After more than 35 years in the trade, 25 as owner of a commercial refrigeration business, Dick wanted to "pay back" the HVACR industry by using his experience to teach and train other techs to help them make the most of their careers.
In his classroom, Dick started using simple PowerPoint text slides to keep track of the subject matter. He and Irene collaborated to develop technical animations that would add visual effects to his presentations. After much trial and error with PowerPoint, Irene had fluid flowing through a basic A/C system.
Soon Dick was cutting up valves and taking pictures of equipment for Irene to use to bring difficult concepts to life. His students not only appreciated the new animated colorful presentations, but their understanding increased as well. The defining moment came when one of his students asked, "Why don't the other instructors have something like this?"
Dick and Irene Wirz started Refrigeration Training Services in 2001. Their first Instructor Resource, A/C & Refrigeration Systems, was introduced at the ARI 2004 HVACR Instructor Seminar. The enthusiastic response was surprising and gratifying. In 2005, the HVACR Electrical Resource was finished; followed by two NATE Prep Resources in 2007.
Updated versions have been produced every few years with additional subject matter. By 2020, CDs were becoming obsolete so the Instructor Resources are now supplied on a flash drive and/or via Dropbox.
Dick and Irene are always looking for requests from users for new topics and suggestions to make their material more useful to instructors and more appealing and helpful to their students.