HVAC Engineer Edition | Behind The Trade

An honest and open discovery, delve deeper with us as we go ‘Behind the Trade’

In this episode, we speak to Tom Milham, an HVAC engineer in Crawley. Originally an art and design student, Tom tells us all about how he made the switch to HVAC engineering, and how it’s so important to treat apprentices with respect. They are the future after all. Plus he was an extra in Mary Poppins – that’s a whole other story!

Thank you to Tom for taking part. You can follow him on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/tcmairconditioningservices/

00:00:00 – Introduction and Background
00:01:14 – Apprenticeship Experience
00:03:34 – Enjoyment in Problem-Solving
00:04:27 – Tough Times Living in a Van
00:05:44 – Overcoming Tough Times
00:07:00 – Challenges in HVAC Work
00:09:04 – Unusual Job Experiences
00:10:40 – Inspirational Figures in the Trade
00:11:51 – Pointless Tools in HVAC
00:12:32 – Industry Evolution
00:13:41 – Accessibility to the Trade
00:15:45 – Critique on Qualifications
00:16:59 – Potential Consequences
00:17:31 – Alternative Career Choice
00:18:06 – Advice for the Next Generation
00:19:07 – Favourite Tool
00:20:28 – Social Media Presence

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fischer-uk
Website: https://www.fischer.co.uk/

[Music] can you tell us who you are and where you come from uh so my name is Tom from TCM air conditioning and I’m from cwy West Sussex I’m a air conditioning engineer I’ve been doing it for probably going on 18 years now before you did this what was your first ever job uh so my first ever job uh my dad was a jeweler in Hatton Garden got my first job as a jeweler um I say a jewel art I was working in a jewelry shop how did you get into hbac funny story I was actually in college um doing art design photography and fashion I was interested but my mind was was elsewhere so ended up dropping out of college my mom she’s great and everything but she was uh she said I you got to get a job or you got to do something or you get at so uh yeah she ended up getting me a job with a air conditioner company um cuz she was a uh she worked in a recruitment agency and uh yeah it all just went from there and then ended up getting an apprenticeship what was the apprenticeship like can you talk us through like you know the what that was like as a 16-year-old getting into H the first the first week was quite intimidating um it was very hard work it was you know I was Ling really heavy like people will know they’re like big nitrogen bottles um they’re 20 L nitrogen bottles big sort of cylinders and you sort of get him on your shoulder and you’re walking up the scaffold ladders onto the roof and it was tough like as a a small kid after that first week I was just like mate this is not for me like I can’t do it um but yeah the guy was just breaking me in but in general it was really good um the first engineer I had was a little bit questionable when the second engineer came in who I was working under top BL it was like really good mate explained everything to me getting me hands on getting me sort of thinking really and getting me to make mistakes everybody makes mistakes it’s natural but he was sort of saying oh why would you do it that way instead of doing it this way okay try it that way it was more sort of like he would say oh yeah do do just do it your way and then it would be wrong and then he’d say right this is this is how you do it and I showed you this because you know you have to make these mistakes along the way we get on the job look at it and it’s sort of ask me questions and what do you think you know that asking an apprentice that and you think like why is he asking me you know but it’s really important to have that one person who you know you can sort of also rely on so like as an apprentice you get stuck like everyone’s going to get stuck but when you can go to someone and say like I’ve got this and I don’t know how to work it out it was really understand standing and you know sort of um sort of have my back a lot of the time if I like messed up or whatever he sort of you know back me up a little bit to the bus or you know and I hear a lot of people don’t have great apprenticeships or they get treated badly or you know and I think you know everyone starts somewhere I think people are quick to forget um how where they’ve come from how hard it was or you know no one knows everything even till even till the day they give up you know they don’t know everything what is it about what you do that you enjoy the most what gets me up in the morning is definitely going out being on a tours figuring out problems for sure you know there’s been times where I’ve come across something I haven’t seen before or I’ve got to do something that’s really tricky and being someone who’s on their own all the time it’s very difficult to do it by yourself so to go in there and having this problem to then coming out at the end of the day and you solve this problem that’s definitely an achievement for me um but also I do like I like being in a van a lot of people hate it people hate commuting and