TECH method book reviewed, a personal opinion
REL
have flinched an eye at returning a product I felt was below par. I am
sure there are those who are faster than I am, however, and I am not
bragging here at all, on ice machines freezers and coolers I have been
told I am fast and thorough. I am fast for the exact same reasons
anyone else here is fast, I do not make wasted trips to the truck, and
it is as simple as that. For you new guys to the trade, who might be
reading this, never ever walk to the truck empty handed and you will
save more time than anything else you do imho.
More on me here, not enough residential air work to even pretend I
fall into an above average class, perhaps even a sub par level by my
own standards. Industrials air yes, residential or light commercial
no.
My criteria for evaluation of his book were very simple. It would
either prove one of three things to me or I would return it. It would
need to increase my speed significantly, applying the information
would absolutely have prevented me from making a misdiagnosis and
eliminated the call back that resulted or it had to be extraordinarily
easy to put into my normal routine and easily develop into a habit. I
consider those criteria hard to meet since it cost me nothing to get
120 bucks back; I have some tangible reasons and motivation to tear it
apart.
In reading the book I found a great deal of disappointment at the end
of the first chapter. (It is 13 chapters long, but short concise
chapters Gary does not call them chapters and ill explain later) Now I
am not one to blatantly trash something without facts that I strongly
believe to be true. For that reason I grabbed the legal pad and
started to jot down questions and notes to include in a S.E.E.R.ing
flame (hvac joke sorry) and insist on the return of my funds. As I
reread chapter one I had a full page of gripes and questions about WTF
a book so clearly targeted at fundamentals would even remotely be
marketed to tech's with more than 10 years experience.
Chapter 2 added serious fuel to the fire coming with that flame.
Buyer's remorse now came into mind. This had to be the dumbest buying
decision I made this year! I cursed my own stupidity as I went outside
for a smoke. Back inside I filled another two pages on the legal pad.
In chapter two there was one glaring paragraph labeled exceptions. "Oh
here we go with a cover my tracks method to prevent holes being
punched in my ideas," I thought as I read.
Chapter 3 would be the end of my reading because I can not waste time
reading material for first year apprentices. Now for those of you who
are expecting that I will trash Gary's book chapter by chapter and
demand my money back, you should absolutely stop reading now. Chapter
3 is broken into 2 parts A and B at the end of part A second to last
sentence I read this statement: "At this point the system should be
operating properly" that is not the full statement but I do not have
his permission to reproduce any parts of the book. That was the point
of impact for me anyway.
My god I thought, what is this nut on about! I have almost five pages
of reasons his ideas are incomplete. At this point I took another
break and was frustrated that all in all, the only thing I had gained
was a reminder of noncondensables diagnosis. What killed me most about
that was it was almost exactly the same as how you would do it on a
100 ton Centrivac and I knew it already! When I returned to my office
the book was laying there open to the end of chapter 3 part A and I
read that same statement again.
I ran every tough scenario I had at these first few sections and came
up with no plausible argument that disagreed with what I had read.
Everyone has one screw up that sticks with him or her and I had one. I
can go on about how I was not involved in the project until the last
day and bla bla bla but in the end I was sent to start up a big
freezer/cooler combo.
An outdoor unit painted dark brown on a 107-degree day, charged it by
weight. The unit was in an extremely hot pull down and out of design
ambient so when I felt the extremely hot air from the condenser and
saw high superheat but the unit was pulling down well, I loaded up my
tools knowing it might need a "tweak" or two in the morning. 6 am boss
called and said it was down. I got there breaker tripped, reset, poor
head pressure, won't pull down. Copelametics rarely die from anything
other than abuse so I knew I something was wrong. To make it short,
when the tech did the conversion from three phase to single phase he
put the wrong fan blade on. I was the one who stared it; it was my
responsibility to have everything correct. Thank god it was new and
had no food in it.
Applying the procedures Gary employs in his book, after turning the
power on, this symptom would have been found in less than ten to
fifteen minutes! This REQUIRED another cigarette and some serious
pondering. He had just met MY criteria, his system would have saved me
a call back (which my boss did not pay for) a compressor and a couple
of pounds of 408 (which my boss did pay for) and now some serious crow
to be eaten.
