Break Into Commercial Refrigeration Service

Commercial refrigeration is everywhere—restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, liquor stores, party stores and so on. And plumbers and plumbing contractors might be able to tap into this market to expand their business. Although there are crossover skills, some areas of commercial refrigeration installation and repair require special training and licensing.

Skill Overlap
The skills plumbers and refrigeration specialists most have in common involves piping and welding. “There may be some overlap, but it would probably be the welding experience, working with the copper lines to the condensing units,” says Greg DiPietro, with J&J Refrigeration Co. Inc. of Clarkston, Mich.

The biggest area of difference, however, has to do with refrigerant. Because of the Clean Air Act and the Montreal Protocol, many types of refrigerants are being phased out because of their hazards to the environment. Their handling also requires specific Environmental Protection Agency licensing under code 608 (www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/608). Individual states have a variety of licensing requirements. According to the EPA Web site, there are four categories of certification. Training and classes are voluntary, but passing the test is required. The four categories are:

• Type I—small appliances
• Type II—high-pressure appliances, except small appliances and Motorized Vehicle Air Conditioners (MVAC)
• Type III—low-pressure appliances
• Type IV (Universal)—all appliances, except MVACs

Training
The Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) in Des Plaines, Ill., offers training courses that lead to a course completion certificate. The EPA Web site also offers a list of approximately 100 certified training programs. Renee Tomlinson, director of training and testing at RSES, says their course offers six units on refrigeration and air conditioning. “If you do the units straight through, it’s about 216 hours,” she says. “In the classroom, it takes about two units per school year, so it takes about three years.” She adds, however, that students often break the units up into areas of interest.

For plumbers who want to get right to work, training and licensing might slow them down. “You have to be licensed just as much as plumbers have to be licensed,” DiPietro says. “There are state licenses and also there’s a federal license to handle refrigerants. It’s not just something you jump into. Plumbing contractors have to go through a number of years as an apprentice under a licensed contractor or a master plumber. Some of that training can be picked up through actual education from licensed and accredited schools, but they still have to work for another contractor, and you have to take a test after that before you can become a contractor. But that license in our industry can also grant you the right to work in the heating and cooling area, too.”

Beyond Commercial
Besides working with commercial refrigeration and even residential refrigeration, plumbers may find work in larger industrial refrigeration. These typically are large warehouse-sized refrigeration systems used to store produce before being shipped to stores.

“From a plumber’s point of view, the piping for most refrigeration is welded,” says Don Tragethon, executive director of the Refrigerating Engineers & Technicians Association (RETA) in Salinas, Calif. “It’s carbon steel pipe, also stainless steel processed piping, depending on the type of system involved. No systems are actually pre-packaged. Most of them are designed and built for where the systems are actually being built up. All of these facilities are put in by certified pipe welders from the plumbing unions, in addition to all the support plumbing that goes with it—air, water, lubricants.”

In a typical commercial facility, such as a grocery store, the refrigerator piping is laid in trenches in the floor from a central compressor and condenser area. It’s traditionally performed by plumbers and generally utilizes copper piping. Industrial refrigeration uses different materials, partly due to the different refrigerants used, and is on a much larger scale.

Although the work is different than in smaller-scale commercial refrigeration, Tragethon thinks there is room for plumbers with refrigeration training and experience. “The industry is wide open,” he says. “For the people who go to trade schools to learn about the refrigeration cycle and get practical experience, our industry is begging for experienced and qualified operators.”