Sheet Metal pieces together HVAC Puzzles
Air handlers and HVAC systems are incredible machines. They control airflow, temperatures, humidity levels and enhance air quality. However, without a distribution highway to get conditioned air to occupied spaces, these machines are for not. This is where sheet metal mechanics put their value on full display.
Sheet metal is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a sheet of thin, bendable metal used to shape into duct work for HVAC systems. Duct work for buildings, churches and schools are big and typically are shoved in the ceiling to keep out of view. One issue many sheet metal mechanics will discover is there isn’t much room to work between a ceiling and a roof. They constantly conflict with other trades, moving around steel and having to make changes on the fly.
A good sheet metal mechanic can convert blueprints into shop drawings. Expert field designers, like Leary, have very strong math skills. We’re not just talking about rudimentary math, either. These tradespeople use math many of us dramatically rolled our eyes at during high school, screaming how we’d never use it; algebra, geometry and even trigonometry! If you don’t believe it, try to find a sheet metal foreman on a job site without a scale ruler. It can’t be done. They are constantly using to it run numbers and resolve issues on the job.
Sheet metal is not just a job; sheet metal is a great career!