Long before the Internet provided instant access to most anything and Wikipedia seemed to update everything almost by the minute, the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) had found a way to provide its members with timely, up-to-date information. First proposed in 1946, the All-Makes Performance Service Manual began being published a few years later and eventually evolved into the Service Applications Manual, often simply called SAM.

At the ninth RSES Annual Conference in 1946 in Cleveland, a proposal was made to establish a manual “that would contain specifications of refrigerators, equipment, and components as well as engineering data and installation method,” according to author Willis Stafford in his history of RSES.

Rather than being a bound volume such as a textbook, SAM developed into a binder format in which users could insert sections that were sent to them regularly by RSES. This included totally new sections, or updated inserts that would replace a previous, but outdated section on the same topic. Different authors from throughout the industry provided the sections.

“SAM is the oldest heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration reference manual available in the industry. It contains thousands of pages of technical data, equipment analyses, and evaluations, field application instruction, regulations, good practice codes, business development guidance and more. SAM is a great resource to obtain knowledge in 25 categories and 45 subcategories of HVACR-related topics,” RSES said in a statement.

The section inserts continue to be sent to members polybagged with The RSES Journal, the society’s official journal, and is also available to members online.

MOST RECENT

The most recent addition to SAM is Chapter 650-001, Section 2, Refrigerant Update for 2010 and Beyond, written by Garth Denison. “This provides readers with a look into the industry changes that have resulted from the Environmental Protection Agency mandate that bans the use of HCFC-22 in new refrigeration or air conditioning equipment manufactured for use in the United States and Canada after Jan. 1, 2010,” RSES said.

The author has more than 40 years of experience in the HVACR industry. In his current position as senior product applications engineer with Sporlan Valve, a Division of Parker Hannifin, he provides technical, application, and training to the HVACR industry. Denison is a member of RSES and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Denison has held many positions with RSES, including past international president, past RSES Canada president, and a member of the RSES Educational & Examining Board.

For more information, go to www.rses.org.

Publication date: 06/07/2010