Old school rookie need some advice 1

[mock1]

Well this is an interesting and very relieving site to find. I'm not really sure this is the part of this forum I'm suppost to be in but my job is mostly mechanical, a lot of stucture and way too much math.
My company designs CHP units, and they hired me because I have 20 years feild experience as a fabricator/ pipefitter/ welder. Now my job has branched off to designing these units in autocad. First, I've never used a comp before this job, second I still don't know how to use the cad program very well, and third I need all the help I can get.
My question is this... Where on this forum can I basically start from the begining on how to understand what it is I'm doing? I've installed HVAC systems in schools, jails, highrise buildings, airports, and even on an aircraft carrier. The calculations are very difficult to understand and even the engineering lingo I don't get.I'm sure I will get a lot out of this site but I really need some guidance.
Thanks, Chris

 

[KENAT]

As mentioned by CBL, don't double post, it gets confusing and is frowned upon by 'the management'.

Here's the content of the other post, you may nead to be using internet explorer to open it.

http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=cc7c76cc-da0f-40fc-9d3f-bc0bd8eeb105&file=mock1.mht

forum555 is the other forum CBL & I mentioned which may help with your CAD questions.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[mock1]

Thanks for the advice.
It seems I'm way out of my league here, but I'm still really interested in trying to learn this stuff. I'm starting school for Unigrahics next month.
Is there a site or maybe a book that I could read to help with the tech, or is it really better to get into some kind of class. If so where do I start? Math? Since my experience is in the feild should I stick with the CAD stuff and leave the calcs to the real engineers?

 

[IRstuff]

Life-long learning is not only a a good thing in general, but it decreases the risk of getting Alzheimer's.

However, you cannot simply jump into the calculations without any background or understanding of the basic phenomenon. Luckily for you, there is a free, downloadable heat transfer textbook:

http://web.mit.edu/lienhard/

http://www/ahtt.html

that will give you the physics and math background for heat transfer problems in general. Only then, can you understand and start tackling A/C problems.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[KENAT]

Didn't look at the link IRstuff gave but math seems to be a stumbling block for many folks. So you may want to start there, if nothing else a refresher.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[mock1]

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Waramanga]

ok for the rest of us, what is a CHP??

I made the jump from trades to engineering via university and the most important thing I got from the experience was the confidence to tackle all problems in an analytical way. Formulas are dangerous things if you are not sure how they are working so take the time to nut out the ones that you use a lot to start with. You will probably have half a dozen that you will use every day so focus on those to start with then gradually expand your horizons. Understanding the formulas is time consuming but very important in my opinion.

As for CAD.....get a drawing from a previous project and start mucking around with it, layer lines copying deleting mirroring moving. I guarentee you will be very very slow to start with but after about 4 months you will be fine. It aint rocket science, as they say!

cheers

 

[CptHk]

Waramanga, and the rest of you:

CHP: Combined Heat and Power (cogeneration)