Consulting??

[Goober]

I'm a trade qualified Fridgie with no other paper qualifications other than City and Guilds Part 1 and 2 (or whatever it was back in the late 80's) I've worked myself into various postions over the years, From Senior Engineer to Service Manager to Key Account Manager to being self employed on the tools to now a Sales Engineer, with excursions into farming, buliding and hospitality thrown in the mix...just to keep life interesting.

If I say so myself I was a damn good engineer and I'm good at building customer relationships and have a thourgh understanding of this wonderfull(!!??**%^) trade i fell into.

However, I'm well aware of my own weakness's.....the main one being sizing equipment for a given task or working out the kw capacity required to cool a certain space. Mainly coolrooms. I've more recently relied on suppliers to provide this data and I have also used the Kirby software available this side of the world. For me its probably just a confidence thing in that I don't have the educational paper work to back up what I'm doing.

In saying that I have obviously been doing enough to impress my number one customer to the point that he now wants me to "consult" on an upcoming project he is geting involved with with. Over the last 2.5 years he has given me NZ$1.5 million worth of work . He works in consulting to the Hospitality industry with refrigeration being about 33% of what he consults on. Hence his reliance on me.

The job will be in the form of 20 plus permanant cool/freezer rooms in a tropic location being utilised for hospitality, with the possibilty that we will not only consult but eventually get the actual installation job.

So.........given 'my own perceived' weakness in capacity calculation, is it enough that if I know (but more likley won't) for definite, the type, weight, and enetering temp of the product to be cooled, can I rely on the Kirby software or similar to accuratley give me the cooling capacity required, or...fudge the product load, entering temp etc to "Rule of Thumb" equations or....just farm the room sizes out to all the suppliers to size the correct cooling capacities and equivilant equipment.

All the other specs, i.e. Panel type, use copper to appropriate AS/NZ Standards, type of controls to be used, weather suction accumlaters, CPRs, EPRS are required, refrigerant type etc etc can all be ripped/cut/pasted from other specs I have received and rejigged to suit the upcoming project.

Your comments on the above would be appreciated as he has asked me to provide a schedule of fees to be "The Consultant" on the project....

Nothing like living on the edge..........

Goober

[mad fridgie]

Any software is only as good as the information you provide it. You need to change your service dsecription from consultanting to advisory role (this gives you some protection)
If you are looking at tropical climate, then your normal rules of thumb go out of the window.
Start with the base principles
Know your ambient ranges, type of products, usage, ability for
future service.
Good luck
Mad