Bill WhitmanRefrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology

Read the two and three-star reviews to see what is wrong with this book. This text book is the one used by most colleges that teach air conditioning and refrigeration. It was written 40 years ago. It has been up-dated haphazardly. Some new chapters have been added, along with new pictures, but it is basically still a book that was written 40 years ago.This book will not teach you how to repair an air conditioner. It does not give step-by-step instructions how to perform any repair job. It does not give you an orderly method to troubleshoot and diagnose air conditioning and refrigeration systems. It does not provide flow-charts. If you master this tomb, don't expect to be able to actually service any air conditioning system, pass NATE certification, or ICE certification. It will not teach you how to change a fan motor, how to replace a compressor, or how to read a schematic.It will not tell you what a Mitsubishi flare is or how to make one. It incorrectly states you can't place a saddle valve on the high-side of a charged system.It does not tell you what you should do if you come across an a/c system that is leaking water. It does not tell you how to unclog a blocked condensate drain. It does not tell you what you should do if you come across a system with a frozen evaporator. This book will not tell you how to balance air flow in an a/c system, nor does it teach you how to perform or calculate Manual A, B, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, etc.You will not find answers to most of the questions in the book. Those answers are in a guide sold or given to course instructors. The companion lab book is useless without the guide for the companion lab book that is only available to instructors.This book will not teach you how to braze, bend tubing, make flairs, or cut tubing. It does not teach you when and where you can use low temperature solder. It doesn't teach when you can use a turbo torch instead of an oxy-acetylene torch.The book is very hard to read even if you know the material. The material presented is a mishmash, disjointed, and disorganized.This book will not teach you how refrigerant to add to charge a commercial a/c system, nor will it teach how much refrigerant to add to charge a commercial refrigeration system. It is vague on how to charge a residential system. It does describe what pressures and temperatures you would expect to see if you were looking at a brand new system.This book does not tell you how to pump a system down, or which systems you can safely pump down without destroying them. This book does not teach you how to pressure clean coils or straighten coils.This book does not teach you how to use a recovery unit to recover system refrigerant.The book does contain a great deal of utterly useless information. I don't know a single a/c tech that actually uses psychrometrics in a/c repair.No one reads this book cover to cover.The book gives incorrect pressures for oxy-acetylene torches. Most a/c techs use the wrong pressures because of this book. It does not teach you how to how to choose a tip. Nor does it do a good job explaining how to obtain the right flame. It doesn't explain the advantages of low-temperature soldering or the disadvantages of brazing.It doesn't teach you how to remove the cores in schrader valves, how to rethread schrader valves, how to extract a broken schrader valve.It does not teach you how to size a contactor or a starter.You will not find anywhere inside it, half the components used in commercial air conditioning.The book tells you how to dress, how to behave, how to talk to customers, if you need that kind of information. Every other page, it tells you to be courteous.It doesn't teach you how to troubleshoot or repair commercial or domestic refrigeration units or systems. What it does do is describe a few components found commercial and domestic refrigeration systems. Very few.A system shuts down due to a high pressure switch cut-out. What should techs check? You won't find the answer in this book.The book describes the operation of a king valve, but doesn't tell you where you where you are likely to see such a valve. It doesn't describe the operation of the most common access valves found on most a/c systems.What if there is not enough room to attach your gauges to the service ports? What are low-loss fittings? What is the purpose of a JB DV-29, and how to use it? Why is it important to change vacuum pump oil before and after every use?Why is it wrong to use superheat at the condensing unit or subcooling at the air handler to charge a system?How do you size ducts?What happens to fan blower amp draw if ducts are too small or too large?How do you treat a system that has water inside it from a hurricane or a broken water-cooled condenser?A 20a circuit breaker should carry how many amps? At what amperage should it trip?What size electric strip heater do you add to an a/c system?None of these questions are answered.Some books tell you to wind low-voltage wire ten-times around the jaws of an amprobe then divide your reading by 10. This is mickey mouse. I don't know how many techs have time to do this. Do yourself a favor and buy an amprobe that reads low amps to check low-voltage, low-amp circuits.What should delta T be for condenser water in a swimming pool heat pump? What should the evap. and condenser pressures be? What should the subcooling and superheat be? How do you find superheat and subcooling info on a system? None of these questions are answered.What are the symptoms of a heat-pump check valve failing? What do you if a heat pump does not properly defrost?What kind of symptoms can a defective defrost circuit board produce?How do you troubleshoot an ECM motor? How many different kinds of ECM motors are there? You will not find these questions answered here.It teaches you words, concepts, and theory no tech ever needs to know. I am an a/c contractor and an instructor.Here are two books I do recommend. Michael Prokup's "Air conditioning Service Guide." This book is sold by Johnstone Supplies. And "Guide to NATE/ICE Certification Exams"I will be publishing my own book later this year.I can be reached at my AOL email address: advanpropcons