It is easy to say you would not make such a mistake. You were not in
the glaring sun squinting at your meters and gauges because the sweat
had already forced you to abandon your glasses, your knees feeling
blistered from the 150 degree metal your crawling on, and 4 other
calls left on Friday night when it was your weekend. It is with great
humility I admit this mistake to peers after all, it was 16 years and
a few months after I graduated my two-year trade school.
That opened my eyes to what this book is actually all about. It forced
me to re-read. After being slapped into the insight that it is of
significant value I began to try and put together what it is all
about. The book is not like others, quoting ranges, showing figures,
tables or graphs. To try and sum it up into one sentence would have
been difficult had it not slapped me so hard.
A systemic approach to the evaluation of the refrigeration cycle
resulting painless diagnosis with extreme ease, speed and accuracy.
What is truly interesting is that in the end it met all three criteria
hands down. Interesting enough, my first thought when I opened the
envelope and got the book was that I had made a mistake not asking
Gary to sign it, now I am going to ask him to sign the last page of
chapter 3 section A where I truly learned something.
If by a change of heart I begin servicing again instead of teaching it
will take up residence on top of modern refrigeration in the truck. It
will be required reading for any apprentices I take on the very first
week. I will honor my word to Gary and not allow it to be copied and
used for the school. My biggest problem at this point seems to be how
not to teach it in the lab sessions. To not follow it is a waste of
time. If there is one contributing mark I can leave on my teaching
career it will be to get that book in front of students.
Almost forgot, Gary does not call them chapters he calls them lessons,
frankly I am pretty sure I know why.
Bill Maghan
Bill Maghan
p...@see_my_sig_for_address.com
Long winded fuck, ain't ya ? :-)
Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~>~~
Please look at http://helpthecritters.com/ , my new domain for helping critters !!!
My personal WWW site is at http://www.pmilligan.net ,
featuring free HVAC, stock market, and other free software
Never color inside the lines in the coloring book.
Color instead where it pleases you to.
You can only color a page once, but there are always more pages.
Bill
wrote:
> First and foremost I am one hell of a demanding customer and would not
> have flinched an eye at returning a product I felt was below par.
snipped
Excellent review.
I've called Gary a few times in the past and said I got you.
He patiently listened then explained why I didn't.
I see sections 1,2,3 as the basis (backup) for 6-13
I've used it for over 10 years now and it's the killer.
I have the old one which is separate booklets. I got mine signed at a
seminar he held here.
It should be a mandatory book in every tech's arsenal.
The shortest I can sum the book up is "straight gouge".
Welcome to the ranks.
-- ---
Bill
<billm...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I'll be on the lookout for a used copy.
>
> Bill Maghan
hehe
I have three and the used one is my favorite.
I seriously doubt you will ever find one for sale used.
Buy the maintenance one to get a taste. I think it's $19
--
REL
i suppose it was long, but then agian i am also not sure i was done!
the other rich
ftwhd
check e-bay...
Greg O
"REL" <rl...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3d37da4d....@news.earthlink.net...
> First and foremost I am one hell of a demanding customer and would not
> have flinched an eye at returning a product I felt was below par.
I was going to ask about Gary's books, it appears they may be worth the
price!
I will be the first to admit my AC skills are not what they should be,
although when trouble shooting I usually get to the right answer, but I
feel I take too long to get there!
May have to see If I can part with a few $$!
Hey Gary, any book deals to newsgroup buddies?? ;-)
Greg
Gary R. Lloyd
The prices at my website are my buddy prices. I can't help it if I
don't charge enough. :)
Gary
Greg O
"Gary R. Lloyd" <tme...@gatecom.com> wrote in message
news:3d2d7aa4....@news.gatecom.com...
>
> The prices at my website are my buddy prices. I can't help it if I
> don't charge enough. :)
>
>
That is what I figured!
What a way to end a friendship! ;-)
Greg
Gary R. Lloyd
My books are underpriced. Doolin's, on the other hand, is overpriced.
Gary R. Lloyd
Your field experience is showing. Most teachers, lacking that
experience, just don't get it. It contradicts their theories, and
flaunts the status quo.
>A systemic approach to the evaluation of the refrigeration cycle
>resulting painless diagnosis with extreme ease, speed and accuracy.
>
>What is truly interesting is that in the end it met all three criteria
>hands down. Interesting enough, my first thought when I opened the
>envelope and got the book was that I had made a mistake not asking
>Gary to sign it, now I am going to ask him to sign the last page of
>chapter 3 section A where I truly learned something.
