Recruiting In a Cold Industry

William Cullen, a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, created the first known refrigeration system in 1756, according to Wikipedia.org. The website says he used a pump to create a vacuum over a container of diethyl ether, which then boiled and absorbed heat from the surrounding air. From that point, further experimentation evolved until refrigeration was being commercially used in the mid-1800s in railroad cars and in breweries.

From its invention, refrigeration has been a complex subject. It's expensive to use, operate and maintain. It was developed by chemists, so it's not exactly the easiest thing to maintain and repair. Several different kinds of refrigerants, refrigerant blends and refrigerant alternatives are on the market today. With so many different aspects of refrigeration, it's no wonder HVACR technician hopefuls aren't all vying for top-in-class at the local refrigeration university.

HVACR Distribution Business magazine spoke with Mark Lowry, executive vice president at Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) and Frank Meier, president and CEO of Meier Supply in Johnson City, NY, about the need for new recruits in the refrigeration industry. The refrigeration sector suffers the same plight as the rest of the HVACR industry, in that there's been a shortage of people entering the trade, Lowry says.

“The average age of RSES members specializing in refrigeration is 62 years old — an indication that soon these individuals will retire,” Lowry explains. “Once that collective wisdom is gone, the priceless mentoring potential within that group of experienced technicians is lost to the new entrants we have.”

“Refrigeration is not a glamorous industry; therefore, it's hard to attract people to it. The wholesale distribution side finds it even more difficult to attract good talent,” Meier adds.

The reason it's difficult to attract good talent is that refrigeration is substantially more technical than air conditioning, he explains. “With air conditioning, desired temperature and humidity are fairly consistent; only two refrigerants are used the majority of the time, R-22 and R-410A. In the refrigeration part of the industry, you've got temperatures ranging from -40F to 40F, as well as 10 to 12 different refrigerants to choose from.”

“To be successful in refrigeration, you have to be good at many different fields, not just HVAC. You need to know plumbing to do the brazing, and electrical to do troubleshooting,” Meier adds.

Training is Key

At RSES, Lowry explains, they teach the technicians that refrigeration is generally much more precise than residential air conditioning, due to the perishable nature of the products. “In order to maintain a tighter temperature and humidity range, technicians truly must understand what's happening inside the system. There's a smaller margin for error, and ‘parts changers’ don't do well as technicians in that arena. If you have an uncomfortable homeowner for a few days, it's obviously not good, but a warm freezer full of melted ice cream is a huge loss of revenue to a supermarket owner.”

In addition to searching area refrigeration technical schools for recruits, most companies are training their technicians in-house as well as completing RSES training. Meier Supply Co. considers training a top priority.