don’t get me wrong it’s not my favorite part of the day I have a bit of I don’t want to say a special relationship with the van but it’s sort of it’s my safe space I was sort of um I mean the word would probably be homeless for for pretty much a year living out the back of a van and it was you know full of TOS you you know it wasn’t like a camper van it was like in a sleeping bag in the front seat you know and for me it’s like I spent a lot of time in a van um very sort of dark times very sad times very lonely and it’s so weird because it’s like it’s transport at the end of the day it gets you from A to B it gets you from you know job to job home to job whatever but for me it was more that’s all I had I had that in a bag that’s it having the time now where sort of I can get up and go to work and you know have a home to go to it’s sort of it’s a bit more um I appreciate a lot more what I used to do is I’d be in the van for a week at a time um and luckily enough I was working in Leisure centers all the time so I could have a shower in a leure center and get changed and whatever it was a pretty tough time with my mental health there’s a lot of unresolved issues um that I have still have going around your mates like you know seeing your mates and like there’s nothing going on it a very weird time but you know at def at the other side now but at the time it was like pretty brutal can you remember the point where you felt like you got through that um so the time I knew I got through it was when me and me and my Ms we um we moved in together and when I met her I had nothing like when I mean nothing I had my stuff stored in my mom’s house but she ended up having a flood in the garage so um all my stuff just got ruined it was like I had nothing left all I had when I met her was a gym bag like a small Satchel like a small gym bag I I led a very um don’t want to say simple life but you know I just didn’t have nothing you know I didn’t have a lot of material things but I had a lot of I had a lot of memories you know I had my BMX that was what my my thing that that got me through everything and you know it was um that’s when I knew it was like okay it’s coming to the end there you know it was quite it was quite a surreal feeling it’s definitely you feel like kind I still got in now but like impostor syndrome because you’re like how have I how has this person taken me on with nothing like literally I have zero what’s the worst part about being a hfac engineer like what what’s the part of the day on a particular job that you would um TR so the worst part for me is being outside in the elements so that’s it’s pretty brutal out there in the winter when you’re on a call out units shut down on the roof you’ve got to go up there try and for find it it’s snow – one -2 and you’re just like like you feel like your hands are going to fall off the other thing I will probably say is the amount of tool different tools that you need is pretty um it’s pretty brutal like so you have to carry specialist tools then you’ve got your you general power tools that sort of everyone uses but then you’ve got Plumbing gear electrical gear it’s like kind of like a few trades mixed into one if that makes sense it’s sort of refrigeration and and air conditioning but then you’ve got um sort of like your electrical side and then you’ve got your Plum inside and there’s just all these different elements and most units are high levels so you got to carry tall ladders and yeah it’s um yeah the I’d probably say that that trumps at all is probably the amount of tools that you need that’s why Tradesman gets so upset with t theft and it needs to be like it needs to be spoken about but T theft is I’ve been done four times mate and it’s just every time it just gets wor the feeling gets worse like for me and I’m sure for every other Tradesman their tools are their lifeline and for me that the van at one point was my lifeline so for someone to break in and violate that and and steal all your hard work it’s disgusting and I hate it it’s it’s um and hate such a strong word but you know it’s very um I think it’s very uh demeaning to trace people they’ve worked hours and hour weeks months years to get what they have and someone can take it in less than 2 minutes it’s it proper it rolls me up a little bit what’s the weirdest day you’ve had on the job I don’t think I have a weirdest day but I definitely have a weirdest time in the job so uh I was working for somebody and this is when I was riding sort of BMX like quite heavily at the time and I got a phone call from uh the guy who used to sponsor me and he said oh I’ve got something on um I can’t really tell you what it is but you know just be here at a certain time whatever and it was um it was a casting for uh the 2012 um opening ceremony for the Olympics and I went to this rehearsal thing like an audition and ended up getting getting the part for it whatever with a few of other friends as well like there was a few other people involved and it was just this weird time where I was working in the day so I was doing my N5 or my 8 till 5 at the time and then I’d