>
>If by a change of heart I begin servicing again instead of teaching it
>will take up residence on top of modern refrigeration in the truck. It
>will be required reading for any apprentices I take on the very first
>week. I will honor my word to Gary and not allow it to be copied and
>used for the school. My biggest problem at this point seems to be how
>not to teach it in the lab sessions. To not follow it is a waste of
>time. If there is one contributing mark I can leave on my teaching
>career it will be to get that book in front of students.
I'm glad you found it worthy, Rich. :)
>Almost forgot, Gary does not call them chapters he calls them lessons,
>frankly I am pretty sure I know why.
>
Why????
Rich
Rich
"Bill" <tsu...@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:tsurber-ya02408000R1007020818260001@news-server...
Craig
> :)
> Gary
I looked at Doolin's book once. What a POS. You couldnt give me one to use.
Craig
Bill
<read...@home.com> wrote:
> Heck, I bought him lunch and he didn't sign mine!!
Gary your public is calling. Hell to be famous eh? : )
--
REL
wrote:
because a chapter is read, perhaps even memorized. a chapter provides
information and many times that information is incomplete, other times
it is far more information than one requires from a practical point of
view. a chapter leaves or perhaps better said leads you to a
conclusion. if you do not draw the correct conclusion or the
conclusion the author wanted you to have, it is not practical. if you
apply that incorrect conclusion and find it incorrect it will cloud
your viewpoint on the rest of the information and you will devalue
important information that was within the chapter.
a lesson on the other hand is something that drives you to ask
questions. these questions may be based on your own experiences,
knowledge base or even the information contained within that lesson. a
lesson that causes you to question it will also cause you to test it.
it forces you to avoid conclusions without confirming them through
some means. at the same time it challenges you to confirm whatever
conclusion you have drawn. to toss out a for instance here, i still
have a couple of questions regarding the sequence you follow and will
shortly prove them out to either your point or mine. :) either way i
will have activly learned from the lesson.
those are my thoughts on the difference but it is not why i typed it
lol.
i typed it because it took all the way to that last sentence of 3a
before i opened my mind wide enough to evaluate the entire system as a
whole instead of picking apart each portion and creating my own
arguments. i tend to draw conclusions that i must prove wrong in order
to change my view point. sure everyone does this at some level but i
tend to prepare arguments for my point of view rapidly and so to speak
"tally" my conclusions agianst the ideas being presented.
this does not mean i am not open to new ideas, actually quite the
oppisite. it just means i have to have a high confidence level that
the ideas can logicly support or nullify my conclusions supported by
fact or test. i believe in project based science, form a hypothsis,
analyze the proceedures, record the results, and then form your
conclusions. it also means i am a pain in the ass :) and yes paul i am
long winded!
i am all too aware that not every student in our program is going to
be capable of preforming serivce work. some will become tinners, some
will become installers, some will become maintenece men. i certianly
will not discredit those positions. i will say however that a service
person has to be far more interested in analizing systems than any of
the related positions and that is what i have done for a long time. it
also drives me to not give in to the suggestion that i need to relax
and just process the students through the system. i will continue to
try and motivate even the most "worthless" into learning what they
will need to know to be successful in this trade.
no i do not think they will all work out in this trade, but they are
paying for my best and i will try and deliver it. lol ok paul now i am
rambling!
i will probably be far more bull headed about the portions where you
discuss the electrical operations. it will be far more interesting for
me since i process it almost 180 degrees the oppisite. i do have one
tiny thing within the first three lessons ill email you about, i just
have to confirm that my conclusion is never wrong. :)
btw gary did you get the rses email addy for your address book? the
return addy i use here gets like 200 spams a day and since they dump
them from the server i never check it.
Gary R. Lloyd
Gary
http://www.techmethod.com
http://www.techmethod.co.uk
Gary R. Lloyd
Gary R. Lloyd
wrote:
Exactly my point. Some books are worth more than others. :)
Gary R. Lloyd
rather than simply read, and to make the reader think rather than
simply accept.
And each lesson builds upon previous lessons. I use a technique called
spiraling, which weights the information and drills the student in the
basics.
My first few customers were subscribers to a series of lessons. They
received one lesson booklet per month. Then (by popular demand) I put
them all in a binder and shipped them all at once. Then the binder
became a book. The rest is, as they say, history.
Gary
http://www.techmethod.com
http://www.techmethod.co.uk