This classification covers establishments primarily engaged in servicing and repairing household and commercial electrical refrigerators and air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. Establishments primarily engaged in servicing and repairing gas refrigeration equipment are classified in SIC 7699: Repair Shops and Related Services, Not Elsewhere Classified; and those repairing automotive air-conditioning equipment are classified in SIC 7539: Automotive Repair Shops, Not Elsewhere Classified.
443111 (Household Appliance Stores)
811310 (Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment (except Automotive and Electronic) Repair and Maintenance)
811412 (Appliance Repair and Maintenance)
In the past 50 years, refrigeration and airconditioning products have evolved from luxury items primarily offering comfort and convenience to vital components of many industries. Today, virtually every scientific and technological industry relies on cooling systems and equipment that control the temperature, humidity, air movement, and air quality of enclosed environments. Commercial, residential, and other buildings also rely on climate control systems.
Refrigeration and air-conditioning service and repair shops employ the mechanics and service technicians who keep self-contained and split-system air-conditioner units, electric refrigeration equipment, and electric refrigerators in good repair. In the mid 1990s, there were an estimated 3,658 establishments in this category. Typically these firms were small, employing an average of 6 employees and generating a total of $3 billion.
The three main employers of refrigeration and airconditioning service and repair technicians are manufacturers of environmental control equipment; distributors or dealers who sell and service equipment; and firms involved in air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration, among other fields. Some technicians also establish themselves as entrepreneurs, opening up their own repair businesses.
The majority of establishments operating in the refrigeration and air-conditioning service industry—some 67 percent—are corporate entities. Of the remaining establishments, 31 percent are sole proprietorships and 2 percent are partnerships. Industry establishments are located throughout the United States.
Small appliance products serviced by industry technicians include home refrigerators and freezers, room air conditioners, packaged terminal heat pumps, dehumidifiers, under-the-counter ice makers, vending machines, and drinking water coolers. Industry service technicians also work on complex customized appliances used in the chemical, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and manufacturing industries, as well as in industrial ice machines and ice rinks.
The earliest climate control systems — piped steam installed to heat factories, churches, assembly halls, and other large buildings — eventually led to ventilation systems that combined heating with circulation of fresh air. About the same time heating systems were being developed, experimentation with artificial refrigeration began. By the mid 1800s, inventors understood the principles on which mechanical refrigerators operated. Dr. John Gorrie applied those principles when he invented a cold-air machine to relieve the suffering of yellow fever patients in a Florida hospital in 1842. After the Civil War, several companies in southern states applied them in ammonia-absorption machines to make artificial ice. Still, until the early part of the twentieth century, refrigeration continued to rely on ice cut during the winter and stored for later use.
While the technology to cool and circulate air was developed by the turn of the century, nothing was known about regulating its moisture content, or humidity, until Willis Carrier carried out a scientific study on airconditioning. In the summer of 1902, he designed the first system to control the temperature, humidity, and circulation of indoor air. Soon afterward he devised a way to cool using an artificial fog instead of coils. The two methods became the basic ones involved in all later airconditioning equipment. Industry after industry adapted Carrier's invention for controlling humidity to their particular production purpose. Because of his pioneering research and inventions, Carrier became known as the father of air-conditioning.
In 1914, Carrier developed the first residential airconditioning system. Seven years later he created the centrifugal refrigerating machine. This machine had a refrigerant that made it possible to produce safe, dependable, large-capacity cooling devices. By the 1930s, airconditioning spread from industry to become common in stores, theaters, and other large buildings.
In the early days of the industry, manufacturers and distributors trained most technicians and mechanics in how to repair air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. The equipment had limited capacity to cool and regulate air quality, and thus the systems and the skills needed to maintain them were relatively simple. Over the years the equipment became increasingly sophisticated, and the knowledge and skills required to maintain cooling systems became more specialized. Modern equipment utilizes a wide variety of synthetic refrigerants, depending on the cooling job to be done and the types of evaporators, condensers, and compressors in the system. In addition, components are being installed with micro-computer controls. Because of the high-technology aspects, modern refrigeration service and repair workers generally receive training at community colleges, vocational-technical schools, and trade associations. Preparatory courses include electronics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, drafting, and writing. According to Marvin M. Kaplan in "Keeping Cool Is Hot," females comprise up to 20 percent of training programs, and "each year, more than 30,000 new graduates are hired."