I have done refrigeration for over 30 years and some HVAC in the 80's. I needed some information on current systems and this book did it. Textbooks are for theory, and if you understand how something works it is easier to repair. Another reviewer claimed it didn't tell you how to repair something like change a motor etc. Those kind of things are in equipment manuals. By the way this book actually had the wiring diagram for a smart valve, not something you would usually find in a textbook. No textbook can replace hands on learning but you have to have a good foundation which this book provides. If you think you can read a book and become a master service technician, I would like to see how big that book would be (This book is 1650 pages). As for Nate certification you should get a dedicated Nate Study guide in what you are interested in such as Dewalt HVAC technician certification exam guide.

For the price I expected more useful information. Being an Engineer I have read and used may reference books and text books and I readily recognize the difference between the differing types. Good reference books leave out most introductory material and are facts based more than opinion based. They are usually very heavy with tabular data ie reference material. Most textbooks are full of entry level basic data, are heavily opinion based and usually pretty out dated as far as the facts presented. Good text books are a combination of both but with little opinions expressed that are not backed with some form of empirical data. Sadly this book is the nearer the typical text book but at least most of the material presented is not to dated. If you want a highly technical book or a reference book this is definitely not it. If you wish to be a self taught refrigeration technician it is a good book but there is very little good reference data such as one would find in a pocket guide used for at site reference. Like most text books in the science field it is grossly over priced. It is a book that will probably be seen in a lot of used books stores located near colleges and technical schools. The authors could do us all a favor by letting some graduate students go over the book and make some significant changes.

Great book very detailed

Carrying a 1600 page hardcover book around everywhere I go just doesn't work for me. This book is so convenient to have I also bought the digital version from Amazon and was amazed with how useful it is. I love the fact that I can use it on one device and pick up on another so seamlessly. I choose 4 stars for now but as I become more familiar with it I'll likely give it 5 stars. I'd recommend this book to anyone in the trade.

This will take me through all three classes I need, and it has helped me on the job already. I am an equipment maintenance person at a medical facility, and was recently informed that our department would be handling refrigerator maintenance whether through a vendor or not. I decided to take on the challenge to not only save the company some money (we are non profit), but to also add to my skill set. This book is thorough, easy to understand, and is so heavy, it will even give you a workout for hefting cannisters of refrigerant around once you start your career! That said, I wish it came in electronic form as well.

Most courses use this book to teach the basics of HVAC. Its heavy and can be used as a weapon of mass annoyances. Its not too hard to nor none too easy to read. If its required for a class, pick this book up. There is another book out there that I've read that is much more relevant and easier to follow than this book.Use it for the classes and sell this book off when you can. If you need a good quick, complete, and easy reference that is not "Google" then get for Commercial Refrigeration: For Air Conditioning Technicians by Dick Wirz. Or an Answerman for HVAC technicians for a quick pocket reference.

This book is amazing! Over 1500 pages and heaps of pictures! Very detailed and well written in easy to comprehend language! This should be your go to book if you want are just starting in the trade and want to learn AC, or if you are an experienced HVAC technician and want to add to your knowledge.

This is the best book out there. I read them all. This one explains it the best with the highest quality diagrams and illustrations. You can have the brain of a turkey and when you read this a couple times and learn the terms, it will sink in and make sense.

Great book, cheaper than buying from school bookstore.However, it does not include "Mindtap" code.Which is like an online study guide.

Great condition

Exelente compra , entrega a tiempo y calidad , el libro se encontraba en exelentes condiciones nuevo , muy buen servicio