Nick Johns-Wickberg
We speak to Janamdeep (JD) Singh, Stud.AIRAH, winner of the 2024 AIRAH SA Apprentice of the Year award – sponsored by Kirby – and the Airefrig scholarship award.
It’s been a successful 2024 for Singh, who also received a CO2 Kirby Apprentice Fund Scholarship Award earlier this year, undertaking his training in October.
Singh spoke to HVAC&R News about his journey, the awards, and his hopes for the future.
HVAC&R News: How did you get involved in HVAC&R?
Janamdeep Singh: When I moved to Australia in 2018, the HVAC&R industry wasn’t in my thoughts – my childhood dream was to be an aeronautical engineer. I completed high school graduating in physics, chemistry and mathematics, but due to the economic conditions at home I worked in the public service as a customer service officer instead.
When I moved to Australia, I moved between jobs including farming and bricklaying, but I had no idea what I really wanted to do. Luckily, I found a trade assistant role in an air conditioning business installing mechanical ducts, terminal units and PAC air conditioning units in commercial buildings in Sydney. This was just the beginning of a new era for me; I took every piece of knowledge in air conditioning equipment available and learnt about the HVAC&R industry from my supervisors.
It was tricky to find similar work when I moved to Adelaide, as the market here was bit smaller. However, life gave me another chance to pursue childhood dream when I started my apprenticeship, which allowed me to work on refrigeration as well as air conditioning. Once started I never looked back again.
What does your current job involve and what do you love about it?
My current job involves new challenges every day. Sometimes I spend time servicing, maintaining, or repairing domestic HVAC&R systems, while at other times the role is commercial. I could spend my morning working on a wall split and the afternoon on ducted or walk-in cool rooms/freezer rooms. Then in the evening it could be working on commercial chillers, heat exchangers, or cooling towers.
The most beautiful part of working in the HVAC&R industry is that no two jobs or days are the same, even if you’re working on similar jobs or equipment. Every day is unique in terms of installing new HVAC&R equipment, maintenance, service, diagnosis or repair. While the equipment mostly works on same principles, they operate differently according to ambient conditions, demand or work environment.
What do you find most challenging about the job?
Complex HVAC&R systems are not only challenging technically, but also for the health and safety risks we face at work every day on the job site. You have to stay switched on because of risks like electricity, explosivity and toxic chemicals, as well as high temperatures and high pressures. Extreme weather, ambient conditions, client expectations, and regulations from authorities also provide challenges.
Could you tell us about a memorable incident at work?
My most memorable job was fixing a walk-in freezer room at a restaurant. We got called to say it wasn’t achieving its set point and had been repaired twice by another company. During troubleshooting, I found that it was low on refrigerant charge and told the owner there was a leak. I isolated it, reclaimed the old charge, pressure tested it and found a leak on the HP switch capillary line. I replaced it with a new capillary, pressure tested and evacuated it, then charged the system. It achieved the set point, so I went to another job.
The next day I got the same call, so I returned and found it low on charge again. This shocked me, and my employer wasn’t happy either. I decided to replace the evaporative heat exchanger and checked every visible joint and flare, but I couldn’t find a leak.
The owner was frustrated as the system was only a few years old and had been doing this for a while. I dismantled the internal coils and decided to submerge them into water. I thought it was leaking somewhere internally, but there was no hissing or bubbling during testing. The only thing left outside water was the liquid line solenoid valve – when I dipped that into the water, it was leaking. I jumped for joy!
Funnily enough, it wasn’t leaking when energised by the magnetic coil for checking the system; it was only leaking when de-energised. The leak was happening when the system achieved the set point, then cut out. The owner and my employer were so happy! We fixed the problem and saved the customer a couple of thousand dollars.
What are your ambitions for the future?
At the moment my focus is to extend my technical knowledge. Our industry is in transition from synthetic to natural refrigerants, and we technicians are the bridge between authorities, government and environment agencies. My ambition is to focus on this side of our industry; I will try to upskill myself so that I can contribute as an individual to improving people’s health and reducing environmental impact and carbon emissions.
What does it mean to you to win the AIRAH SA Apprentice of the Year award?
First of all, I would like to submit my heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to this award: AIRAH, my TAFE SA mentors, Kirby Australia, Airefrig Australia and all the other event sponsors and organisers. It was a wonderful night and I was lucky to take home the prestigious SA Apprentice of the Year award.
It is a dream come true to reach this milestone in front of renowned HVAC&R industry professionals and experts. With big achievements come big responsibilities; I have to always keep up this level of tidy and high-quality workmanship.
The icing on the cake was winning the Airefrig scholarship. This scholarship will not only provide me with financial stability, but also will help me improve my individual knowledge through skills or courses I want to do. I am thankful and relieved that the HVAC&R industry is always looking after young technicians through financial support, encouragement and appreciation.
The major thing that comes with these awards for me is the thought and trust that, no matter what race, religion or culture you are from, the Australian HVAC industry will always recognise you for your good work and provide you equal opportunities. This has boosted my motivation.
I want to thank all my TAFE SA mentors: Seamus Brien, Peter Harris, Shannon Baldock, Nick Burston, Steve Excell, John Fellenberg, Gary Hagen, and Brett Dickson. I also want to thank my partner – her help was always there without even asking.
Award winners
AIRAH congratulates the following winners at the 2024 SA Apprentice Awards:
- Encouragement award – Brett Meegan from Cool Moose Refrigeration
- Airefrig scholarship award – Janamdeep Singh from Industrial Air
- Runner-up – Joel Manuelli from Cold Logic
- Kirby Apprentice of the Year award – Janamdeep Singh from Industrial Air.
Event sponsors
AIRAH thanks the sponsors of the 2024 South Australian Apprenticeship Awards:
- Platinum event sponsor and Apprentice of the Year Sponsor: Kirby
- Silver event sponsor: Baltimore Air Coil
- Bronze event sponsor: Industrial Air
- Runner-up Apprentice of the Year prize sponsor: Daikin
- Encouragement award sponsor: Controls Traders
- Scholarship award sponsor: Airefrig
- Prize sponsors: Air Diffusion Agencies and CPS Australia.
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