544/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1526763783&sr=8-16&keywords=hvac+textbook

Large text book, covers everything you could ever want to know.

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-Bill-Whitman/dp/1111644470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500075961&sr=8-1&keywords=modern+refrigeration+and+air+condition



This book is amazing, it will talk about everything refrigeration based, has a chapter on everything, lots of great pictures, dumbs down every peice of equipment. you will look like a pro if you read this book a few times.

its always in my van, most questions i can answer with it.

https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Refrigeration-Air-Conditioning-Technicians/dp/1428335269/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500075993&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=refrigeration+for+airconditing+technicians

Right here

refrigeration and technology







We pay for our books just like any college student, if she's serious about this trade and wanted to do it, this will probably be one of the cheapest yet most valuable item/tools she will buy.

I would worry about condensation and mold on your cool ceiling. If your summers are humid, that would be a bigger problem than if they're dry...

We just put in radiant heating in our home last year and had a very pleasant winter. It was a DIY job and the Siegenthaler book was extremely helpful. Definitely worth the money. Another excellent resource: heatinghelp.com

Good luck!

Well I'm guessing you are probably going to learn about residential systems first. Easy to learn. I learned out of this book.http://www.amazon.com/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-Bill-Whitman/dp/1111644470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418598491&sr=8-1&keywords=air+conditioning+textbook
The instructor will have his own choice of book though....First things you learn are principles of pressure and temperature, and then the basic refrigeration cycle, and then basic electricity...I would say getting a head start is great but the on hands with the teacher is really going to be what sticks with you....Some of the guys in this sub might agree that after you have read or been taught a little bit about it, it will stick better when you do it yourself

Yeah look for idronics, you can request copies but they are all probably online. They also have monthly webinars that get put on YouTube eventually.

Another good read would be https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1428335153

Also anything by Dan Holohan

Manual J Residential Load Calculation (8th Edition - Full)

Fun read. 1.04W for 1W of computing power is astounding.

I couldn't help but cringe a little inside when "Frank Frankovsky, Facebook’s vice president of hardware design and supply chain operations" said "People run their data centers at 60 or 65 degrees."

That's a bit of embellishment. A cold DC these days is maybe 65º.

And "most servers are expected to keel over at 75F" is a stretch too. Some room UPS units don't operate optimally above 75º because it shortens the life of the lead-acid batteries, but the EMC VNX array that we just put in our DC is listed as fine up to 95º (35ºC) ("Continuous Allowable Range"), the Dell PE 720 servers that go into our DC operate just fine up to 95º, and the Cisco 4500 chassis works fine up to 104º

Even the ASHRAE book recommends an upper limit of 80.6ºF (27ºC).

I don't believe so, It's a print manual.

You could order a hard copy online, but I'm sure there's an online copy if you need it immediately.

https://www.amazon.com/Trane-Air-Conditioning-Manual/dp/B000FPGFWW

https://www.amazon.ca/Modern-Hydronic-Heating-Residential-Siegenthaler/dp/B00DEKE87O

I have found it to be a great resource.

Modern Hydronics is a great start.
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Hydronic-Heating-Residential-Commercial/dp/1428335153

Look into the trade groups as well.

http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu
https://www.ashrae.org

http://epb.lbl.gov/thermal/hydronic.html

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Hydronic-Heating-Residential-Commercial/dp/1428335153

Hydronics is a well tested and used technology, just that its expensive in the initial installation. Similar as with solar panels, you have to pay up front, but then it pays for itself.

Sinking an insulated tank containing a couple of tonnes of water in your basement is quite easy, easy also to heat up the water with water panels on your roof, then extract the heat later.

People use this to maintain 65F temps in their modern ultra efficient houses.

Google and read up on it.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1428319360/ref=pd_aw_sim_sbs_14_of_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WSP0MA21G6FKBQCHJ5ZH

Good reference book.

Skills? Brazing (with nitro trickle), flaring, bending pipe(which you should know already) reading a pressure temp chart, using a four hose manifold. How to recover refer, pull a vacuum, purge with nitro, use a fill scale.

Those are some basic mechanical skills. There’s sooo much more to know. Hopefully you’re familiar with the vapor compression cycle.

I’d pick up this text book . My instructor’s instructor helped write it.

This book is all you really need to be honest

I see IIAR 6 mentioned below. I don't think that is what you want.

This is what you want: https://www.amazon.com/Industrial-Refrigeration-Handbook-Mechanical-Engineering/dp/007061623X

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-NATE-Certification-Exams-Edition/dp/0132319705

This pretty much covers everything

Also depending on where you are you may be able to find a guy in your area that will do a crash coarse then give your test.

Go get yourself this book. Read.

You can find a free PDF file if you know where to look.

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-Bill-Whitman/dp/1111644470

I find this book has a lot of good info in it:
http://www.amazon.com/Industrial-Refrigeration-Handbook-Wilbert-Stoecker/dp/007061623X

https://www.amazon.com/Linemans-Cablemans-Handbook-12th-ebook/dp/B00708VO46

For studying, I bought the MERM and the associated book of practice problems. But these are more complicated than the actual test, so do not be discouraged if you have trouble with their content. The NCEES PE practice exam is closer to reality.

As you study, create a 3-ring (no loose or stapled papers permitted in test) binder of the most useful reference information that you use frequently. Dan Molloy has a practice course and an excellent Youtube channel. Begin studying at least 6 months out.

The MERM also has a quick reference book, but I didn't use that much during my test. However, I did use the ASHRAE books (eg ASHRAE Fundamentals 2017) to look up obscure refrigerants and reference tables for subjects like vibration and noise. Find these and borrow them from another engineer - they are worth at least 5 correct answers.

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Good luck!

I did that test (ua787?) right out of college, it's not an easy one. The science is based around refrigeration theory and the math gets quite challenging without a calculator. The mechanical aptitude is easy enough if you're familiar with the questions. I recommend picking up "Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology" and study at least the first few chapters. Here's a link: https://www.amazon.ca/Refrigeration-Conditioning-Technology-Bill-Whitman/dp/1111644470

Cinderblocks are concrete blocks with holes in them for grout and reinforcing. Unfortunately you'd need to know if they're grouted to accurately rate them, but yes the values exist. As per the equation further up that page, divide the thickness of the material by it's R-value and you get the thermal conductivity, k.

That said, every component in a building has a thermal resistance property which must be accounted for when considering heating and cooling load calculations and the subsequent heat transfer. Account for holes by treating them as 0 R-value areas.

If there are windows in the rooms you should be able to gauge the wall composition to determine how to set up your problem. If you need a reference I recommend Principles of HVAC. Check with your library before buying one as the reference stacks might have it or something similar.

It helps to treat the system like series or parallel circuits depending on the layering.

http://www.archtoolbox.com/materials-systems/thermal-moisture-protection/rvalues.html

This helped me a lot when I took the exam. It doesn’t have all the information but it has enough for you to pass the exam.

You could check out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Automation-Systems-Survive-World/dp/1539914488/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I know the author so I can at least tell you he's genuinely interested in helping people in BAS and has a good career to back it up. Hope it helps?

perhaps emailing the authors of some books might lead to some good resources. I've recently read this book and they might be able to point you in the right direction...

http://www.amazon.com/Steam-Water-Primer-Chris-Langley/dp/1428360727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321546758&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Hydronic-Heating-Residential-Commercial/dp/1428335153

this is a good one for hydronics. also can't go wrong with keeping a copy of pumping away and primary secondary pumping made easy

http://www.amazon.com/Primary-Secondary-Pumping-Made-Easy-Holohan/dp/0974396079