November 8, 2006
NETC Course Offers Knowledge to Combat Heating & Cooling Cost

Northeastern Technical College is offering a course next semester that can help homeowners and business owners ensure that their heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are operating properly during the coming winter months.  Currently enrolled students in any technology or general technology programs can also use this course as an elective. 

The course is an introduction to HVAC fundamentals and will help students to understand the basic operation and maintenance of systems through classroom discussion and hands on training.  

John Hill, of Chesterfield, will be the instructor.  He has 23 years of teaching experience in the Electro-Mechanical Technology program at Chesterfield High Schooland has also owned and operated an HVAC maintenance, installation and repair company.

“This course will be great for any do-it-yourselfers, apartment complex managers, or anyone who has rental properties like houses or trailers,” he said.  “We’ll focus on the overall function of the unit and how it works so students can obtain a good working knowledge of trouble shooting and repair to residential type equipment.”

This includes electrical furnaces, heat pumps, central air units, gas packs and window units.  Course topics include preventive maintenance, electrical controls, and understanding basic air flow and refrigeration cycles. 

This knowledge is especially important as the winter months approach and the cost of heating weighs heavy on the minds, and pockets of consumers and business owners.  Hill, and the college, believes this course can be a tool to help residents combat those costs, especially if a problem arises with the unit.

“I’d say that more than 75 percent of the residential calls I’ve made in the past could have been diagnosed and addressed with a basic level of trouble shooting and repair knowledge,” he said.  “So taking this class can not only help conserve day to day operating cost, it may also give you the basic skills you need to save money on expensive service calls and maintenance.”  

The course will be offered at the college’s main campus in Cheraw on Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 9:00 pm beginning January 10.  Anyone interested in taking this course should call the college at 921-6900 and ask about the registration process for ACR 108 – Refrigeration Fundamentals. 

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