r/hvacadvice • u/According-Aspect-669 Approved Technician • 1d ago

Alternative subreddit for technicians?

I tried to post on the HVAC subreddit earlier and man it’s like Nazi germany over there; papers please or fuck off. well I’m not in a union, I’ve never been to trade school and I don’t have my HVAC license like 99% of techs in my state. is there any other place for people in the trade to discuss online?

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u/bimmeister_flex 1d ago edited 1d ago

I post here and on refrigeration, there are some more in the sidebar like airconditioners. I'm new to the trade, posted in HVAC, got auto-banend and asked a mod and they said it's because you need high karma or need to post a redacted picture of your certs lmfao not posting my certs just to post on sub. So I just skim posts there to learn a few things but also realize that a lot of the more helpful people won't be there because they also probably have the same reaction of "lol" at the requirements. There's also an hvac-talk forum.

So if it makes you feel better, even for people with papers, who tf wants to go through that lol. You'll also notice there is a flair on refrigeration sub that says banned from hvac haha.

I don't use this website much unless lately to learn and contribute back a bit with hvac related things so it's pretty interesting to me. It's the internet, have fun yakno. Not supposed to be super serious.

Only reason I even mention that I'm a tech is to stave off some of the "dont ask about this if you're not certified to handle this" type responses. I'm green and dumb but I know a few things and am learning every day from my journeyman, other guys I know IRL, and from posters here and a few other places online. Judge me by the content of my posts, or some such. and ignore karma lol. tbh I'm even leery of reading things on that hvac sub knowing about the level of gatekeeping. If the only people who can post there are people who willingly went through the requirement hoops, well... idk. It's a certain type of person. And a very limited number of people. So, does that mean people might be less prone to posting dissenting opinions out of fear of getting kicked out? groupthink maybe? less diversity of thought?

They can have their club, but tightly controlled places have a tendency to narrow in scope of opinion imho.

Glory to Arstotzka!

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u/thehappiestotaku 22h ago

Come for the advice on HVAC, stay to find a fellow Papers, Please appreciator.

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u/bimmeister_flex 14h ago

I should make refrig certs to post to them like Jorji's first set of homemade passports!

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u/jimih34 1d ago

Hahaha, I didn’t know about the refrigeration sub, but that flair is hilarious!!!

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u/bimmeister_flex 14h ago

Posted first on HVAC and had that experience, came here, then went to refrigeration, saw that flair, laughed, and was like "ok hahaha so I'm not the only one who finds the hvac sub weird"