have to rush from London over to where the where the practice area was and ride there till 10:00 at night then go home and get up do my job and it was such a weird experience so I was uh extra in the new Mary Poppins returns as well and that was the same thing I was doing 8 you know sort of 8 till 5: and I’ll go home have a bit of dinner and then I go back to London for 10:00 and ride my bike all through the night get home at 400 in the morning and then wake up at 6 and then go back out and that was for quite a while have you got anyone that you look up to or that you like that inspires you in in the trade or or trades in general there’s a couple of guys that I’m I’m close with in the trade at the minute um there’s a guy called Jack and a guy called will I speak to them on a on a regular basis um and they sort of we all help each other out we all talk about our problems we problems we come across site personal and work-wise there’s another guy I used to work with his his name’s Jamie um he’s been there he was there through my really tough times and he’s like an older engineer now I say old days you know he I think he’s turning he’s turning 50 he’s a top bloke and he’s been with me for thick and thin um so in regards to in the HVAC trade like there are probably people that spring to mind how important is that group chat I think it’s very important an to have like-minded people or or people that are a bit further on to help you get to where you want to be I think people who don’t give you that advice or people that don’t want you to achieve stuff I think it’s it’s quite selfish who doesn’t want to see your mates do well what’s the most pointless tool you’ve ever invested in or the worst tool you’ve ever come across so I wouldn’t say it’s the worst tool it’s probably the the most pointless one is is battery battery powered flaring tools and you know they also do drill powered ones you know anything sort of over complicating it when you’re in a tight space in a ceiling and you’ve got to get a toe in there you got to try and get this like big bulky battery powered thing in the ceiling to just try and make off a a little bit of pipe it’s for me it’s pointless you can just have your little flaring block that I’ve been using for years and you just twist it a couple of times just a manual tool it’s never failed me it’s probably never failed anybody else how’s the industry changed since you started I think it’s changed a lot um going from I mean I’ve been doing it for 18 years or so um with the industry itself so just air conditioning in general the regulations have have definitely improved so the way you know you’re recovering and vacuuming and you know like all all the procedures have have really been they’ve really been tightened up every everyone sort of pretty much doing a good job a minute from what I can see the tools have got a lot better you know obviously the battery powered stuff is is played a massive part uh they’ve got you know Wireless you know Wireless things so you can do it on an app on your phone so if you’re charging up a uh charging up refrigerant in a big system you can do it on your phone it will tell you how much is in there how much has taken out yeah it’s just been a lot more dialed in with regards to the tools um there’s a lot of good manufacturers out there that have have made the job a a lot easier a lot safer for people and just a lot more convenient as well is it is it become more accessible for for people getting into the trade than perhaps it was when you were Apprentice I want to say it’s harder you know I’ve I’ve had people message me and say like look I’m thinking about getting into the trade or I’m not being treated right or you know how can I get around this problem and to be honest I don’t have an answer for him you know I can only give my opinion I think that it’s not getting taught in schools as much I I think it needs to be really an option like I don’t know to be honest I don’t know whether it is because when I was in school plumbing and carpentry and all that stuff wasn’t even spoke about it wasn’t even an option it was what college are you going to go to or are you going to go straight onto a job or you know it’s I think it’s something that really needs to be honed in on and give the you know give the the young guys opport and girls an opportunity to be something in a trade because I think I don’t know whether it still has a stigma but I know a long time ago it was looked down on and I don’t think it is that way anymore you know I was really into science as growing up as a kid you know I really enjoyed science it’s probably one of the only gcsc I actually got um so having that as sort of like a background and then that does tie into the refrigeration of you know when like how refrigerant Works under temperatures and things like that it’s it’s very sort of science-based you know um now the Technology’s got a lot better so you know a lot of it you could you can sort of kind of look at it and go well that’s the problem but Going Back to Basics you know how how things work going into a trade for me was probably the