Stratospheric Ozone Protection. The biggest challenge facing refrigeration and air-conditioning service and repair technicians in the 1990s and the early part of the next century was compliance with rules and regulations governing refrigerants. During the early 1970s, scientists identified the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) —a common refrigerant—as a primary cause of the depletion of the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere, which protects life from harmful radiation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of CFCs in all but a few essential applications in 1978.
In 1986, further research showed a connection between CFCs and global warming. Scientists also found an opening in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Recognizing the global nature of the problem, 24 nations and the European Economic Community (EEC) convened in Canada in 1987. As a result of the meeting, in 1992 most of the major CFC and HCFC (halon) producing and consuming nations signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. The Montreal Protocol, along with later amendments, called for a gradual reduction in worldwide consumption of eight chemicals and, ultimately, their complete phase-out. The agreement also encouraged countries to recover, recycle, and reclaim controlled refrigerants.
The United States drafted additional regulations regarding CFC and HCFC substances as part of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act. The act contained regulations affecting mechanics repairing or servicing an appliance or industrial process refrigeration. As of July 1, 1992, a service technician could not knowingly release or dispose of any substance used as a refrigerant in a manner which permitted the substance to enter the environment. Furthermore, effective November 1995, the prohibition applied to substitutes for CFCs and other banned refrigerants, unless the EPA specifically determined the substances posed no threat to the environment. By 2000, CFC production was completely banned. The penalties and fines for violating the act's provisions could be severe.
In 1993, the EPA published additional regulations for refrigerant recycling and emissions reduction. The regulations provided guidelines designed to minimize release of CFC and HCFC refrigerants into the environment during the service, maintenance, repair, and disposal of appliances. Technicians were required to follow the act's required practices and use equipment certified for the type of appliance opened for service. These guidelines applied not only to technicians, but to refrigerant reclaimers, appliance owners, and manufacturers of appliances and recycling and recovery equipment.
Air-conditioning and refrigeration are essential in all segments of modern society. Nearly every newly-built home has central air conditioning installed, and many existing buildings are retrofitted with air-conditioning equipment. Carefully controlled temperature and humidity conditions are crucial to the manufacture, transport, and storage of numerous products. Numerous chemicals, pharmaceuticals, explosives, solid state electronic devices, and oil products require refrigeration during their production. Fully 95 percent of food production depends on refrigeration, including some half-billion tons of perishable food each year. In addition, refrigeration supports surgery by safely storing drugs, blood, bone, and tissue, and by supplying clean, pure ice for such purposes as frigid anesthesia.
Each refrigeration and air-conditioning application represents a different segment of the large and very diverse service industry. Each segment requires engineers and technicians who can keep the equipment and systems operational. Opportunities for establishments that service and repair refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment should increase as the number of applications increases.
Most of the refrigeration and air-conditioning repair industry's employees worked for cooling and heating contractors. Others worked in large buildings, schools, and factories. Approximately one out of eight technicians was self-employed. The average wage was $13.95 per hour in 1999. Analysts predicted that jobs in the airconditioning and refrigeration service field would increase into 2006.
Apprentices usually start out at half the wage rate of experienced workers. Approximately 20 percent of the technicians are union members, most belonging to the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association and the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada. Many employers provide such benefits as health insurance, pension plans, work-related training, uniforms, company vans, and tools.
Technicians learn the trade through technical school, apprenticeship training, or occasionally, informally on the job. Six-month to two-year programs in airconditioning, heating, and refrigeration are offered by secondary and post-secondary technical and trade schools, junior and community colleges, and the armed forces. Besides the basics of installation, maintenance, and repair, students study theory, design, equipment construction, and electronics. Frequently sponsored by trade and union organizations, formal apprenticeship programs usually run three or four years and combine classroom instruction and on-the-job training. Those who learn the trade informally usually begin by helping an experienced technician and performing tasks that gradually become more difficult.
All technicians who purchase or handle refrigerants must pass a written certification examination administered by organizations approved by the EPA. They may become certified in three possible areas: Type I, servicing small appliances; Type II, high pressure refrigerants; and Type III, low pressure refrigerants. Some trade organizations provide training programs to prepare technicians for the examination, as well as general skills improvement training and self-study courses.
Darnay, Arsen J., ed. Service Industries USA. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.
Kaplan, Marvin M. "Keeping Cool Is Hot Work." Career World, October 1995.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment Statistics. 2000. Available from http://www.bls.gov .
U.S. Department of Labor. "Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Refrigeration Technicians." Occupational Outlook Handbook 1998-99. 2000. Available from http://stats.bls.gov .
U.S. Department of Labor. "Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Refrigeration Technicians." Occupational Outlook Handbook 1996-97. Washington: GPO, 1996.
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