best thing I ever did um and I think the younger generation need to know that it’s not it’s not a plan B it can be your plan a you know a lot of people think oh get a trade get qualified go and do what you want to do and if that don’t work out I fall back on a trade if you could change anything about the industry about HVAC in general or the building trade in general what you think it’d be it’s a bit controversial I don’t know whether people are going to like it but just because you have an fgas qualification it doesn’t make you an air conditioner and Refrigeration engineer you know to go on from that it is quite easily accessible um you know I I did you know two two and a half years in college and then I’ve done however many years hours on site learning doing the job going to call outs to get to where I am and the fact that people can get a day course or a two-day course and call themself an aircon guy or girl it I I think it’s quite the meaning of the trade cuz you can’t do that in a lot of other trades you know you can’t you can’t just pick up pick up a set of Cutters and be a be an electrician you know you can’t just you know pick up a set of pipe cutters and be a plumber you know you have to learn you have to go and do these things the fact that people are jumping on his bandwagon just because they can get a qualification I think he is wrong and I think it’s a bit of a it’s a bit of a slap to all the people that have that have gone and done their time and really put effort into it long term what do you think the effects of that would be if that is sort of allowed to continue it’s very controversial people are not going to like it but I think it’s going to be that cowboy Builder thing all over again you know it’s going to be people that got I’ve got an F gas I’m going to go and do whatever but then when it comes to a system that’s breaking down and you have no idea what’s going on you know I’ve done 15 years of that to figure that out I think it’s going to be the thing where people will do all these installs and do whatever and then it will be somebody clearing up the pieces and I think there will just be a bad stigma about it so if you weren’t a HVAC engine what do you think you’d be I think the thing that would probably draw me in the most is probably a brick layer that’s something that I would really like to do I I have no clue how to build a wall at a minute I have no idea what it takes you know but I I just really enjoy something from the ground up um when you see something from start to finish so I would like to do something like that you know you know first fix Carpenter you know doing roofs or you you know framing things like that that’s probably what I would go towards what advice would you give to the Next Generation ask questions don’t be scared of asking questions you know it might seem stupid at the time but you’re going to need it one day you know get a notebook or an iPad or whatever you can find your notes and just write down everything you know just write it all down it might seem useless now but yeah I would I would say watch listen you know if you’ve got a question ask it get it stuck in to if you if you you’re working with an engineer get stuck in don’t sit back and be on your phone and watching videos like you know going scrolling through in the internet get stuck in you know see what he’s doing ask questions take photos just TR hard you know these these people are employing you you know to to do something you know they’re employing you for you to do a job and I think like you should take pride in what you’re doing so I think just you know get your head stuck in what’s your favorite tool I don’t I’ve got a Sentimental tool that’s I use every nearly every day um and it’s a pipe car it’s a an old red big pipe car and it was the first engineer I spoke about I worked with him and his advice to me was we’ve got to build you a toall bag you know know it’s it’s okay working out of my toour bag but you need something to call your own um and I’ll never forget we went into the suppliers and I was start building my little tool kit together my my cheap tools and stuff you know to get me going and he was like right grabb them and he bought them with his own money and he gave them to me and he said right these are yours he’s like do what you want with them he’s like but this is your first set AP part guyss yeah these renberger tube CS they’re old they’re heavy they’ve been I mean look at the state of them they’ve been well used that’s 20 years worth but you know they’ve got like weight to them so you can like you know do them up and undo them I used to have a deur on the end but that’s gone missing every time I look at them I just think like this just the first thing I got you know that was like airon wise you know it’s that my first thing that I had I was like I could call my own where can people where can people find you where can they follow you uh so people can find me uh majority of the time Instagram and Tik Tok the Instagram is just TCM air conditioning services and Tik Tok is airon Tom I’m Tom and this is behind the [Music] trade